Glenn Kaiser recaps some of the SOL’s top performances and highlights some of the week’s top dual matches.
WRESTLING NOTEBOOK
FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
QUAKERTOWN AT PENNRIDGE
In a rare Friday night battle of titans in wrestling, Quakertown traveled to Pennridge for a marquee matchup in the SOL Continental. With basketball tying up the main gym, the match was moved to the old “White” gymnasium at Pennridge High School. The smaller venue provided added excitement with a great crowd on hand to cheer these two longtime backyard rivals. Despite Quakertown dropping a close match to North Penn 32-35 on Wednesday night, this match still had a championship feel.
There was plenty to cheer for on both benches, but the ultimate outcome may have been known shortly after the weigh-ins. Pennridge has clearly established itself as one of the best dual and tournament teams in the SOL, District I, and the State, and their firepower was just too much for Quakertown. It was exciting to be the color commentator for PA-Wrestling.com, who provided video for this match of the week. It provided a unique outlook to the match and helped do some scouting as well.
Surprisingly, it was the Rams undercard that got things done for Pennridge in securing the big win. Since Pennridge wrestles no dual meets until league matches begin, it was tough to gauge them as a dual team. They clearly are a very solid and talented tournament team with the strength of individuals such as Matt Parker, Kordell Rush, Josh Stillings, Kyle Gentile, and Andrew Reinhold. Combine that talented group with some gritty freshmen and up and coming wrestlers, and you have a nice recipe for success as a dual team. Even without 2015 state qualifier Micah Visuwan in the line-up, Pennridge forced its will on the Panthers, winning 45-25 to set up a showdown with North Penn for the Continental title.
Freshman Evan Winding was impressive with a fall at 132 as Pennridge basically shut the door on any chances of a Quakertown upset to ignite a three-match win spree that included Christian Cooper’s 6-4 decision over the Panthers’ Charles Witman, who just came off a big win over North Penn’s Sofaine Bensmail two days earlier. And David Nahas capped the run in the middle with a fall of his own bumping the score to 26 to 9 with Stillings and Gentile still to step on the mat for the Rams. Paul O’Neill nailed the coffin at 170 pounds with his decision over Q-town’s Nick Basile 8-5 to push the lead to 35-13.
For Pennridge, it was just their third dual meet win, all in the SOL Continental as the Rams had no rest before grappling at the Rock Yard Duals at Council Rock North Saturday. Pennridge would be tested again in this annual dual team event with CR North, North Penn, Germantown Academy, Pottsgrove, Archbishop Wood, Spring-Ford, and Ridley. The Rams easily walked away with the title slamming both the hosts, CR North, 54-16 and North Penn in the finals 50-24. Coach Rob Shettsline of the Knights vowed to make line-up adjustments to do battle in conference with the Rams on January 20. North Penn was impressive in its own right, knocking off Spring-Ford from the PAC 10 with a narrow victory, 35-34. The Knights are 3-0 in the SOL Continental, and 10-3 overall currently.
The Knights flexed their muscles in the middle weights as they won five in a row, started off by a perfect 15-love Tech Fall by Sofaine Bensmail at 132 pounds over Spring-Ford’s Jimmy Frank. Impressive freshmen Ryan Vulakh kept his winning season going with a solid 6-1 decision over a talented Matt Krieble at 138. Will Laughlin decisioned the Rams Jon Westlake 4-2 to keep it going as Mikey O’Brien (152) and Colin Shannon (160) capped the run with falls. NP’s Owen Verespy also recorded a pin at 195 to hold the lead at 29-22, and Tyler Leidy finished off the Rams with his own fall at 220.
CR North knocked off Wood, coached by former Council Rock lead man Vic Stanley, 49-22, going 2-2 on the day with another win over Pottsgrove 66-9. Spring-Ford edged the Indians 34-33 in the third place match.
Quakertown took no break either, as they traveled to the Valley to the Zephyr Duals at Whitehall and went 3-1, taking 5th place with their win over Northern Lehigh 42-29.
In other action over the weekend, Central Bucks South went 3-2 at the Lehighton Duals with wins over Springfield Delco 50-20, Kutztown 45-15, and Allentown Central Catholic 39-32. Neshaminy captured third place at the Big Red Duals hosted by Souderton with a 51-27 win over Woodstown (NJ). Pennsbury finished sixth, dropping a 42-39 dual to Palisades in the fifth place bout of this 16-team event. And the host Indians defeated Bensalem in a SOL out-of-division match-up 56-18 for ninth place.
Council Rock South upped its dual record to 8-0 with a five-match sweep at the Parkland Duals, beating the home team Parkland 35-24 in the finals. The anticipation of a possible District One Dual semifinal between Pennridge and Council Rock South is starting to heat up, as both the Rams and the Golden Hawks have impressive line-ups and figure to go deep in the PIAA AAA Team Championships at the Giant Center in Chocolate Town, USA, to cap off the dual season in February.
This past Wednesday, Neshaminy slipped past Council Rock North 36-26 to rattle the National Conference and possibly diminish the Unity Cup rivalry between CR North and South as the Indians drop to 3-1 in division competition. North was hurt by forfeits in their line-up due to suspected illnesses. Neshaminy improved to 10-3 overall and 3-1 in the league with its lone loss to CR South.
In the Continental on Wednesday evening, it was like old times for Quakertown and Hatboro-Horsham as the two teams battled in front of a packed house on the Panthers’ Senior Night in Quakertown’s renovated wrestling venue. The Hatters led a back and forth match for most of the night as they lost the dual in the last two bouts of the evening, starting at 113 as Quaketown’s Corey Cope posted a tech fall over H-H’s Sammy Negron to erase a 32-32 deadlock. The win gave Quakertown a 37-32 lead with one bout remaining. Two freshmen were left to do battle for the team win in the final match of the dual at 120 pounds, as Quakertown’s Trent Nielsen sealed the deal with a fall over the Hatters AJ Vegas. Quakertown got huge bonus points as Nick Hadley secured a come-from-behind win over H-H’s Eric Biehl as he locked up a patented Panther cradle for a fall in the third period with the score 9-2 in the Hatters’ favor. Seniors Nick Bonomo (182) and Gavin Caroff (220) posted falls late in their matches as both Kyle Beck and Nick Schuck kept the matches close respectively until getting caught. And in a pivotal bout at 160, the Panthers’ Nick Basile scored a quick takedown on H-H’s Davis Wheeler in overtime for a Sudden Victory 8-6 to tie the match at 14 all. A fine performance was turned in by sophomore Brad Mallon (HH) at 132 as he defeated Charles Witman (Qtown) 7-4, as the Hatters also had pin falls by Nick Giuliani (126), Austin Jaffe (152), Joe Hwang (170), Nick Chapman (195), and Matt Chapman (285), but that wasn’t enough to fend off the Panthers.
Quakertown also honored their wrestling club veteran wrestlers who will be moving up, and Head Coach Kurt Handel who surpassed his mentor and coach Dave Evans as the all-time career wins leader in school history with his 205 wins, 204 before the victory over Hatboro-Horsham (43-32).
Congrats to Pennridge’s Kordell Rush and Neshaminy’s Bruce Graeber for joining the 100-Win Club!
Big-time wrestling comes to Council Rock South this Saturday and Sunday as the Escape the Rock Tournament kicks off Saturday and concludes Sunday with the finals slated for 3:30 pm. Tournament info and seeding can be found at the ETR website.
SOL DUAL TEAM RANKINGS:
*T1-Council Rock South (8-0)
*T1-Pennridge (8-0)
2-North Penn (10-3)
3-Neshaminy (10-3)
4-Quakertown (8-5)
5-Council Rock North (9-4)
*Team scores at the Escape the Rock may break this tie at the top spot!?!
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