Glenn Kaiser highlights North Penn’s dual match win over Pennridge and recaps some of the highlights of the last week of action.
KNIGHTS RULE
By Glenn Kaiser
North Penn’s head wrestling coach, Robert Shettsline vowed that his line-up would be shuffled to match up with Pennridge after they suffered a lopsided defeat 50-24 to the Rams at the Rock Yard Duals at Council Rock North on Jan. 9, 2016. So he and his coaching staff went to work preparing for the SOL Continental battle for first place on Wednesday evening. And the planning and execution was successful as the Knights came away with perhaps their best dual win in many years to remain undefeated in the Continental and a secure the grip on the conference title with only Souderton and CB South standing in their way. Both teams will be tough outs for the Knights, but nonetheless the 34-30 win over Pennridge shakes up the seeding for the District One Duals, which opens up on Thursday 1/28/16, with the Elite Eight wrestling Friday 2/5/16, and the Finals on Saturday 2/6/16.
With the victory, North Penn could propel themselves into the top four in the District Dual seedings. The District One Wrestling Steering Committee meets this Sunday to put the 16-team dual bracket together, as it looks like most dual action and tourney action will be cancelled due to the pending snowstorm, thus locking teams in with their records as of last night’s results. Council Rock South will most likely be the second seed, with Pennridge and North Penn considered in the top four spots. Other potential dual teams include CR North, Quakertown and Neshaminy.
On Wednesday night, North Penn dropped freshman Ryan Vulakh down to the 132-pound weight class, which resulted in Pennridge forfeiting, and, in turn, was a critical six points earned by the Knights. For the most part, both teams held serve with their top guns winning, the biggest difference was in bonus points as the Knights were able to add a major decision from Jee Ea Gay at 106 to three pin falls from Erik Laughlin (120), Mikey O’Brien (152), and Tyler Leidy at heavyweight for 28 points with the forfeit to Vulakh. Sofiane Bensmail (NP) was able to fight off the Rams Kordell Rush at 126, holding Rush to only a 6-0 decision, and the Knights’ Owen Verespy did the same at 220, losing a close decision by one (7-6) to Pennridge’s Andrew Reinhold, thus thwarting bonus points from two of the ‘Ridges standout wrestlers. Key victories earned by decision for the Knights were posted by Patrick O’Neill at 145 pounds and Colin Shannon at 170 lbs. As always, match-ups as well as the coin toss to decide who sends first aided the Knights in the team win.
Council Rock South heads into the team postseason next week on a high note with a victory in the Mike Sipler Unity Cup over CR North 51-15. South continued its perfect dual season, upping its record to 9-0 and should walk away with the SOL National Conference title. Quakertown defeated CB East 48-23 and look to return Noah Wood to its line-up as the Panthers improved to 9-5 overall and 3-2 in the Continental. Neshaminy will wrestle Upper Dublin this evening in a non-conference SOL contest. The Redskins are 10-3 overall with a 3-1 National record. Souderton continued its winning ways in the Continental to up their league record to 3-2, with an impressive win over Central Bucks South 42-25. Phillip Stolfi has returned to the Indians line-up at 285 to tighten up their roster. Souderton’s Brandon Bach decked the Titans Ray Calderaio at 120 pounds in the first period of the marquee bout of the evening.
Harry S Truman beat Pennsbury 38-27 in other National Conference action, Truman currently stands at 8-6 overall and got to .500 (2-2) in the National with the win. Gunnar Fuss downed the Falcons’ Connor Joyce at 126 for a nice win 5-0, and the Tigers Dustin Stone at 152 pounds decisioned Zack Clark 7-1 to improve his record to 17-2.
Over the weekend at Council Rock South’s Escape the Rock tournament, the host Golden Hawks grabbed two belts with Zack Trampe winning the title at 132 and Riley Palmer at 138. Dylan Schwartz was denied a belt with a tough loss in the finals 6-5 to Jersey’s Don Bosco Prep Dominick Mandarino. Lucas Martoccio (145) and Joe Doyle (195) both placed fourth. The Golden Hawks placed third overall in the team standings in this prestigious event. Pennridge finished 12th overall as a team, with runner-up Matt Parker at 113 and third place finisher Kyle Gentile (182). Kordell Rush lost his consolation final 4-3 to Malvern Preps Nick Lattanze at 126. CR North saw Aiden Burke reach the semis, but he was dumped down to the consolation bracket by Pennridge’s Matt Parker 3-1. Burke finished fourth overall, losing 4-0 in the consolation final to a very tough Luke Werner from Bethlehem Liberty.
It’s that time of year again to battle the Ole Man Winter, as snow is on the horizon this weekend and possibly again next week. So stay tuned for rescheduled duals and events. The new dual team rankings are as follows:
SOL DUAL TEAM RANKINGS
1-Council Rock South 9-0
2-North Penn 12-3
3-Pennridge 8-1
4-Neshaminy 10-3
5-Quakertown 9-5
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