By Alex Frazier
Continental Conference
Quakertown 32, Central Bucks South 31
(Quakertown wins by criteria-most wins 8-6)
Quakertown coach Kurt Handel is breathing a sigh of relief as his team slipped past a surprisingly tough Central Bucks South.
“They’re tough,” said Handel. “They’re that good. I knew it was going to be close.”
The kids are producing,” said Titan coach Craig Deacon. “We can’t win the close ones, but we’ll get there.”
The upper weights turned out to be key.
Heading into the 160 match, Quakertown held a 28-22 lead. But South’s Dylan Swan pinned to tie the match. Handel was expecting bonus points from Steve Yerkes at 171, but Yerkes managed just a 5-3 decision over Greg Frasch, giving the Panthers a three-point lead heading into the final bout.
The Titans needed at least a major to pull out the upset, but South’s Jim Peniston could only forge an 8-3 decision over Chris Burnside to tie the match.
“He just couldn’t do it and we ended up losing on criteria,” said Deacon. “What can you do?”
“Those were the key bouts,” said Handel. “Everything else went according to what you would think would happen in the match. It was a nailbiter.”
Quakertown freshmen Collyn Dorney (103) and Lucas Garges (119), as well as Josh Schwartz at 125, Sage Mailischewski at 130 and Matt Jorgensen (major at 215) turned in important decisions.
For C.B. South Nick Haegele majored at 112, Mike Mathis pinned at 135 and Dominic Rigous pinned at 152 to raise his season mark to 16-0.
“Everyone gave 100 percent,” said Deacon. “I had no one slack off today. That’s all I can ask of them.”
The Titans (1-2 league) travel to the NHSCA Duals this weekend.
The Panthers are 3-0 in the league with a huge showdown against Souderton looming next Wednesday.
“For nobody expecting C.B. South to do anything this year, they’re completely wrong. They have a tough squad,” said Handel.
Central Bucks East 36, Pennridge 33
In his first full year wrestling varsity, East’s Shane Peltonen faced the biggest match of his life.
His team was trailing 33-30 heading into the final bout of the night at 160. The Patriots couldn’t settle for a tie with a decision, so Peltonen had to go for bonus points.
He took freshman Ryan Harrison down in the first period and chose bottom in the second. Somehow he managed an unorthodox reversal, in the process putting Harrison on his back for the fall and the victory.
“He had a little varsity experience but not much at all,” said East coach Dave Scarpill. “After the first period we thought it was going to be a decision. He gets in funky situations and next thing you know he ends up on top with the kid on his back at the edge.”
In a match that close, you could point to anybody as being the key match.
For instance, East picked up six points at 189 when Pennridge’s Randall Harrison was disqualified for locking hands.
East’s Gio Mannino won on a takedown in overtime at 130. And second-year wrestler Connor Bednarzyk eked out a 10-8 decision at 140.
The Rams’ Dylan Moore gave Pennridge a chance to win when he pinned at 152 to give the Rams a 33-30 lead. Alex Barday, back from an ankle injury gave Pennridge a 27-21 lead with a fall in 1:56 at 135.
Pennridge was also missing Andrew Haughey who sat out with a knee injury.
“A lot of bone-headed mistakes cost us,” said Ram coach Dan Goetter. “Once we get everybody back we should be real tough.”
American Conference
Norristown 53, Upper Moreland 22
Three pins in the final three weight classes turned a relatively close match into a rout.
For the Eagles, it was their first league match of the year after postponing two due to health issues.
“We’ve won everything we’ve been in,” said coach Mark Harner.
Except for a couple of injuries, the Eagles are now soaring, heading into this weekend’s Escape the Rock Tournament at C.R. South.
Harner said the key bouts of the night came at 112 and 130. Kelvin Howard pinned at 112 and Doug Forlano edged Anthony Dill 2-1 at 130.
“It was a tough match,” said Upper Moreland coach Dave Bolich. “There was a win or two I thought we’d get and a kid or two I didn’t think would get pinned.”
The Eagles began the match with a pin by 189-pounder Larry Gordon and swept the last three on falls from Brandon Parker, Brett Harner and Tyler Letrinko.
Tyree Gardner majored at 119 and freshman Mikey Springer recorded his 16th pin of the year to boost his record to 17-1 at 140. Gavin Queenan tech falled at heavyweight and Zach Fuentes pinned at 103 to round out Norristown’s winners.
“We’ve got a pretty good group of seven or eight kids,” said Harner. “If we get a couple more wins off the other guys, we’re in good shape.”
Next week the Eagles face Upper Dublin and Wissahickon, matches that will most likely settle the conference title.
Upper Moreland won four bouts. Zack Lyall majored at 125, Anthony DeLaurentis pinned at 135, Justin Hester pinned at 145 and senior captain John Bolich pinned at 215.
“In the course of the match, a lot of our kids did a lot of good things,” said Dave Bolich. “Our underclassmen especially wrestled well.”
Upper Dublin 45, Plymouth Whitemarsh 32
Heavyweight Ryan Hopkin’s pin clinched the match for the Flying Cardinals. His was the third consecutive pin behind Brian Carson (189) and Devon Dhoble (215).
“The top three guys came up big,” said UD coach Dave Jones.
Upper Dublin jumped out to a big lead, getting falls from Jacob Haney (130), Nick DiMuzio (135) and Sam Jacobson (140) in the first three bouts. DiMuzio ‘s pin was his 97th career win.
“With seven 6s (including a forfeit at 119), they couldn’t mathematically beat us,” said Jones.
Plymouth Whitemarsh received pins from Justin and John Michael Staudenmayer and Luke Wisniewski.
”We knew it was going to be a good match,” Jones. “It worked out they way we thought it would work out.”
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