By Alex Frazier
Meet…Seth EhloPlacing eighth in the state as a sophomore sets a pretty high bar.
Central Bucks West’s Seth Ehlo sees it as a double-edged sword.
“Since I placed eighth last year the pressure is added, because there’s a lot of pressure on you to do what you did last year,” he said, “but also it should give me an advantage over the kids that haven’t had that experience. I know what I had to do last year, and I should have an upper hand over those people who haven’t had that experience.”
Ehlo’s goal last year was to make it to regionals, which he didn’t do his freshman year, when he went 14-11 and lost both matches at districts.
As a sophomore, he placed third in districts, and then surprised even himself by finishing fourth to make it to the next level. In his consolation finals match, he lost to LaSalle’s’ Joey Mazzi, 5-2. Mazzi is currently ranked No. 1 in the state at 135.
At states, he lost his first match, and then won two straight to put him in medal position. Ironically, he lost again to Mazzi in the match for seventh place.
He finished with a record of 38-10.
“I started winning and it all seemed to pull together and work out for me,” he said. “It was a new experience. You’re a little shell shocked at first and looking around, but once the wrestling happens you focus down, so it’s not really different than any other tournament you might be wrestling in.”
Though West’s team has been down this year, Ehlo has still managed to find competition in the wrestling room. His workout partners include coach Joe McGinley, and an assistant coach, along with 189-pounder Chris Jastrzebski, who is also having a successful season (28-2).Ehlo enters this post-season in about the same situation he was in last year. He is 25-4.
“I feel a lot stronger and I’m having a pretty good season,” he said.
His four losses have come to some good wrestlers. Casey Kent of LaSalle placed third at states last year and Jayshon Wilson of Carlisle was eighth in states last year at 145.
His other two losses were to Harry S Truman’s Dan Balek (8-5) and West Chester Henderson’s Charlie Grab in an ultimate tiebreaker, 3-2. Balek finished the season at 26-5 and Grab was 31-7.
“It’s good to have good competition heading into the post-season,” he said. “I feel those tough matches are good to wrestle now so you know how you stand going in. Then you know what you have to do to beat those guys if you face them.”
To his credit, he beat Germantown Academy’s John Allenson, a seventh place finisher at National Prep’s last year and another kid who is ranked fourth in Massachusetts.
Ehlo is also one of four captains this year, which he likes.
“I try to help out when I can,” he said.
When it comes time for college selection, Ehlo may have more than one decision to make.
Besides choosing a school, he will also have to choose a sport.
You see, Ehlo has also been a successful cornerback on the Bucks’ football team. This year he was selected honorable mention all-state.
He’s played football about as long as he’s wrestled—since kindergarten.
He also played baseball last year, though he may not this year, and he still plays intramural basketball.
“I’m not sure if I want to play football or wrestle in college,” he said. “I’m looking around at colleges seeing which ones will fit me, but I’m not sure which ones I want to go to.”
With a 3.7 GPA, Ehlo will have a wide choice of colleges to choose from. He plans on majoring in business, although he cites social studies as a favorite course.
Ehlo is excited for it all to begin on Saturday.
“It seems like the season just started yesterday,” he said. “It’s gone by so fast. This is the time it counts. If you lose you’re out. You have to win to go on.”
Record breaker – Upper Dublin’s Nick DiMuzio set the school career wins record in his final match of the regular season.He couldn’t have scripted a more appropriate time to achieve the milestone. Last Friday was Senior Night, and he rose to the occasion, majoring Pottsgrove’s Riley Michaels 13-3 for his 108th win.
“It was really a big coincidence it was on that night,” he said. “I was pretty confident that I was going to win, so I was just getting fired up to have a good match and get the win. It was just a confidence builder to get rolling into the post-season.”
Earlier this season, he topped the 100-win plateau against archrival Springfield.
“We’re really close friends with some of the kids there,” said DiMuzio. “That was another nice coincidence.”
DiMuzio first thought about striving for the record in his sophomore year. He was coming off a freshman year when he went 23-14.
“I realized how good I was doing,” he said. “If I kept that pace and added a few extra wins each year, I would catch up to the record.”
As a sophomore he jumped to 25 wins against nine losses, and last year he won 33 matches and lost just four.
Those two goals behind him, DiMuzio has another that is even more important to him—qualifying for states.In the past three years, his season has ended at districts. This year he hopes to push past that and place in the top four at regionals.
“It’s my last year, so I’m going to give it all I’ve got,” he said. “I can’t leave anything out there.”
He thinks his chances are pretty good.
“It’s looking really good,” he said. “I’m in a really good weight class (130), and I’m in good shape to go far this year. A lot of kids are either staying up at 135 or moving down to 125.”
Next year, DiMuzio will wrestle at Ursinus and major in pre-med.
“I want to follow in my dad’s footsteps,” he said. “He’s a vascular surgeon. I’m also thinking about orthopedics because I’ve had a history of injuries. I’ve taken an interest in that field.”
Friendly warfare – In the state duals, two Council Rock coaches faced their alma maters. Head coach Brad Silimperi went to Nazareth, a team that beat the Hawks in the consi finals. Assistant coach Trap McCormack went to Central Mountain, a team the Hawks defeated in the consi semifinals to guarantee a podium finish.
“The coolest thing is we have good relationships with both teams,” said Silimperi. “We know the coaches. We go way back with them. Before the match we’re jockeying for position, we’re teasing each other. During the match we’re snickering and commenting. It’s so much fun, just a great atmosphere and great environment. Afterwards we’re analyzing matches.”
Down to the wire – Both the National Conference and Continental Conference titles came down to the last match of the season. In the National, Council Rock South defeated Council Rock North 37-24. Had the Indians won, there would have been a two-way tie at the top.
Both teams were missing starters. The Hawks, in particular, rested some of their wrestlers after a long weekend at Hershey at the state duals. They still managed to win eight of the 14 bouts. Only one of the matches was close.
Rock North’s Tyler Callender slipped past Tom Dingui 3-2 at heavyweight.
The Hawks collected pins from Matt Rappo (135), Shane Gilmore (171) and Tim Riley (215), while the Indians received a fall from Chris Child (140).
• In the Continental Conference, Quakertown topped Central Bucks East 38-24. Had East won, there would have been a four-way logjam at the top. As it was, the Panthers claimed their fourth straight Continental crown.
“This year it was about which team was the most consistent week in and week out,” said Quakertown coach Kurt Handel. “That’s how we got the title this year, being most consistent.”
At 171, Steve Yerkes set the tone for the Panthers with a 7-4 win over East’s Shane Peltonen in the first bout of the night.
“I knew that was going to be a nailbiter,” said Handel. “He was down 4-2 and came back to win it.”
Handel bumped Alex Brulliea to 119, and he responded with a 9-8 win over Mike Laurinaitis after forging a 5-2 lead.
The most courageous match of the night for Quakertown came from 189-pounder Chris Burnside, who, despite having a partially separated shoulder, took one for the team rather than giving up a forfeit. He saved the team three points after losing an 8-2 decision to Steve Tilsner.
“He said, ‘I’m wrestling tonight no matter what,’” said Handel. “He gutted out the match. It wasn’t the prettiest, but he didn’t give up the six points. It was a mental win.”
Another year, another crown for the Panthers.
“We graduated a lot of seniors last year and a lot of people didn’t expect us to pull this off,” said Handel “The guys selflessly allowed me to move them around. None of them complained. I didn’t hear any complaints from parents. That’s the effort it took this year.”
Sections – The post-season begins this weekend with the six sectional tournaments. Four wrestlers from each section will advance to the district tournaments next weekend.
The following is the alignment of the six sections (* indicates host school):
Section One
Abington, Bensalem, Council Rock North, Council Rock South, Neshaminy,* Pennsbury, Upper Moreland, William Tennent, Harry S Truman
Section Two
Central Bucks East, Central Bucks South, Central Bucks West
North Penn, Pennridge, Pottsgrove,* Pottstown, Quakertown, Souderton, Upper Perkiomen
Section Three
Cheltenham, Hatboro-Horsham,* Methacton, Norristown, Perkiomen Valley, Phoenixville, Plymouth Whitemarsh, Upper Dublin, Upper Merion, Wissahickon
Section Four
Boyertown,* Coatesville, Downingtown East, Downingtown West, Great Valley, Kennett, Owen J. Roberts, Spring-Ford, Unionville, Bishop Shanahan
Section Five
Academy Park, Chichester, Glen Mills, Haverford, Interboro, Penn Wood, Radnor, Ridley,* Springfield Delco, Sun Valley, Upper Darby
Section Six
Avon Grove, Conestoga, Garnet Valley,* Lower Merion, Marple Newtown, Oxford, Penncrest, Strath Haven, West Chester East, West Chester Henderson, West Chester Rustin
The schedule for all sections is as follows:
Feb 19
8:30 a.m.— Weigh-ins
9:30 a.m.— Preliminaries and quarterfinals, consolation quarterfinals, semifinals
5:45 p.m.—Parade of Champions
6 p.m.—Consolation finals and Championships
Around the league – Over the weekend, Wissahickon defeated Upper Merion 60-15. The Trojans racked up nine falls and collected one forfeit. Gianni Labricciosa (189) pinned and Nick Vuotto decisioned for the Vikings, who also collected a forfeit.
112: Aaron Rodriguez (W) pinned Felipe Gonzalez (UM) 2:25
119: Cody Franko (W) pinned Adam Nguyen (UM) 3:36
125: Jordan Feltes (W) pinned Andrew Raskiewicz(UM) 3:21
130: Will Beradelli (W) pinned Eddie Gonzalez (UM) 1:32
135: Pat Fennell (W) won by forfeit
140: Sean Saunders (W) pinned Irving Galvin (UM) 3:08
145: Nick Vuotto (UM) dec. Brennan Weiss (W) 5-2
152: Dan Schueren (W) pinned Steven Burkert (UM) 1:05
160: Harry David (W) pinned David Moran (UM) 1:40
171: Paul Wisloski (W) pinned Brandon Heck (UM), 1:48
189: Gianni Labricciosa (UM) pinned Kevin Casalinuovo (W) 1:28 215: Kevin Yannes (W) pinned Jeff Schuebe (UM) 1:06
285: Treci Butler (UM) won by forfeit
Also, Quakertown defeated North Penn 34-22 to set up a battle for the conference title with C.B. East.
North Penn went up 22-16 after the first seven bouts but the Panthers reeled off two straight pins by Matt Jorgenson (215) and Jake Swearingen (285) in addition to a forfeit at 103, which sealed the win.
135: Tyler Seislove (Q) maj dec Matt Robinson (NP) 15-2
140: Briar Malischewski (Q) pinned Jeffery Reimel (NP) 1:04
145: Kenny Randleman (NP) maj dec David Bedwell (Q) 18-6
152: Chalie Price (NP) dec Dan Irvin (Q) 8-1
160: Alex Price (NP) pinned Kenny Eroman (Q) :37
171: Double forfeit
189: George Shipp (NP) dec Steve Yerkes (Q) 4-0
215: Matt Jorgensen (Q) pinned Brendan O'Connor (NP) 1:34
285: Jake Swearingen (Q) pinned Nick Gill (NP) 1:00
103: Collyn Dorney (Q) won by forfeit
112: Joey O'Brien (NP) dec Alex Brulliea (Q) 13-9
119: Ervin Gaitan (NP) dec Lucas Garges (Q) 4-2
125: Josh Schwartz (Q) dec Anthony Zayas (NP) 2-0
130: Scott Wolfinger (Q) dec Evan Conti (NP) 11-5
Top Five SOL
1. Council Rock South
2. Norristown
3. Quakertown
4. Council Rock North
5. Upper Moreland
Top Guns
103—Billy Rappo, Council Rock South
112—Trey Balasco, Council Rock South
119— Matt Harkins, Hatboro-Horsham
125—Shane Longstreth, Council Rock North
130—Scott Wolfinger, Quakertown
135—Matt Rappo, Council Rock South
140—Matt Martoccio, Council Rock South
145— Brandon Parker, Norristown
152— Brett Harner, Norristown
160—Nick Russell, Neshaminy
171—John Staudenmayer, Plymouth Whitemarsh
189—John Bolich, Upper Moreland
215—Joe Stolfi, Souderton
285—Gavin Queenan, Norristown
- Log in to post comments
0
