This week's notebook features CR North's John Dutrow.
By Alex Frazier
Meet…John Dutrow
At one time or another, every coach has had that “perfect” wrestler.
That one which sets the standard.
For Council Rock North coach Tom Vivacqua, John Dutrow is about as good as it gets.
“He’s an absolute dream to have on the team,” said Vivacqua. “He’s a great kid, super tough worker, mentally tough and he gets the sport. He competes hard, but the wins are not super over the top and the losses are not way down. He has a good even keel.”
Dutrow is the middle of three brothers. Anthony is the oldest at 19 and James is the youngest at 14. While Anthony and John are close to the same size, James is already the biggest as a freshman at 6-2 and 260 pounds. He started at heavyweight at the beginning of the year.
“He always looked like me and everybody thought we were twins when I was about 12,” said John. “He grew faster than I did, but I still think I can take him.”
But maybe not for long.
All three brothers started wrestling at the same time, seven years ago.
“One day one of our best friends’ parents said, ‘Do you want to try wrestling?’ and we said, ‘Yeah.’ That’s how we got into this great sport,” said John. “We were all on the same team. That was cool. We didn’t do any varsity stuff until we were a couple of years into it.”
Dutrow is one of the team captains.
“He’s a very good leader,” said Vivacqua.
Not only is he a vocal leader but also he leads by example.
“He trains hard, drills hard and is very disciplined in his weight and his diet and his training. He’s solid all the way around. If you want to beat him you have to go hard,” said Vivacqua.
Dutrow has qualified for states twice so far. Both times he went 1-2. This year he’s hoping to break that barrier.
Last year he finished second in sectionals, third in districts and third in regionals. At states, he was pinned in overtime in the match he needed to place.
“I just keep wrestling like I always do and I always end up doing real good,” said Dutrow. “I’m hoping to continue that if not do even better. I’m now comfortable with all that stuff because even when I was younger I was doing stuff like this.”
He is currently ranked seventh in the state in the PA Power Rankings.
“I never look at any of that stuff,” he said. “I never got into it. I just go out there and if I know the kid, I still wrestle the same. It’s the only thing I know how to do.”
Heading into sectionals Saturday, Dutrow is poised to win his 100th career match. His career mark is 98-31, and 34-4 this season.
His goal is to win all three local tournaments and place in the top three at states.
“He’s not afraid to battle, kind of likes big matches and wrestling tough kids,” said Vivacqua.
And maybe the best thing about Dutrow is that he’s only a junior.
State Duals – Norristown went 2-2 at the PIAA State Dual Meet Championship. The Eagles defeated District Three fourth place Manheim Township 39-35 in the preliminary round, lost 47-20 to eventual third-place finisher (3-1) Central Dauphin, beat (4-1) Jersey Shore 41-28 in the first round of consolations before being eliminated by (11-1) Easton 47-19.
After the first round, Norristown faced three consecutive district champions.
Post-season tidbits – Seven SOL state qualifiers will be trying to get back to Hershey again and do even better there. Heading that list is Council Rock South’s Billy Rappo, who won the 103-pound title last year. Zach Fuentes of Norristown placed fourth at 112 as did Brett Harner at 152, and Shane Springer (160) finished fifth.
Other qualifiers who didn’t place were Pennsbury’s Josh DiSanto (119), Council Rock North’s John Dutrow (119) and Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Justin Staudenmayer (125).
• Three SOL wrestlers are entering the post-season with unblemished records. Pennridge 106-pounder Scott Parker, who didn’t make it out of regions last year, is 20-0. He missed the last couple of weeks of the season with an elbow injury but is slated to go at sectionals.
Central Buck West has two undefeated wrestlers. Seth Ehlo (152) made it to states as a sophomore and placed seventh, but missed it last year. He is currently 29-0. The Buck’s other undefeated grappler is Chris Jastrzebski (195) who is 25-0. He finished third at districts last year.
Sections – For what it’s worth to fans, this is the last year of sectional tournaments. Starting next year, sections will be replaced by league tournaments.
For the present, this is how the sectional tournaments line up (* indicates location):
SECTION I SECTION II SECTION III
Abington Central Bucks East Harriton
Bensalem Central Bucks South Hatboro-Horsham*
Council Rock North Central Bucks West Methacton
Council Rock South North Penn Norristown
Neshaminy * Pennridge Perkiomen Valley
Pennsbury Phoenixville Lower Merion
Upper Moreland Pottsgrove* Plymouth Whitemarsh
Wm. Tennent Quakertown Upper Dublin
Harry Truman Souderton Upper Merion
Cheltenham Upper Perkiomen Wissahickon
SECTION IV SECTION V SECTION VI
Bishop Shanahan Academy Park Avon Grove
Boyertown * Chichester Conestoga
Coatesville Glen Mills Garnet Valley
Downingtown East Haverford * Marple Newtown
Downingtown West Interboro Oxford
Great Valley Penn Wood Penncrest
Kennett Radnor Strath Haven
Octorara Ridley W.C. East
Owen J. Roberts Springfield (D) W.C.Henderson
Spring-Ford Sun Valley W.C.Rustin *
Unionville Upper Darby
Sections will take place on Saturday with the following times:
8:30 a.m. Weigh-in (Scales will be open from 8:00-8:29 a.m. for unofficial weight checks)
First Session (Preliminaries, Quarter-Finals)
Wrestling begins at 9:30 a.m.
First Session continues:
Semi-Final, Wrestle Back Quarter-Finals and Semi-Final Consolation Rounds
(15-minute break before Semi-Finals)
Second Session (Championship and Consolation Finals)
5:45 p.m. – Parade of Champions
6:00 p.m. – Wrestling begins
Conference Champions –Congratulations to this year’s SOL Conference Champions. Council Rock North won the National Conference, Central Bucks South won its first Continental Conference and Norristown took the American Conference. All three teams finished the league season undefeated.
SOL Top 5
1. Norristown
2. Council Rock North
3. Council Rock South
4. Central Bucks South
5. Pennsbury
Top Guns
106—Scott Parker, Pennridge
113— Billy Rappo, Council Rock South
120—Kolton Veit, Souderton
126—Josh DiSanto, Pennsbury
132—John Dutrow, Council Rock North
138—Mike Springer, Norristown
145—Justin Staudenmayer, Plymouth Whitemarsh
152—Seth Ehlo, Central Bucks West
160—Brett Harner, Norristown
170—Shane Springer, Norristown
182—Tyler Letrinko, Norristown
195—PJ Steinmetz, Council Rock South
220—Tim Riley, Council Rock South
285—Andrew Van Buskirk, William Tennent
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