This week’s notebook features CB West’s Chris Jastrzebski and recaps last weekend’s Sectionals.
By Alex Frazier
Meet…Chris Jastrzebski
Central Bucks West’s Chris Jastrzebski was one of just three Suburban One League wrestlers to enter the post-season undefeated.
“I didn’t expect to be undefeated,” he said, “but with all the training I’ve had I deserve it.”
While that in itself is a remarkable accomplishment, Jastrzebski did it wrestling 10 pounds over his natural weight. For most of the season, he had been weighing in at 185 and wrestling at 195 or even 220 a few times to help the Bucks plug some holes in the lineup.
“I didn’t care where I wrestled,” he said.
But for the post-season, he decided to drop to 182.
Seeded first in Section Two, Jastrzebski didn’t disappoint, although his undefeated season very nearly eluded him.
In the sectional finals, he trailed Upper Perkiomen’s Dalton Fleming 7-1 at the beginning of the third period when Jastrzebski escaped and threw a quick headlock. A pin was inevitable, until Fleming called time, so Jastrzebski had to settle for a four-point near fall and an 8-7 lead. But Fleming escaped to make it 8-8 and sent the bout into overtime.
Nine seconds into the extra period, Jastrzebski hit a textbook heel pick to win the bout 10-8.
“I felt like I was in the match the whole time,” he said, “but he caught me early. I just needed to move on my feet.”
“He has a repertoire that he doesn’t use often enough,” said West coach Joe McGinley. “He relies on power moves and I’d like to see him mix in the finesse as well.”
It was his second sectional title.
His record for the year now stands at 28-0. With the exception of four forfeits, Jastrzebski has recorded 22 falls. He’s only gone the full distance twice (one of which was the overtime in sectionals) and only two falls came in the second period. The only time he went the distance was against Pottsgrove’s Pat Finn, whom he beat 10-4, and his overtime win against Fleming. His fastest pin was 12 seconds.
While all this is impressive to be sure, it could work to his disadvantage as he advances deeper into the post-season and the competition picks up.
Jastrzebski, however, believes he is in good enough shape to compete with the best for three periods.
“Competition-wise nobody has seen me go the whole distance, but I still train just as hard as I need to if I was going to go that distance,” he said.
“We’ve been trying to bring in bigger guys throughout the season,” said McGinley. “He’s been pushing big bodies. He’s in shape. I’m not concerned about him going full matches.”
Jastrzebski attributes his strong season to intense training.
“I’m doing a lot more core workouts,” he said. “I’m lifting during the season not just off-season, and I’m working hard in the room.”
Jastrzebski has especially been honing his takedown technique.
“I’ve been focusing more on shooting this year,” he said. “In the past I’ve gone more upper body. This year I’ve been moving faster and trying not to muscle anybody anymore and use more technique.”
McGinley sensed that Jastrzebski would have a great season as far back as last summer.
“He has matured in the last couple of years unbelievably,” said McGinley. “He went from someone who was very talented but unsure of himself to someone who is very talented and sure of himself. This year part of it is physical maturity but more of it is upstairs. From the summertime on, he has shown a real leader role and has a drive that wasn’t all that evident before. He wants to do it.
“Once he made the decision to wrestle in college, the rest of it came easier. Then he knew what level of dedication he had to put in. He knew what level of fitness he had to be in.”
A year ago Jastrzebski placed third at districts but was unable to compete at regionals because of a skin infection. Naturally, he’s eager to show that he is deserving of a state berth this year.
“I’m trying to stay healthy,” he said. “That’s my main goal. I’ve never been up to states, but I think I deserve it. If I stay healthy, everything will fall in place. If I just wrestle my best, I can beat pretty much anyone until states.”
Jastrzebski gave up football this year (he would have been the starting fullback and linebacker) so that he could focus on wrestling, which he plans to pursue next year in college.
“I knew I wasn’t going to play football in college, so I wanted to focus on wrestling,” he said.
Maryland, Boston University, Rider and Ursinus are all interested in him and some may offer scholarship money.
“I’m trying to find the best fit for me,” he said. “All of them have great academics and all of them have really good wrestling programs.”
He leaning towards a major in applied mathematics and/or physics with the potential of a career in pharmaceuticals in research and development.
But before that he hopes to place in the top four in the state.
Century Clubbers – Council Rock North’s John Dutrow joined the Century Club Saturday at the Section One Tournament. He earned that distinction in his second match against Neshaminy’s Joe Simcox, whom he tech falled 15-0 in the semifinals before going on to win the sectional title with a 9-0 major over Council Rock South’s Mack Moore, 9-0.
Also, congratulations to Pennsbury’s Josh DiSanto, who won his 100thon Feb. 8 when he decked Bensalem’s Tyler Suchat in 22 seconds.
Sectional notes – In the 12 person brackets at 195, there were only six wrestlers in both Section One and Two and there were eight in Section Three. It seems that there may not be enough heavy guys to go around.
Section One
• Although Neshaminy’s Harry Wilson didn’t win the 126-pound title, he did pull off an upset in the semifinals, pinning William Tennent’s Kevin Flack. He was leading 5-3 late in the third period when he locked up a cradle, pulled Flack back onto the mat and got the fall at the 5:27 mark.
In the finals he was majored by Pennsbury’s Josh DiSanto, 10-2.
“It was a good feeling going into the finals,” said Wilson. “I was happy with the win over Flack, but I wasn’t happy with the results of the finals.”
Wilson, a senior, is enjoying his best high school season. He is 30-6 heading into districts.
“I’ve worked harder this year,” he said. “Something changed when I came in this year. I have more confidence. I just want to keep on advancing. Hopefully I can see DiSanto in the finals in districts.”
He plans on wrestling next year, probably at Kutztown, which is his first choice.
• Council Rock North’s Tyler Callender and Council Rock South’s Tim Riley are pretty good friends and have wrestled each other a lot over the years, but until last Saturday they had not faced off in an official match.
The stage was the Section One finals and Callender, who was the second seed, upset top-ranked Riley 5-2. Callender did it with a pair of takedowns.
“I was very happy,” said Callender. “It was a big match for me.”
Both wrestlers had pinned their way into the finals.
“I knew it was going to be a big match going into it,” said Callender, “and I wanted to make the best of it. I wrestled as hard as I could.”
Only a sophomore, Callender is getting better and better.
“I’ve gotten a lot quicker this year,” he said. “I’ve been working real hard.”
The district tournament this weekend could see a re-match between Callender and Riley.
“If I see Timmy again in the finals, I’m going to wrestle harder than last time,” said Callender. “I know what he does and I’ll be ready for it again, and I expect to win again.”
But first Callender has to get by Quakertown Section Two champ Matt Jorgenson, who beat him in the first round of districts last year.
“I had mono and was out for a month,” said Callender. “I wasn’t in good shape. Wrestling a full season will be a benefit. I feel strong.”
• Council Rock South’s Tommy Trampe avenged a dual-meet loss to William Tennent’s Andrew VanBuskirk with a 3-1 sudden victory decision to capture the 285-pound crown.
Section Two
• Central Bucks West may be the team to watch next year. The Bucks advanced five wrestlers to the finals, with three champions (Riley Barth at 145, Seth Ehlo at 152 and Chris Jastrzebski at 182), and two runners-up (Bryan Jastrzebski at 126 and Jason Douple at 138). Of those, Douple and Barth are freshmen and Bryan Jastrzebski is a sophomore.
“I do think we have a solid young team for next year,” said coach Joe McGinley.
Section Three
• Second-seeded Phil Torresani of Hatboro-Horsham lost a heartbreaking 3-2 tiebreaker to Methacton’s Joe Savella in the semifinals. In six meetings the two are now tied 3-3. Torresani had beaten Savella in an ultimate rideout earlier this season at the Wetzel Tournament.
• Upper Merion freshman Sean Ginsburg made a strong statement in winning the 113-pound championship in the Section Three Tournament.
Ginsburg cruised through his first match decking Kyle Bautista of Lower Merion in 1:26. He fell behind briefly in the semifinals to Cole Gehman of Perkiomen Valley because of an illegal slam but fought back to rack up back points in the third period to win 8-5. That set up a finals match against top-seeded Eric Straup of Methacton, whom he majored 15-5.
“I was excited and I thought it was going to be a little harder,” said Ginsburg of his first post-season tournament.
Ginsburg is now 22-9 in his first varsity season.
Ginsburg has a bye for the first round of districts and will face the winner of the Christian Laird (CBS)-Jason Bing (Pb) match in the district quarterfinals.
“That should be a hard match,” he said.
Ginsburg hopes to make it to regionals
“I’ve been doing good and have progressed during the year,” he said.
• Norristown’s Brett Harner was on the mat for a total of 1 minute and 21 seconds in the three matches he wrestled en route to the 160-pound championship and the Outstanding Wrestler Award.
• Norristown’s Tyler Letrinko took No. 1-seed Eli Zimmer of Upper Merion 7-3 in the 182-pound final.
• Upper Dublin’s Devon Dhoble knocked off top seed Larry Gordon of Norristown 8-1 to claim his first sectional championship. Last year he tore his PCL in his second sectional bout and missed the rest of the post-season.
“I thought I would do decent in the post-season last year,” he said. “It was a goal of mine to come back.”
He had lost to Gordon in the dual meet, 3-1. As Dhoble described it, “I underestimated the length of his arms. I wasn’t cautious enough about that (winning) takedown.”
This time he cruised to an 8-1 victory.
“I wasn’t mentally conditioned coming into the Norristown match,” he said. “I realized that that was the bigger match of the two, and he was my only loss at that time. I needed that redemption. Besides placing first, I needed to beat Larry.”
Over the years Dhoble has had problems getting up for big matches.
“I’m a practice wrestler,” he said. “I wrestle a lot better at practice than I do tournament matches because of my nerves. I just figured if I wrestled as loose as I do in practice I’d be able to accomplish my goal.”
Dhoble is seeded second in districts and he’s hoping to repeat his sectional performance.
Gordon and No.-1 seed P.J. Steinmetz of Council Rock South are in the upper bracket. His main opposition in the lower bracket is Pottsgrove freshman Pat Finn, who won the Section Two title.
“I have to go out and do the same thing I did in Larry’s match,” he said. “The goal is to get into the finals. If I wrestle like I do in practice, I’m pretty confident I’ll do well.”
Next year Dhoble will be attending Bloomsburg. He is considering a career path as a physician’s assistant or possibly business.
He plans to train with the team, but not compete in matches until he’s had a chance to acclimate to the demands of college.
“If I find that I can handle my academics and I can learn to balance my academics and my athletics, I’ll be able to work something out,” he said.
• Yale Alpert of Upper Dublin upset Norristown’s Rasheed Lusane 2-1 in the semifinals.
District schedule – Class AAA districts will be held in two locations. Qualifiers from Sections, 1,2, 3 will compete at Quakertown, while Sections 4,5,6 will head to Spring-Ford. The schedule is as follows:Friday –Feb. 24
First Session
4:30 p.m. Weigh-in (Unofficial weight check begins at 4 p.m.
Wrestling begins at 5:30 p.m. includes Prelims and Quarterfinals
Saturday, Feb. 25
Second Session
8:30 a.m. Weigh-ins (Unofficial weight check begins at 8 a.m.
Wrestling begins at 9:30 a.m.
Includes –First round wrestlebacks, Break, Semi-Finals, Second Round wrestlebacks, fifth place match
Third Session
5:30 p.m. – League Coach of the Year Awards
5:45 p.m. – Parade of Champions
6:00 p.m. – Championship and Consolation finals by weight.
District One North Predictions
Okay, I realize this is an inexact science, but here are my predicted finishes for this week’s District One North Tournament in order of finish.
106—Zach Fuentes (No), Scott Parker (Pr), Dan Martoccio, (CRS), Mike Pritchard (Ben)
113—Billy Rappo (CRS), Dante Steffenino (UP), Jason Bing (Pb), Sean Ginsburg (UMe)
120—Kolton Veit (So), Tommy Stokes (Ben), Anthony DiEmidio (Pb), Brett Duvernois (Me)
126—Josh DiSanto (Pb), Kevin Flack (WT), Harry Wilson (Ne), Bryan Jastrzebski (CBW)
132—John Dutrow (CRN), Wolfgang McStravick (UP), Mack Moore (CRS), Steve Volovar (UD)
138—Mike Springer (No), Ryan O’Connor (Ne), Pat Fennell (Wiss), Tyler Seislove (Q)
145—Justin Staudenmayer (PW), Luke Kowal (Pb), Boris Sokhiev (WT), Alden Ely (CRN)
152—Seth Ehlo (CBW), Shane Hughes (Ben), Brennen Weiss (Wiss), Bob Barone (WT)
160—Brett Harner (No), Danny Michaels (Ptg), Paul Scott (UMo), David Qawasmy (Me)
170—Shane Springer (No), Dominic Rigous (CBS), Kody Lupfer (Ne), Rich Strain (WT)
182—Chris Jastrzebski (CBW), Tyler Letrinko (No), Ernest Tessein (Pb), Dalton Fleming (UP)
195—PJ Steinmetz (CRS), Devon Dhoble (UD), Larry Gordon (No), Pat Finn (Ptg)
220—Tim Riley (CRS), Tyler Callender (CRN), Jesse Prante (No), Matt Jorgenson (Q)
285—Tommy Trampe (CRS), Andrew VanBuskirk (WT), Ricky Young (So), Rasheed Lusane (No)
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—Tyler Callender, Council Rock South
285—Tommy Trampe, Council Rock South
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