This week's notebook highlights some of the top teams and performances of the week.
SOL WRESTLING NOTEBOOK (WEEK #2)
By Glenn Kaiser
Weather Wipes Out Weekend Wrestling:
Unfortunately, for many SOL teams this past weekend, wrestling was nowhere to be seen. The threat of potential snow and ice accumulations forced schools to shut down their facilities and cancel transportation. With that being said, it’s going to be a long winter! Schools are now scrambling to recover the lost comps, and thus, they are searching for a dual meet or individual tourney, or in some cases multiple duals to complete their schedules.
While it is unfortunate we need to listen to the weatherman, who is only right 50 percent of the time (and I’m being generous with that), school administrators need to realize we live in the Northeastern part of the United States. We are going to have snow and ice, and while safety is paramount, common sense to run a tournament straight through when there is a threat of weather seems to work. Or move start times of events to accommodate the “threat” of winter storms.
North Penn and Council Rock South traveled and wrestled at the King of the Mountain, while CR North and Neshaminy had to return from the Penn Manor tournament after Friday’s wrestling, and Souderton journeyed to Maryland to compete. The Abington Ghost Town Duals were cancelled altogether. I can tell you from experience, it always snows at the KOM tourney. One year we had to stay over an extra night…but we got there and wrestled. So the contrast from school to school creates barriers for all to compete when weather is an issue. Hopefully, it will snow in between days of wrestling, and PennDOT and local municipalities keep the roads clear!
SOL American:
Upper Moreland appears to have established itself as the team to beat in the American Conference, as they opened league duals with a convincing dismantling of Wissahickon 51-18. Led by Dominic DeLaurentis’ 1-0 decision over Wissahickon’s Pat Fennell at 160, the Golden Bears jumped all over the Trojans as a forfeit to Anthony DeLaurentis and a 7-3 victory by Will Smith at 152 preceded DeLaurentis’ win, putting UM up 12-0 in the match. The Golden Bears won six straight matches of this contest with three falls in a row started by Justin Hester at 170 after Dom D’s big victory.
Upper Moreland will try to take the conference crown from Norristown this season. The Eagles have dominated the American Conference over the past several years. Norristown was a 62-18 winner over Cheltenham last Wednesday night.
SOL Continental:
Once again the Continental looks to be a wide open conference with North Penn’s controversial win over Pennridge. Pennridge looked like the preseason #1 in the SOL, but North Penn won this exciting opener 45-32. With several wrestlers out of the line-ups, it is hard to predict the way these two teams will fare the rest of the way in the Continental.
CB East got a head start on the other CB schools with solid 48-23 victory over CB South. Fransesco Fabozzi continued his winning ways this past weekend by capturing the crown at the Carlisle Invitational. He is truly one of the state’s best at 145 right now. It will be interesting to see if he stays there or makes the drop to 138 pounds with the two-pound growth allowance coming to all wrestlers for Christmas.
Quakertown downed an improved Souderton team 40-30 to position themselves to make a run at the Continental title as well. There are a lot of new wrestlers on the scene with talented freshmen through out the league. Souderton’s 106 pounder Brandon Bach is one of them. Hatboro-Horsham overcame the absence of two of its regular starters, as sophomore Nick Schuck secured the win for the Hatters at heavyweight with a fall, to down CB West 39-31.
SOL National:
Council Rock South defeated CR North 36-24 to secure the Unity Cup. CRS erased any doubt that they are rebuilding, they just reload! Led by a band of brothers (remember the Rappos), the Martoccio’s and Palmer’s all scored victories for the Golden Hawks.
Neshaminy and Pennsbury will be in the mix here, and Bensalem is off to a good start in league action as well with a 35-31 win over Abington. Tommy Stokes looks to make a run back to the PIAA State Championships this season wrestling at 132.
Weekend Tournaments:
In the second weekend of tournament action, North Penn and CRS both had place winners at the prestigious King of the Mountain Tournament in Mill Hall, PA, hosted by Central Mountain High School. CRS was led by third-seeded Riley Palmer at 106 with a 3-0 decision over #1 seed Will Kaldes from Cumberland Valley in the championship finals.
South’s other place winners were Zack Trampe (7th-120), Harry Murray (7th-126), Dylan Schwartz (8th-138), & Lucas Martoccio (8th-145). North Penn stalwarts were Jeff Reimel, who placed 5th at 152, and Alex Price, who finished 4th at 182.
In Maryland, at Lackey High School, Souderton’s Kolton Veit captured his second championship of the year following up his championship in the Mule Classic at Solanco in week one. Veit is another SOL wrestler looking to return to Hershey in March. Freshman Brandon Bach took the bronze at 106, while Phillip Stolfi was 3rd at 170, and Jake Phaup 6th at 138 to help the team place in the top 10 with a 9th place finish in the team scoring. Mount St. Joseph won the team title in this field of Virginia, Maryland, and PA teams.
Central Bucks East placed fourth as a team at the Carlisle Invitational, with Fabozzi winning a title at 145. Joining Fabozzi in the finals was Alex Shaffer (106) and Michael Driver (120), but they both finished as runner-ups. Evan Wilson pinned his way to a 3rd place finish at 138 pounds with the fall coming in 1:51 over Austin Jackson from Bermudian Springs. Big Spring captured the team title, followed by Bermudian Springs and Chambersburg ahead of East.
SOL Dual Team Rankings (#1):
1-Council Rock South
T2- Quakertown
T2-North Penn
3-Pennridge
4-Upper Moreland
5-Neshaminy
Under Consideration In Order: Central Bucks East, Norristown, & CR North
*Top Guns will be out prior to Christmas after this week’s wrestling results are posted.
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