This week’s notebook recaps Saturday’s SOL Conference Championships. To view photos of the American Conference Championships, please visit the Photo Gallery.
By Glenn Kaiser
Inaugural SOL League Tournaments Advance Wrestlers To Districts
2013 marked the first time since the Suburban One League was divided into three conferences that individual wrestlers qualified for the District One Championships through league tournaments. The early results are in, and it appears that the new changes have created a buzz about the new format. For some, mostly the fans, the comforts of home and competing against league opponents were a good experience. But for others, coaches and wrestlers, it may not have been the best way to start the PIAA post-season.
Although league rivalries and a local fan base strengthen these tournaments, the disparity throughout the District One leagues creates an imbalance in the way wrestlers advance. For example, the Del Val League will send three wrestlers at each weight class to Hatboro-Horsham this coming Saturday to compete in the District One East Championships. This looks good on paper, as the other two leagues (SOL Continental and SOL National) will be sending four wrestlers at each weight to the D1 East tournament. But the difference here is that the Del Val League only has five competing teams. Thus, various leagues through out District One will be sending different totals to each District tournament. There will be three separate District tournaments next weekend. The SOL American Conference will be separated from its SOL foes, as they will travel to Oxford to compete in the D1 Central Championships with the Ches Mont League.
High level wrestlers and coaches have shared remarks that the league tournaments are watered down and create scenarios in which the best wrestlers still will battle the same opponents week in and week out on the road to Hershey. Nonetheless, we are all stuck with the changes and the new format for this post-season. Another pitfall for this post-season is the elimination of District qualifiers (three per weight class) in the preliminary rounds of each District Tournament. Thus, more than one worthy wrestler may be eliminated way too early in the post-season, with the penalty of not being able to advance to the South East Regional Championships.
With all that being said, the D1 Steering Committee did its best to configure a format for qualifying for PIAA State Championships. League officials (Coaches/ADs/Principals) also developed by-laws and tournament procedures for the new league qualifying tournaments that so far have been efficient and good for the sport with the parameters set by D1 and the PIAA. The top three place winners in each of the 14 weight classes will advance to the SE Region from the three District One Championships with the top three from regions moving on to Chocolate Town, USA, to compete at the Giant Center for PIAA supremacy. This is a change from the four qualifiers sent to Hershey last year from the SE Region. As with most changes in the SOL and the PIAA, the format will most likely be at least a two-year deal. However, District One can still review the format, and make revisions as needed or desired.
SOL American League Tournament Results
Wissahickon (204.5 points) captured the fictitious team title edging Upper Dublin (198 pts) and Norristown (197 pts) respectively.
Championship Finals
106 - Alex Chiolo-Ortiz (Wissahickon) dec. Matt Amy (Upper Moreland), 6-5
113 - Zach Fuentes (Norristown) pinned Noah Rosenbloom (Cheltenham), 1:20
120 - Isaac Philip (Wissahickon) dec. Tom Lloyd (Upper Moreland), 7-5 SV
126 - Sean Ginsburg (Upper Merion) dec. Colin Devlin (Upper Dublin), 5-0
132 - Aaron Rodriguez (Wissahickon) maj.dec. Bob Harmon (Upper Moreland), 14-4
138 - Anthony DeLaurentis (Upper Moreland) dec. Cody Franko (Wissahickon), 3-1
145 - Mike Springer (Norristown) pinned Dom DeLaurentis (Upper Moreland), 1:43
152 - Dan Schueren (Wissahickon) dec. Derek Jones (Upper Dublin), 3-2
160 - Justin Staudenmayer (Plymouth Whitemarsh) maj.dec. Pat Fennell (Wissahickon), 10-1
170 - Kyle Carson (Upper Dublin) pinned Austin Pollock (Plymouth Whitemarsh), 5:07
182 - Brett Harner (Norristown) pinned Sam Jacobson (Upper Dublin), 3:27
195 - Reed Rapine (Upper Dublin) dec. Franklin James (Plymouth Whitemarsh), 7-4
220 - RasheedLusane (Norristown) pinned YaroslavTochinski (Upper Dublin), 1:08
285 - Shaheed Hill (Norristown) maj.dec. Connor Weiss (Wissahickon), 10-1
Wissahickon and Norristown captured five individual titles, Dan Schueren from Wissahickon avenged a late season dual loss to UD’s Derek Jones in the 152 pound championship match. Justin Staudenmayer (P-W) showed he is healthy and ready to make another post-season run to Hershey with his convincing win over Pat Fennel (Wiss) in the 160 lb final. And Norristown’s Brett Harner captured first place at 182 as he handed Upper Dublin’s Sam Jacobson his first loss of the season with a second period fall in the finals hosted by Norristown. Upper Dublin had two gold medalists in Kyle Carson (170) and Reed Rapine (195).
Fifth place matches were conducted in the SOL American Conference to help sort out the qualifiers to the D1 Central (AAA) Championships as all of Springfield Montco’s wrestlers will compete in the D1 (AA) Tournament this coming weekend.
SOL Continental Championship Results
Pennridge (145 points) solidified its dual meet league co-championship with Quakertown by topping the team score, as they finished ahead of host CB South (137 pts), and North Penn (121 pts).
Scott Parker garnered the Outstanding Wrestler Award with a 10-2 major decision over Hatboro-Horsham’s Phil Torresani in the 113 pound final. The SOL Continental’s closest contested final match was at 120 lbs where Ben Ross (Pennridge) used an overtime takedown to win in sudden victory over Kolton Veit (Souderton) 8-4. Fransesco Fabozzi(CBE) advanced to Districts with a fall in the 132 lb finals over North Penn’s Joey O’Brien. Dominic Rigous (CBS) remained undefeated as he wrestled only one time in the 170 pound bracket, pinning Pennridge’s Josh Stencler in 3:18. Several other top state-ranked SOL Continental wrestlers will look to advance to the SE Region finals as they compete at Hatboro-Horsham Saturday (2/23/13) starting at 9:30 am. Those wrestler’s include: 113-Collyn Dorney (Quakertown), 182-Alex Price (North Penn), and George Shipp (North Penn).
Championship Finals
106 - CollynDorney (Quakertown) pinned Kevin Gerbricki (Central Bucks West), 0:29
113 - Scott Parker (Pennridge) maj.dec. Phil Torresani (Hatboro Horsham), 14-0
120 - Ben Ross (Pennridge) dec.KoltonVeit (Souderton), 8-4
126 - Evan Wilson (Central Bucks East) pinned Jon Kirkner (Central Bucks South), 2:41
132 - Francesco Fabozzi (Central Bucks East) pinned Joey O'Brien (North Penn), 3:14
138 - Tyler Seislove (Quakertown) dec. Giuseppe Marrero (Central Bucks South), 8-2
145 - Riley Barth (Central Bucks West) dec. Matt Robinson (North Penn), 7-5
152 - Jeff Reimel (North Penn) won by inj. default over Ryan Monsalud (Central Bucks South)
160 - Philip Stolfi (Souderton) dec. Marcus Myers (North Penn), 9-5
170 - Dominic Rigous (Central Bucks South) pinned Josh Stencler (Pennridge), 3:18
182 - Alex Price (North Penn) pinned Josh Berg (Central Bucks South), 3:05
195 - George Shipp (North Penn) dec. Mitchell Bain (Central Bucks South), 6-1
220 - Nick Cassalia (Central Bucks South) dec. Ezra Outlaw (Pennridge), 5-2
285 - Ricky Young (Souderton) pinned Joe Kracz (Pennridge), 5:51
SOL National Conference Championships
Pennsbury (171.5 points), with the strength of its lightweight trio of Jason Bing (120), Josh DiSanto (126), and Anthony DiEmidio (132) won the team title at Council Rock North, as all three captured individual titles. But it could be Council Rock North and Council Rock South who bring him the more precious medals come early March from Hershey. CRN’s John Dutrow (138) and Tyler Callender (220) and CRS’s Dan Martoccio (113) and PJ Steinmetz (195) look to climb high on the podium as they wrestle their way back to Hershey in District One. Dutrow (4th), Martoccio (8th), and Steinmentz (3rd) all placed in 2012 in the PIAA (AAA) State Championships. North and South tied for second place in the team standings with 126 points each, Harry S Truman was 4th with 119.5 points on the strength of eight qualifiers to Districts.
Josh DiSanto (Pennsbury) defeated Benaslem’s Tommy Stokes in the 126 lb final, these two will most likely do battle against each other every weekend on the way to States. Stokes was sixth at States a year ago, and DiSanto was sevent.
Championship Finals
106 - Nick Palmer (Council Rock South) dec. Dylan Nuttall (Harry S. Truman), 4-3
113 - Dan Martoccio (Council Rock South) pinned Jason McGrogan (Harry S. Truman), 3:26
120 - Jason Bing (Pennsbury) dec. Tim Ambacher (Council Rock North), 2-0
126 - Josh DiSanto (Pennsbury) dec. Tommy Stokes (Bensalem), 1-0
132 - Anthony DiEmidio (Pennsbury) dec. Dustin Stone (Harry S. Truman), 8-3
138 - John Dutrow (Council Rock North) pinned Mike McCaughey (Abington), 1:16
145 - Ryan O'Connor (Neshaminy) dec. Joshua Shalinsky (Bensalem), 3-0
152 - Nate Russell (Neshaminy) dec. Luke Kowal (Pennsbury), 4-3
160 - Jesse Huber (Harry S. Truman) maj.dec. Alden Shea (Abington), 15-5
170 - Rich Strain (William Tennent) dec.KodyLupfer (Neshaminy), 3-2
182 - Ernie Tessein (Pennsbury) dec. Cristobal Morales (William Tennent), 6-4
195 - P.J. Steinmetz (Council Rock South) pinned Marc Isaac (William Tennent), 5:23
220 - Tyler Callender (Council Rock North) pinned Shawn Seiberlich (Harry S. Truman), 3:34
285 - Andrew Van Buskirk (William Tennent) pinned James Dutrow (Council Rock North), 0:48
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