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By Alex Frazier
Bonus points are often the name of the game.With no 103-pounder in the lineup, Hatboro-Horsham knew it had to get every extra point it could to hold off a much-improved North Penn team Wednesday night.
The Hatters didn’t let coach Glenn Kaiser down.
With six pins and a major decision, Hatboro-Horsham had plenty of bonus points to roll past the Knights, 46-25.
“It’s tough to spot any team six points, especially in a league meet like this,” said Hatter coach Glenn Kaiser. “We don’t know what we’re going to get from our team. If we can figure out how to get these kids to wrestle the same way every match, we’re going to be OK.”
North Penn is in a similar boat with a host of new faces in the lineup this year.
For a senior like Drew Daubert, there’s so much more promise than in his past three years.
“It’s so much better,” he said. “With the two new coaches in the room (Zac Fryling and Matt Uhrich), they’re younger and set a good atmosphere and with a lot of good freshman and with all the kids that came out this year—all of that added up makes everything so much better. Of all the years, this is the year I feel we’re all a team.”
The falls started in the very first bout with 135-pound Hatter senior Dave Carney underhooking Greg Lacoff to his back with just six seconds left in the first period.
Daubert cut the Hatter’s lead to three with an exciting 8-7 decision over Bryan Wu, who was fresh off an OW performance at the Wetzel Tournament.
“That kid’s a very good wrestler,” said Daubert.With Dominic Colangelo out of the lineup, North Penn had to juggle its lineup, which resulted in Daubert wrestling up a weight.
Nevertheless, he came back from a 2-0 deficit to pull ahead 5-2 with a takedown and near fall in the second period.
“Once I put him on his back, I felt pretty confident,” said Daubert. “I just hung in there.”
“He really took it to Wu there,” said coach Rob Shettsline. “We knew he had a good record.”
After Wu escaped in the third, Daubert took him down for an 8-5 lead but gave up an escape and stalling point in the latter part of the period.
“It wasn’t easy going up a weight class,” said Daubert.
At 145, Corey Bodner then caught North Penn’s Nick Gallagher in a headlock, Mike Lynch majored Mike Robinson and brother Nick decisioned Randy Haun in a close bout 5-3 to pull the Hatters ahead 19-3.
North Penn had a couple of pins of its own starting with Will Bachert at 171 when he decked Dan Berlin in the second period.
But in the next bout, Joe Palo put the Hatters back on track with an exciting win. A junior, Palo is back out for wrestling after taking the past two years off. He wrestled two years in middle school.“I decided to come back to keep in shape for lacrosse,” he said. “That’s my No. 1 sport. I figured have some fun wrestling and stay in shape.”
Although his 8-6 win over George Shipp only brought his record to 2-3, he is still working off the rust, which showed in the first period when he was taken down twice and put on his back.
“I had a slow start,” admitted Palo. “I just kept fighting. I knew I could pull it out.”
Trailing 6-2, he fought back with a takedown of his own in the second period to trail 6-4 into the last period, when he earned a point when Shipp locked hands and another on an escape with just 15 seconds left to tie the bout at six.
But it was his single leg with just one second on the clock that clinched the win.
“I was excited throughout the whole match,” said Palo. “I could feel I was better conditioned and just went with it. I did everything my coach told me to do.”
“Once he gets the mechanics down and the motor skills, he’s going to be tough,” said Kaiser. “He’s wrestling up a weight.”
Alec Humski, the anchor of the upper weights, followed that with a fall at 215, before North Penn got its second pin of the night at heavyweight.
Hatboro-Horsham forfeited at 103, which made the 112 bout an important one.
Dan Giuliani trailed North Penn’s Matt DiNenno 9-2 after one period and appeared on his way to a loss.
But he battled back with two cradles in the second period for six points to put him right back in it.
In the third he escaped and tossed DiNenno to his back for a fall at 4:47.
“That kid from North Penn really surprised me,” said Kaiser. “He came out and did a good job. We had a tough kid there. That was a key match. It could have been a different outcome.”Matt Harkins and Drew Felice added two more falls for the Hatters at 119 and 130, respectively, to seal the victory.
“I give North Penn a lot of credit,” said Kaiser. “They’re much improved. They’re wrestling a lot better than they have the last couple of years.”
“We’ll come along,” said Shettsline. “It will take a couple of years yet. I truly believe we’ve turned things around and we’re going to start going uphill now.”
Hatboro-Horsham (2-0 league) 46, North Penn (1-1) 25
135—Dave Carney (HH) pinned Greg Lacoff, 1:54
140—Drew Daubert (NP) dec. Bryan Wu, 8-7
145—Corey Bodner (HH) pinned Nick Gallagher, 1:01
152—Mike Lynch (HH) major dec. Mike Robinson, 16-3
160—Nick Lynch (HH) dec. Randy Haun, 5-3
171—Will Bachert (NP) pinned Dan Berlin, 2:58
189—Joe Palo (HH) dec. George Shipp, 8-6
215—Alec Humski (HH) pinned Ray Forayce, 1:02
285—Zach Maybin (NP) pinned Lex Ludlow, 2:36
103—Joey O’Brien (NP) won by forfeit
112—Dan Giuliani (HH) pinned Matt DiNenno, 4:47
119—Matt Harkins (HH) pinned Ervin Gaitin, 1:35
125—Evan Conti (NP) major dec. Dominic Dallatore, 13-2
130—Drew Felice (HH) pinned Tyler Romano, 4:59
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