Glenn Kaiser recaps Neshaminy’s hard-fought win over West Chester Henderson in the District Duals Friday night.
By Glenn Kaiser
NESHAMINY REBOUNDS PINNING DOWN WEST CHESTER HENDERSON
The #8 seeded Neshaminy wrestling team travelled to Upper Dublin High School Friday evening with an arduous task of taking down the mighty Golden Hawks, of Council Rock South in the quarterfinals of the 2019 District One Team Championships. However, with the ultimate goal of reaching the 2019 PIAA Team Championships, the ‘Skins decided to rest a couple of starters against the top-seeded Golden Hawks. The move paid off, as Neshaminy rebounded from a 54-13 defeat at the hands of CR South to down #4 West Chester Henderson in the consolation quarter-finals 42-36. The win kept their hopes alive for advancing tomorrow when the do battle with #3 Owen J Roberts for one of the four District One spots in the main event.
Neshaminy put a pin-fest on WC Henderson, decking seven Warriors to earn the right to fight one more night. The ‘Skins are just one win away from obtaining one of their season’s goals, and they will need all of their top guns again to get it done against a rugged Owen J team. They lost a battle royal against their Pioneer Athletic Conference rivals, Spring-Ford 31-23. Owen J defeated Spring-Ford two-weeks ago 31-23 in PAC action but could not get by the Rams in the semi-finals of the D1 Duals.
Thus, Spring-Ford the #2 seed will take on the two-time reigning champs, CR South, in tomorrow’s final at 3:00pm at Upper Dublin H.S. The consi-semis will begin at 1:00pm. The Golden Hawks demolished Boyertown 55-9 in their semifinal tilt to advance to the final.
Back to the Neshaminy match versus WC Henderson. After falling behind to the Warriors 30-36 at the 120-pound bout, in which 2018 state runner-up Killian Delaney decked Neshaminy’s Calvin Lederer, and with two bouts remaining, you could sense something big was going to happen. The ‘Skins built a 24-3 lead early. The match started at 138-pounds as Gus Natelli (145) started a string of four straight pins. Jackson Erb (152), Rory Rienzi (160) and Gunner Spain (170) followed Natelli’s fall with falls of their own. However, Neshaminy suffered a similar fate, giving Henderson a forfeit at 220-pounds and then getting decked four straight times by the Warriors to make the score all even at 30-30.
Neshaminy had faith in senior Colton Jordan, wrestling at 126-pounds and returning state qualifier, Zachary Martin closing out the match at 132. With everything on the line Jordan let it fly against Henderson’s Palmer Delaney and got a fall in 3:07 of the second period. Jordan had to come off his own back, when he got in trouble against Delaney, to score the victory. Martin then finished of the Warriors in workmanlike fashion, pinning Justin Tran at the start of the second period at the 2:32 mark. The final two falls gave the ‘Skins a come-from-behind victory, and the opportunity to be anointed one of D1’s best.
The other consolation bout tomorrow at 1:00pm will feature #5 Boyertown versus #6 Garnet Valley. It should be noted that the top eight teams heading into the quarterfinals were seeded 1 through 8 in this event, and it will be #1 versus #2 in the finals. Kudos to the D1 Steering Committee Coaches for seeding the tournament accurately, as always.
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