(Photo provided courtesy of Tracy Valko: https://www.pa-wrestling.com/hs/district1/dual_meet_tournament.htm?id=2076)
PENNRIDGE PAINFULLY CLOSE AS THEY FINISH FOURTH IN 2024 PIAA TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS
by Glenn Kaiser
Hershey, PA -The Pennridge wrestling team had a wild ride in the Giant Center over a grueling three-day 2024 PIAA AAA Team Championships. They scraped and dug deep as they fell just short in finishing in the top three of a wide-open and deep field. Nonetheless, a fourth-place finish was satisfying enough after a gutsy performance in each and every dual they had in Chocolate Town, USA. The Rams lost two matches by a combined six points. The most painful one was in the semifinals where Easton edged them 29-27. The Rams were leading 27-23 after Colby Martinelli and Cole Coffin recorded back-to-back pinfalls at 114 and 121-pounds, respectively, with only one bout left. But Easton’s Chris Kelly, the #9 ranked wrestler at 127 by PA Power, went out and pinned Cole Meenan in just 45-seconds to dash the Rams hopes of a finals appearance. Pennridge finished with a 21-6 record and SOL Colonial Division Dual Championship. Final results of the SOL Colonial Individual Championships Wednesday will decide the overall champs, but Pennridge looks primed to do it.
Easton (22-3), as I predicted ,was a bracket-buster, defeating a solid Gettysburg team in the quarterfinals 29-21 to set-up their semi with Pennridge. Easton lost in the finals to their cross-town rival Bethlehem Catholic 33-24. The Red Rovers losses on the season included two to BECA and one to cross-state rival Phillipsburg, NJ. Easton did beat BECA in a dual during the season as well. Please note I also predicted BECA to win the AAA title. Gettysburg came in highly touted after winning the District Three title and left the Giant Center with a 22-3 record. Pennridge needed every point possible in its huge 30-29 victory over Wilson (West Lawn) in the quarters. Easton had an early season win over the ‘Ridge, 46-19, at the Brian Bealer Bear Duals at Boyertown, but with a full Ram lineup, things seemed possible for a win. Multiple duals were decided by one to five points here in the Giant Center.
Council Rock South was the victim of narrow losses to Central Morning in the quarterfinals
32-27 and Connellsville 31-28. Without an injury default suffered by the Golden Hawks Ben Brillhart at 160-pounds, the Central Mountain result may very well have gone South’s way. With the score 0-0 in the first period, the Wildcats Griffin Walizer attempted a head-lock on the edge, in doing so he put Brillhart on his head with a tight hold that resulted in concussion protocol, forcing Brillhart to concede the match due to medical reasons. Brillhart was dejected and disappointed he could not finish, but he clearly was unable to continue. The Golden Hawks had a good run, but fell short of a top-four finish they were looking for. CRS closed their dual season out with a 15-3 record.
Looking closely at Pennridge’s consolation championship match for third-place, several facts stood out. Particularly, the Rams need for the pinfall to record team points and the unfortunate fact that they lost the closely contested bouts by decision. This theme was evident through-out the tourney. Pennridge recorded only two falls in the consi-final to go along with four decisions, the difference in the match was a major decision and Central Mt. winning seven matches to the Rams’ six. The Rams’ Colby Martinelli (114), Cole Coffin (121), Sam Kuhns (152) and Talan Hogan (172) all went undefeated in Hershey, posting 5-0 records. Kuhns had a huge win over #2 at 145-pounds Luke Simcox 3-1 in the dual with Ctrl. Mt. which gave Pennridge an 18-16 lead halfway through the match. Kuhns was outstanding for the Rams with a fall and tech-fall to go along with the Simcox win. Martinelli was a machine with four pins and a tech-fall, Coffin had two falls and two techs and Hogan two pins over three-days.
One could argue that Pennridge left points out on the mat, as did CR South, but nonetheless it seemed like every point scored in these team championships was a Herculean effort. District One and the SOL were well represented and will be an even bigger presence at the 2024 PIAA AAA Individual Championships March 7-9, 2024.
To view complete results: https://www.pa-wrestling.com/hs/district1/dual_meet_tournament.htm?id=2076
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