Pennridge Wins Southeast Regional Team Title

Glenn Kaiser recaps a banner weekend for the SOL at the Southeast Regional Championships. (Photos courtesy of Glenn Kaiser)

PENNRIDGE WINS 2024 SOUTHEAST REGIONAL WRESTLING TEAM TITLE
HATBORO-HORSHAM’S DOMINICK MORRISON WINS OUTSTANDING WRESTLER AWARD

by Glenn Kaiser

Oxford, PA-Suburban One League wrestlers dominated the 2024 PIAA Southeast Region Individual Wrestling Championships this weekend at Oxford Area H.S., crowning an astonishing nine champions. Pennridge with 143.5-points captured the team title over SOL foes Quakertown (2^nd with 123.5-points) and Council Rock South (3^rd with 119-points).  Hatboro-Horsham’s Dom Morrison made it even sweeter for the SOL as he was named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler after winning the 107-pound weight-class Saturday night.  As expected, the SOL will advance the most wrestlers (33) of any District One leagues to Hershey, PA, this coming weekend.  Action starts at 4pm for AAA Boys Thursday March 7, on the Giant Center floor in Chocolate Town, USA.  This year’s PIAA Wrestling Individual Championships will feature both AA and AAA boys along with the girls simultaneously each day, with rotating sessions and a finals showcase featuring all three championships Saturday March 9, 4:00pm.

Pennridge won the team title with a total team-effort, with six Ram grapplers earning state bids at their respective weight-classes.  Colby Martinelli was the ‘Ridge's lone champion at 114-pounds as he dominated here with a fall in the finals over Radnor’s Jayden Lee, who snuck into the finals with a defensive fall over heralded Ridley wrestler Curtis Nelson.  Nelson pinned himself while tilting Lee in their semi-inal bout.  Martinelli didn’t care who he had in the finals, with his new hair-do (cheetah spots) and new shiner, the masked man looked fabulous as he will take the road to Hershey again to improve on his third-place finish there a year ago.  Both Quinn McBride (127) and Sam Kuhns (152) were runners-up as they both dropped final matchups to SOL rivals.  Council Rock North’s Eren Sement tech-falled McBride 17-0 in 3:05. He will be ready for the gold rush in Hershey as he too looks to improve on his third-place finish last season and in 2022.  For Sam Kuhns, he just can’t catch a break against the dominant defending state-champion Collin Gaj from Quakertown, as Gaj tuned up for his run at another title with a 21-6 tech-fall (5:30).  The Rams’ Ryan Gallagher bounced back from a semifinal loss to punch his ticket finally with a bronze medal performance winning over Neshaminy’s Ernazar Baiyshbekov at 160-pounds.  Both Baiyshbekov brothers advanced to Hershey, as Beknazar finished fourth at 152.

Cole Coffin, similar to Gallagher, had to wrestle-back for his spot at states at 121-pounds after Council Rock South former state place-winner Luke Reitter defeated him in the semis 4-2.  Coffin won 4-0 over Council Rock North’s Pierce Kane for bronze, making it a sweep for this weight class for the SOL going 1-2-3-4, as Quakertown’s Mason Zielgler continues to reign the king of this class.  Ziegler remains on his mission to win a state title for the Panthers.  Ziegler posted a major decision on Reitter in the finals, 16-6.  Pennridge truly did it with depth, as they were able to get contributions from all their entered wrestlers at regions.  Talan Hogan will look to regain what he lost at regionals prior to heading to Hershey.  Hogan placed fourth at 172-pounds dropping a semifinal match to Sam Gautreau from Owen J Roberts 7-2 and then lost to Sun Valley’s rugged Brandon Carr 12-7 in the consolation finals.  Gautreau nearly knocked off the state’s #1 ranked AAA wrestler by PA Power, Bek Sadriddinov, from CR South.  Sadriddinov had to shake off a shoulder injury during the match as well as a nagging knee to hang-on to a 1-0 victory in the 172-pound final for the title.  Light-weight Kevin McFadden just missed the trip placing sixth at 107-pounds.

Quakertown had the most finalists with four, Pennridge and CRS both had three, along with OJR.  The Panthers crowned three champions with Ziegler, Gaj and Gavin Carroll winning the 145-pound title bout over Hatboro-Horsham’s Chris Staub.  Staub finally advanced to Hershey after finishing a disappointing sixth a year-ago.  Staub reached the finals with a well wrestled match against Kennett’s Kane Lengel, winning 6-3.  Quakertown will take five grapplers to battle at the Giant Center as Ike Williams had a long two-days, but was able to take out Upper Perk’s Sean Murray 7-3 for fifth-place at 127.  Williams lost in the quarterfinals but won three matches down below in the consis to earn his bid, going 4-2 over the weekend.  Calvin Lachman, unfortunately, finished as the runner-up at 285-pounds by the other outstanding Bechtold brother from OJR, Dean. Bechtold was outstanding in his 3-2 win over Lachman in the last final bout of the evening.  Lachman lost to Dillon Bechtold in the SE Regional final at 215, but he will look to rebound in Hershey in this heavy-weight class that also features Joe Collins from Central Bucks East, who was placed fifth.  Lachman was ranked #3 coming into regions by PA Power, Bechtold fourth and Collins sixth.

CR South’s chancing of winning a team title were severely decimated prior to weigh-ins when Pat Woloshyn came down with the flu and could not compete at 127-pounds, Woloshyn was seeded second initially after his runner-up finish to Ziegler at the D1 East Section tourney.  Nonetheless, South advanced six guys to Chocolate Town, matching Pennridge with the most qualifiers from all of D1, along with Kennett from the Ches-Mont League.  The Golden Hawks crowned two-champs with Sadriddinov and Gavin Cole, who has dominated D1 at 160-pounds.  Cole won by injury default over the hosts’ phenom-frosh Jon Smith from Oxford.  Cole will head to Hershey with a #7 ranking prior to regions, and he will face Selingsgrove’s Ethan Miller in first-round action at states, with a date with Pottsville standout Nick Kunstek (#2 PA Power), who transferred from Blair Academy back home after sitting out last year’s postseason.  (State predictions, projections and matchups will be coming soon.  Please go to www.PA-Wrestling.com  for the PIAA brackets).

CRS was formidable nonetheless, remaining in the team title hunt throughout.  Connor Lenahan had to deal with Curtis Nelson due to the mishap at 114-pounds but took out Kennett’s Chase singlehandedly with a 9-0 major decision for fifth-place.  Ajay Bhatt held steady at 139-pounds to place fourth, and 145-pounder Ben Brillhart remains in the mix with his bronze finish at regions.  Brillhart lost again to Q-town’s Carroll by a score of 4-3 in a hard-fought semifinal match.

In the most talented weight-class in all of D1, 107-pounds, it was H-H’s Morrison (#1 ranked by PA Power) who shined the brightest with his wins over #2 Alexander Diaz and #3 Max Tancini from Perk Valley.  Morrison is a rare talent and displays extreme quickness, agility, power and technique for a freshman.  Morrison advanced to the finals with a 3-2 win over Diaz, displaying his tremendous hips and scramble ability.  He needed overtime to take-down Tancini in sudden victory after a scoreless match after three periods.  Morrison exploded in overtime to easily take down Tancini for the 107-pound title, earning him the Outstanding Wrestler Award.  The SE Regional title boded well for him with his seeding at states, as he is in the lower half of the bracket seeded third away from both Diaz and Tancini who are up top of the bracket.

My original preview predictions on PA-Wrestling.com that 11 SOL individuals would be champions out of the 13-contested weight-classes did not come to fruition - shocker! But my predictions landed me with eight winners out of the 11.  The 139-weight class was blown-up with the absence of the D1 East champ Jake Neill from CB South (who I picked to win), combined with Lachman’s loss cost me, but CB West’s win by Patrick Kelly at 139 was fine by me.  Kelly edged Kennett’s Blake Boyer in the final with a crazy finish 3-1.  On a down note, Pennsbury’s Ben Primich was eliminated after losing his first-round match and in the blood-round to Souderton’s Kole Lester. I had Primich winning here.  Lester had an outstanding tourney advancing to Hershey as the fourth-place finisher at 189-pounds.  I had Primich winning the 189-bracket.  So, if you count Kelly in replacement of Neill, I actually had nine out of my 11 SOL picks for champions.  Additionally, I had Dillon Bechtold undefeated at 215 to win, and he did so with a first-period fall over Downingtown East’s Felix Mason to up his record to 38-0 heading to Hershey as the #1 ranked wrestler at 215-pounds.  And minus an upset of Gavin Sheridan (Boyertown) at 133 at the hands of Upper Perk’s Branden Rozanski in SV-OT 4-2, I was pretty solid with my predictions.  My fellow beat-writer, peer and friend Drew Markol would be proud by me, as he always seems to get me on regional predictions because I am such a homer. 

It's a short week of preparation for the battles to be waged on the Giant Center floor, as most teams head up Wednesday evening for that final workour prior to the grind of the PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships.  Look for Quakertown, Pennridge and CR South to be in the team hunt.  Good luck to all SOL and D1 grapplers this weekend, bring him the GOLD.

Finals Matchups/Results