Southeast Region Finals
By Glenn Kaiser
Heading into the Southeast Regional final bouts (1st, 3rd, & 5th Places), the team title was up for grabs with Pennridge sitting in third place with 91 points, just seven points behind team leaders Boyertown (98 points), and two points beneath second place combatants from Spring-Ford (93 points). Council Rock South (78.4 points) with three finalists in Zack Trampe (126), Dylan Schwartz (152), and Ben Kenis (195) also remained in the hunt with a fifth place position. Council Rock North (44 points) with two finalists in Aiden Burke (106) and Josh Shalinsky (160) was just behind in seventh, and Quakertown (42 points) remained in the top ten, holding eighth place.
But it was the Pennridge Rams with the most realistic shot at being crowned team champs with four finalists in 106 pounder Matt Parker, Kordell Rush at 113, Josh Stillings, the freshman at 132, and 170 pounder Kyle Gentile all in the championship matches at their weights. Boyertown countered with their heavyweight tandem of Jordan Wood (220) and Tommy Killoran (285), along with Gregg Harvey (170) as the Bears finalists. Thus, setting up only one head-to-head title tilt.
However, it was in the consolations where the point race could have been decided as both Boyertown and Pennridge had wrestlers coming back through. As Boyertown had four remaining individuals to Pennridge’s three wrestlers, it was up to Micah Visuwan (120), Ezra Outlaw (220), and Joe Kracz (285) to hold down the fort. Outlaw had already stamped his ticket to Hershey, but Visuwan and Kracz needed their best to advance in the fifth place bouts.
At 106, a rematch from the D1 East finals occurred between SOL competitors Parker (Pennridge) and Burke (CRN) to kick off the night off in front of the packed gym at Oxford High School. Parker struck first with an early first period takedown. Escaped in the third for the only scoring to win 3-0 after a solid ride in the second over Burke. Anthony Martoccio (Pennsbury) advanced to Hershey with a 7-2 win against Haverford’s Vince Tavani in the 5th place match at 106 to give the Suburban One League three of the five wrestlers advancing.
The 113 final between Pennridge’s Kordell Rush and Upper Perks Dustin Steffenino saw a scoreless first and a nice ride out by Rush in the second. But Steffenino was able to tilt up Rush for the win in the third with two back points to make a 2-0 final. Ben Radner (CRS) had to settle for fourth place, but the trip to Hershey will ease the pain of the 3-0 loss to Quakertown’s Harrison Campbell. Campbell had an outstanding tournament as the SOL advanced three here as well.
The 120-pound final pitted PAC 10 foes Derek Gulotta (Owen J Roberts) and Ryan Hayes (Spring-Ford), and they did not disappoint the crowd, as Gulotta showed why he is a three-time state medalist, executing a series of takedowns to reign king at the SE Region in this stacked weight class. Micah Visuwan (Pennridge) duplicated an earlier victory over Avon Grove’s Kevin Edwards in the fifth place match with a takedown at the buzzer (:04 seconds left) to win 3-2. Thus, helping the Rams in the team scoring. Dylan Nuttall (Harry S Truman) stumbled in the consolation final finishing fourth after being decked by Garnet Valley’s Matt Marino.
At 132 pounds, Josh Shillings of the Rams took to the mat against a very solid wrestler in Upper Darby’s Colin Cronin. In a somewhat wild match that had several injury and blood timeouts, Cronin jumped out to a 5-0 lead through two periods. Cronin built on his lead with three takedowns to close out the freshman’s hopes of a Regional title with a 13-2 major decision. Upper Dublin’s Colin Devlin also had a solid tourney as he lost for the second time to Methacton’s Bryce Reddington 7-5 in the third place match-up but will advance for Coach Jones and the Flying Cardinals.
Only North Penn’s Mikey O’Brien had a chance to advance at 138, but he was disqualified after a called slam by the official, and Matt Krieble (Spring-Ford)will make the trip to the Giant Center.
Riley Barth (CB West) gave up an early takedown to Owen J’s Dominick Petrucelli, and a second period escape led to a 3-0 deficit. Barth countered with a reversal in the third and locked up a cradle at the end of the match to record three back points and the 5-3 championship victory to head to Hershey undefeated at 34-0. Two other SOL wrestlers will join Barth at this weight as Colin Shannon (NP) finished fourth, and Dustin Stone (Truman) pinned his way to states to finish fifth.
152-pounds: Dylan Schwartz (CRS) and James Meyer (DTE) went scoreless in the first period, and Meyer quickly escaped in the second to go up 1-0. Trailing in the third period, Schwartz choose the bottom position and was awarded a point as Meyer granted him the neutral position. In a battle of position, neither wrestler could score from their feet despite many attempts by both. They headed to overtime and one period in neutral. No scoring occurred there. Schwartz went down and scored immediately to take the lead 2-1. Schwartz hung on for the ride and secured the title 2-1 in the 30-second tiebreaker periods.
Josh Shalinsky (CRN) entered the finals after a 3-1 win at 160 over Upper Moreland’s Dom DeLaurentis in the semis. Shalinsky took on Sun Valley’s Alex Elliot, who was hot off a 3-2 win over Spring-Ford’s Frankie Krauss in his semi. Shalinsky scored first with an escape in the second. And Elliot returned the favor, escaping to start the third, but Shallinsky countered a shot by Elliot to score a takedown and take a 3-1 lead. He followed with another after an Elliot escape and walked away with the 160-pound title. Wissahickon had its first state qualifier in quite some time as Josh Trunk pinned Pennsbury’s Luke Kowal in the fifth place bout. DeLaurentis will join both Shalinsky and Trunk at the Giant Center next weekend starting Thursday at 4 pm.
At 170, Radnor undefeated senior Tom Meyers took on Pennridge’s Kyle Gentile, as Gentile tried to boost the team lead for the Rams in the finals. Gentile scored three points in the second period and added a takedown and backs to start the third as Meyer chose neutral. Gentile was solid as his been all season to capture his second SE Regional title. In the fifth place bout, two SOL wrestlers tried to advance to states, as Joe Doyle (CRS) and Quakertown’s Nick Bonomo scrapped. Doyle locked up Bonomo for backs and won 7-0 to advance.
182 pounds was a match-up of two accomplished wrestlers in Central Bucks East’s Evan Wilson and Boyertown’s Gregg Harvey. They were scoreless in the first, and Harvey picked up a point with an escape in the second. Wilson - after some funking by Harvey - was able to score a takedown to go up 2-1 to end the second. He added to his lead with an escape of his own and continued with leg attacks to score another takedown. Wilson after moving up 50 pounds from last season captured the 182-pound title with a 5-2 win. Wilson garnered the Outstanding Wrestler Award for his efforts. Phil Stolfi (Souderton) earned a spot in Hershey as well with a 4th place finish after winning three matches in row in the consolation bracket.
195 saw three SOL wrestlers take to the mat in finals - Ben Kenis (CRS) in the championship bout and Gavin Caroff (Qtwn) and Upper Moreland’s Patrick Walker in a battle for the right to go to Hershey in the fifth place bout. Caroff came away victorious, 6-3. In the finals tilt, Kenis could not get a late takedown and lost 3-2 to finish second to Xavier Ferrizzi (OJR).
In an extremely close team race heading to 220-pounds, Ezra Outlaw did his job for Pennridge, capturing third place with a 3-1 win and earning points for the Rams over Billy McGinley (DTE). Boyertown grabbed those points back as Jordan Wood won by injury default in the finals. Isaiah Samuel from Norristown advanced to Hershey with a win over SOL counterpart Micah Jones (Qtwn). This set up an opportunity for the Rams Joe Kracz to post more points in his fifth place bout and grab the team lead over Boyertown if Neshaminy’s Bruce Graeber could win his final bout with the Bears Tommy Killoran. But it did not work out for the Rams, as Killoran scored a double leg takedown at the buzzer to win, and Kracz lost his bout in sudden victory overtime 4-2. It just was not meant to be for the Rams, as it all transpired in seconds at the end of the heavyweight bouts.
With no more points to record for Pennridge, the Rams had to settle for second place under the Bears from Boyertown. As the final team score read Boyertown 112, Pennridge 103. Council Rock South finished fifth with 84.5 points.
The featured bout of the evening featured CR South’s Zach Trampe at 126 pounds against Downingtown East’s Wade Cummings. These two battled a year ago in the semis at 120 pounds with Cummings the victor. It was the same result in this one with a mystery takedown giving Cummings the 3-2 win. Sofiane Bensmail from North Penn advanced with his 7-6 fifth place win over WC Rustin’s Dan Labus.
Notes from Oxford: Wrestling Officials Sportsmanship Award - Ryan Haynes (12) Spring-Ford. The final bout of the evening was decided upon a vote by some of the D1 Steering Committee Coaches, and it was agreed to have Wade Cummings (Downingtown East) and CR South’s Zack Trampe wrestle in the finale for the fanfare. The District One Coach of the Year Award went to Boyertown Head Coach Pete Ventresca. Great food in NE Maryland, steaks and seafood, especially the oysters were delicious at the Steak On Main.
Final team scores and completed brackets can be viewed by clicking on the following link:
http://live.pa-wrestling.com/pdfs/2015_South_East_AAA_results.pdf
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