Glenn Kaiser recaps the action for SOL’s wrestlers at this week’s District One Tournament.
WISSAHICKON CAPTURES DISTRICT ONE SOUTH
By Glenn Kaiser
The Wissahickon Trojan wrestling team captured the D1 South super section title, advancing eight wrestlers to next weekend’s Southeast Regional tournament. Lightweights Dexter Adriaanse (113) and Alex Prieston (120), along with Brian Fennell (195) won their respective weight classes to lead the way for Wissahickon. The Trojans posted 195 team points, to finished 8.5 points of Ridley (Central League) capturing the team title. In addition to three champs, the most by any team in D1 South, the Trojans advanced three runner-up finishers in Matt Fritz (126), Kevin Salmon (160) and heavyweight Mark Thompson. A third-place finish was turned in by Wissahickon big man Dan Keller at 182-pounds. Peter Sweeney capped the scoring for the Trojans with a fourth-place finish at 138-pounds.
Upper Dublin crowned two champs at Interboro during these championships as freshman phenom Colin Higgins downed SOL foe Dylan Moore 8-1 in the 106-pound title tilt and Mason Novak won the 182-pound title. UD’s Brett Rama also advanced, finishing fourth at 120-pounds. Plymouth-Whitmarsh advanced five wrestlers to regionals, with Paolo DiSanto winning a championship at 220-pounds, joining Moore, third-place finisher Mike Miller at 285-pounds, Issac Avellino (4th at 145lbs) and Michael Clarkson (4th at 152lbs). Cheltenham’s Isaiah Stehman was the Panthers’ only regional qualifier as he was the runner-up at 170-pounds. All in all, the SOL advanced 17 wrestlers out of the South to the SE Region, which will be hosted by Souderton Friday, March 1, and Saturday, March 2, 2019.
Souderton, the lone team from the SOL to venture to the D1 North super section of these District One Championships, returned home from Pottstown High School with four regional qualifiers. Tyler Williams ran his record to 32-2 with a title at 138-pounds after downing Spring-Ford’s talented Jack McGill 11-4. Williams will be joined by his 145-pound work-out partner Connor Trowbridge. Trowbridge won the 145-pound consolation final over Zach Needles (S-F) 4-1. Bruno Stolfi continued his quest to return to Hershey at 195-pounds, winning his consolation final 5-2 over Pottsgrove’s Zach Van Horn 5-2. The Indians’ fourth qualifier was Dylan Bach at 113-pounds.
GOLDEN HAWKS DOMINATE D1 EAST TOURNEY AT QUAKERTOWN
Council Rock South continued its golden season, adding a D1 East title to their 2018-19 season resume. The Golden Hawks outdistanced the rest of the field, consisting of 16 SOL teams, recording 244 points to outdistance team runner-up Neshaminy (181 pts.) by 63 points. CR South snatched five individual championships and will send 11 wrestlers to Regionals. Eight SOL teams had at least one individual champion.
The Golden Hawks’ lightweights were outstanding as Max Mendez (113) and Shane Hanson-Ashworth (120) won titles, and 106-pounder, Kyle Waterman finished second, losing to CR North’s Kyle Waterman 1-0 in an Ultimate Tiebreaker ride-out in overtime. Waterman and Hauserman plan to meet a couple more times before the state title is decided at 106-pounds in Chocolate Town, USA, come March, at the PIAA AAA Individual Championships. Braden Ricchini lost to one of two Neshaminy champions, Colton Jordan, by fall at 126-pounds. Jordan continued his amazing season with his wild style, pinning Ricchini at the end of the second period. South kept it going with five straight finalists as L.J. Kahn settled for silver dropping a major decision to Harry S Truman’s Gunnar Fuss 10-1.
CR South’s Eric Woloshyn advanced at the toughest weight class of the tournament at 145-pounds after placing fourth. Cole Flanagan (3rd-152), and champions Matt Colajezzi (160) and Nik Korbich (170) added big points for the Golden Hawks as they dominated the upper middle weights. Giani Gilch garnered gold at 182, and Peter Eklund snuck out at 195-pounds to account for the 11 CR South SE Region qualifiers.
Neshaminy, the runner-up in both the SOL National and here in D1 East, validated their outstanding season by advancing nine wrestlers. Jackson Erb (152) joined teammate Colton Jordan on the top of the podium with his title victory over CR North stud Dillon Sheehy 3-2.
In the 170lb final, the ‘Skins Gunner Spain was leading Nik Korbich (CRS) late in the match when Korbich caught Spain on his back, costing Spain the title. Up at 182lbs, Jason Pascucci won the bronze for Neshaminy as he was stellar throughout the two-day tourney. Jack Toy was also third for the ‘Skins at 195, Zach Martin was fourth at 132lbs, another stacked weight class in which Gunnar Fuss overcame a nasty cut above his right eye to win the title over CR South’s Kahn. The three other qualifiers were Shawn Marion (106), Calvin Lederer (113) and Rory Rienzi (160).
The hosts, Quakertown Panthers, managed to finish third in the team race with no champions and runners-up Kyle Miller (132) and Max Russell (195) leading the way. The Panthers will head to Souderton with a team of seven wrestlers. Council Rock North was fourth and North Penn fifth, rounding out the top-5 teams. CR North had two champs, a runner-up and three consolation bracket winners. The feature bout of the finals was between North’s Cam Robinson and William Tennent’s A.J. Tamburrino at 145-pounds. Robinson’s speed and technique, thwarted Tamburrino’s strength and execution, as Robinson won 4-3, earning the Outstanding Wrestler Award. Evan Widing (Pennridge) defeated both Hatboro-Horsham’s Davis Wheeler and Woloshyn (CRS) to place third at this highly contested weight class.
In a mild upset, CR South freshmen, Matt Colajezzi outwrestled North Penn state medalist Patrick O’Neill in the 160-pound final. Colajezzi held off O’Neill’s attacks late in third period, winning 4-3 for his first district title. O’Neill will look for redemption at regionals and should be a lock to advance to states once again. Logan Green won a title for the Pennridge Rams at 195lbs, decking Q-towns Max Russell in 46 seconds. Davis Lee was Pennsbury’s lone champ, winning in overtime 2-1 in a rubber match against Hatboro-Horsham’s Logan Flynn. Undefeated heavyweight, Bensalem 285-pounder John Klewin pinned his way to a title. Klewin won three times by fall on his way to a D1 East title. Klewin takes a perfect 36-0 record to Regionals. Central Bucks South wrestler Dominic Stoughton owned the 138lb weight class, dominating the competition with a tech fall, pin and 12-3 major decision over Upper Moreland’s Chris Walker in the finals.
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