Glenn Kaiser recaps CR South’s win in District Duals as well as some of the highlights of SOL teams in action this weekend. CR South photos provided courtesy of Betsy Palmer.
Council Rock South Advances to Quarterfinals
District Duals-Round 1
Council Rock South is on the road to recovery with its dismantling of Oxford in the first round of the PIAA District One AAA Team Championships. The Golden Hawks looked primed to make a run at the D1 title with their opening round 50-10 victory over Oxford. Even without standouts Zack Trampe (138) and 152-pounder Riley Palmer, both seniors, the Golden Hawks easily dismissed their first round opponent Oxford, which made its return to the district duals after several years of not having a full line-up. .jpg)
The Golden Hawks had plenty of firepower. Ben Radner appears to be ready to make a run in the postseason as he decked Brendan Forsythe in a mere :23 seconds at 126-pounds. Radner’s fall was one of four CRS pins in a row as Max Mendez (106), Kyle Waterman (113) and Braden Richie (120) secured the other pins. Joe Doyle received a forfeit at 220 giving CRS five six-pointers and 30 points, which was all they needed as Oxford could only post 10 points with three victories in the dual.
Carey Palmer decisioned Oxford’s Brandon Sheffield 6-4 in a key match-up at 145-pounds and Tyler Gettmann blanked Sam Blevins 7-0 at 195 in another good match-up. South will battle #5 seed Spring-Ford in the quarterfinals. The Rams are no strangers to the district duals as they advanced to the PIAA AAA Team Championships in 2015 and 2014. CRS will hopefully have Trampe and Riley Palmer back in the line-up for this tilt if they are to reach the semis. #3 Methacton will battle #6 Downingtown West in the quarterfinal bout above South on their side of the bracket. Methacton was a one-point victor earlier this season over DTW, and either team could be waiting for the Golden Hawks should they get past Spring-Ford. Rock South is the favored team, but S-F is dangerous, but may lack the big guns to get past South even if the Golden Hawks are without a couple of their starters. If Trampe and Palmer can get another week of rest to get healthy, South should have plenty of firepower to advance.(1).jpg)
Neshaminy, the last seed at #16, was blown out by #1 seed Boyertown 62-15 in opening round action. The Redskins could only post three wins in this dual, as Jackson Erb led the way at 126 with a fall over Ethan Himes. Kyle Osterhoudt received a forfeit to start the match at 285, and Gus Natelli secured a 5-0 win at 145 for Neshaminy’s only points. Souderton (#10) was overmatched as well as they fell to S-F 55-20 in their opening round dual. Souderton dropped another big match a day earlier to North Penn 50-15, which all but assured the Knights their second Continental Conference crown.
Thus, Neshaminy and Souderton were both eliminated, the Elite Eight will wrestle out the now double elimination championship bracket Friday (Feb. 3) and Saturday (Feb. 4) at Pottsgrove High School. The top four teams will advance to the state dual,s which will kick-off Monday (Feb. 6) with preliminary bouts and the 16-team tournament moving to the Giant Center in Hershey Feb. 9-11.
Hatboro-Horsham Wins Shoemaker Scuffle Duals At Radnor H.S.
The Hatboro-Horsham Wrestling Warriors captured the team title at Radnor’s Shoemaker Scuffle this past Saturday, which included the SOL’s Springfield Township and Pennshbury along with H-H. This was the second year of the team event that is in honor of long-time Radnor head coach Skip Shoemaker. H-H was seeded third in this bracketed dual tourney that featured Pennsbury as the #1 seed. H-H downed Radnor 39-30 with two huge pins to close out the match at 220 and 285 pounds. The Warriors Nick Chapman decked 2016 Regional Qualfier Naair Williams to put H-H ahead 33-30 with one bout remaining. Jake Hunsberger sealed the deal with a fall over Radnor’s Harrison Doane to advance the Warriors to the semis.
Radnor head coach Matt Torresani and H-H Coach Glenn Kaiser are no strangers to one another as Torresani wrestled for Kaiser at H-H before continuing his wrestling career at Elizabethtown, where Matt’s brother Phil currently wrestles. It was a heated match throughout, as team points were deducted from each team. Torresani made sure the Red Raiders and Hatboro-Horsham wrestled one another in Kaiser’s last season at the helm of H-H.
H-H’s Davis Wheeler put the Warriors in front 25-23 with his 13-4 major decision at 160 over Sam Bupp, H-H had been trailing the entire match up to that point, with only Sam Negron (120) winning by fall for H-H, as they lost four of the first five contested bouts. Key victories for H-H were turned in by Patrick Chapman at 145, an 8-2 decision, and Austin Jaffe with a fall at 152-pounds. Logan Flynn put H-H in position to win the dual with his 5-2 victory at 195 over Toby Mandel, which set up Nick Chapman and Hunsberger’s heroics.
Norristown was next up for the Warriors in the semifinals, and H-H easily downed the Eagles 42-21 on the strength of six pin falls. Kevin Aleman was the first of the six at 126, after Sam Negron put the Warriors up 3-0 with his hard fought 8-6 victory at 113 over Norristown’s Grant Rubin. Austin Jaffe (152), Davis Wheeler (160), Logan Flynn (195), Nick Chapman (220) and Tristan Long (285) had the other falls for H-H. CJ Grier was the other winner for H-H with an 8-2 decision over Marvis Ravix at 170-pounds.
Pennsbury dropped a tight match to Ridley 46-30 to drop into the consolation finals, where they were edged by Norristown, 39-36. Thus, it was Ridley and H-H in the title match. The Warriors rode the momentum of three straight falls in the middle by Brad Mallon (138), Patrick Chapman (145) and Austin Jaffe (152). Davis Wheeler’s 5-0 victory at 160 over the Green Raider’s Chris Holt put H-H ahead 24-9, and H-H never looked back, winning 39-30. Sam Negron got H-H on the board early with a solid 7-5 win over Ryan Prum to start the match at 120-pounds to go 3-0 on the day. Nick Chapman also went 3-0 on the day with three falls, two over returning Regional Qualifiers including Ridley’s Leo Cassidy. Austin Jaffe, Davis Wheeler and Logan Flynn completed the trifecta as well, with Jaffe earning three falls of his own.
In other Action:
The Abington Duals featured two SOL teams in host Abington and Wissahickon. Wissahickon downed Abington 53-21, and also pick up a victory over Lower Moreland in the Ghost Town Duals, which were won by private school national power Malvern Prep. Wissahickon was a 48-22 winner over Pottsgrove Thursday night upping their record to 11-9.
Pennridge and Quakertown continued their local rivalry with a throwback Saturday morning match in which the Rams downed the Panthers 43-30 in this non-league SOL tilt.
Souderton’s Brandon Bach won the 126-pound championship at the Coal Cracker Tournament at Panther Valley. Souderton finished fourth overall with Harrison Andrade (120) and Jack Morgan (195) placing third.
North Penn captured second at the Kurt Meister Invitational at Archbishop Wood last Sunday with three champs in Will Laughlin (145), Colin Shannon (152) and Ryan Cody (285) in the eight-team individual tournament.
The Battle of the Border is scheduled for Monday (Jan. 30) at Upper Moreland High School and will feature Hatboro-Horsham vs. the Golden Bears, middle school and club action as well starting at 5pm, with the high school varsity match schedule to start approximately at 7:00pm.
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