This week’s SOL wrestling notebook highlights some of the top team and individual performances at recent tournaments.
SOL NOTEBOOK:
2015 BRINGS HIGH EXPECTATIONS
By Glenn Kaiser
Happy New Year Wrestling Fans! Sorry for the delay in our weekly Wrestling Notebook here at the SuburbanOneSports site. It was not writer’s cramp, just too busy with a lot of wrestling over the Holidays!
Not only did the 14th Annual Wetzel Classic at Hatboro-Horsham consume my time, it was the travel back to the Lancaster area and mapping out a league dual that slowed my production. Nonetheless, here goes…here’s the wrap on a great yearend to 2014 and fast start to 2015 in the local wrestling scene.
A lot can happen in a week’s time, let alone over the busiest month in wrestling, and this past December saw a lot of action and changes throughout the SOL. Perhaps the best wrestler at 113 pounds, Riley Palmer of Council Rock South, took advantage of the two-pound growth allowance on Christmas Day and dropped to 106 pounds for the Hurricane Holiday Classic at Bethlehem Liberty. Palmer captured the 106-pound title with a 15-4 major decision over Luke Werner of Liberty. Palmer is off to a hot start with a King of the Mountain title to go along with his Hurricane title. Palmer may be able to avoid his nemesis Kordell Rush of Pennridge for the rest of the season, but he will now have to do battle with new foe Matt Parker of the Rams.
Rush and Parker have been absent from the Rams line-up over the past week; however Pennridge has held its own with the line-up deficiencies. The Rams placed sixth at the Beast of the East, one of the Nation’s top tournaments. The Rams were the second highest finishing public school at the Beast with Parker and Rush. Matt Parker was the runner-up at 106 with a narrow 1-0 defeat to the number one seed Jonathan Tropea of St. Joseph. Kordell Rush finished seventh along with 182-pounder Kyle Gentile. Heavyweight Joe Kracz continued his winning ways at 285 this season with a fifth place medal after downing Boyertown’s Tommy Kiloran 5-0 in the medal match. New addition, Zach Tuerke (170), a transfer from Hatboro-Horsham, and Ezra Outlaw (220) both picked up points for the Rams as both wrestled well at the Beast.
Flip the page and two weeks later its Council Rock South ahead of the Rams at the Hurricane, as the Golden Hawks finished fourth in the team race with three champions, and four finalist. Palmer led the way at 106, followed by Zack Trampe’s second prestigious title at 126 (KOM champ), and Dylan Schwartz at 152. Schwartz’s strong tournament run was capped with a sudden victory 3-1 win over Adam Evans of Freedom in OT. Lucas Martoccio made it to the championship finals at 145 but was defeated 4-1 by Travis Stefanik of Nazareth. Ben Kenis won the consolation bracket at 195-pounds finishing third with an 8-6 overtime victory over Evan Callahan (Freedom) with a takedown.
The Rams finished eighth at the Hurricane. Joe Kracz has established himself as one on the State’s best 285 pounders as he was the runner-up, dropping a 9-3 decision to Wyoming Seminary’s Mike Rogers 9-3. Kracz has garnered three medals at three elite tournaments (KOM/The Beast/The Hurricane) so far this season. The Rams picked up four medals with third place finishes from steady Kyle Gentile (182) and Ezra Outlaw (220). Josh Stillings grabbed fifth with a 2-0 win over Jason Jones (Saucon Valley), and Andrew Reinhold was seventh at 195. The Rams and Golden Hawks both have high expectations as dual teams and individual tournament teams as they head into the New Year. Hopefully, a showdown between the two will be in the making.
Council Rock North hosted the Rockyard Duals in honor of Jack Callender, Jr. yesterday. Seven teams competed in this annual dual event with North Penn, Pennsbury, Pennridge, Wissahickon, and the hosts, CR North, representing the SOL. This dual meet tourney features Southeastern PA teams vs. New Jersey teams. North Penn had a strong showing as they dropped a narrow 41-40 decision to Pennridge in the third place match. The Rams did not have their full lineup without Parker, Rush, and Tuerke. However, the Ram’s strength in the upper weights did the Knights in as the Rams recorded four pin falls and received a forfeit from 170 on up to 285. The Rams finished 3-1 with their only loss coming at the hands of Long Branch, NJ, 37-25. CR North finished second at home, losing to Long Branch 34-22 in the finals. Pennsbury defeated traditionally strong Prep team Germantown Academy 39-33 for fifth place. The battle for the SOL National team title will most likely be between CR North and CR South January 21at CRN at the Mike Sipler Memorial Unity Cup.
Quakertown continued its winning ways as a dual team, going 3-1 at the Zephyr Duals at Whitehall and capturing fifth place with victories over William Allen (51-25), Northwestern Lehigh (44-21), and Whitehall (40-27, 5th place match). The Panthers’ lone loss was to Northern Lehigh, 35-27.
The SOL Continental could be shaping up once again, as last year, as a wide-open title chase, as Souderton defeated District 12 defending champs LaSalle 51-21 in Whitehall. No team in the Continental can be counted out. Quakertown will square off with North Penn Wednesday night at the NP Youth/Middle School Night. Pennridge will travel to CB South, and Souderton will battle CB West. Hatboro-Horsham will travel to CB East. The Hatters own a win over North Penn, and East holds a loss at the hands of Knights. Thus, every match will have tremendous impact on the team title competition in the SOL Continental as will each week’s matches through out the season.
Nine SOL teams competed in the 14th Annual Wetzel Classic hosted by Hatboro-Horsham H.S., which featured 28 teams. Unfortunately, three teams had to withdraw from the event due to skin conditions. Two of those teams were SOL teams, Bensalem and CB East. Nonetheless, this year’s Wetzel Classic was the largest ever and has established itself as one of the best local tournament behind only the Escape the Rock hosted by CR South, which will be held Jan. 17 and 18 this year. Downingtown East (DTE) won the Wetzel Team Title for the third straight year, winning convincingly ahead of runner-up Pennsbury (248-156 points). Polytech of Delaware was third with 145.5 points. Central Bucks South had a good showing with a sixth place finish with five medalists, including two finalist in runners-up Ray Calderaio at 106 and Bobby Croasdale at 138. Pennsbury’s Antonio Martoccio decisioned Calderaio 9-2 in the 106-pound title tilt while Croasdale dropped a 4-2 decision to Jude McDowell (DTE) in the 138-pound finals. Ben Drummond (113) and Kyle Murphy (126) finished fourth, and Luke Kohler sixth at 182, dropping a 5-2 decision to Ridley’s Lawrence Atkins.
Pennsbury could not keep pace with DTE despite its three finalist of Luke Kowal (160), Mason Houriet (285), and champ Martoccio (106). DTE captured three titles with its seven finalist. DT’s Wade Cummings garnered OW honors as he was crowned champ at 126 with a major decision over one of Delaware’s best wrestlers in Kody Stevens, 13-1. Alex Cwenar won the consolation finals 3-1 over Perk Valley’s Aaron Strum for third place at 170, as Falcon teammate Connor Joyce finished fourth at 120. Eric Mongiello won his fifth place bout 8-3 over Kyle Wadell of Radnor, and Kenny Hickman finished the scoring for Pennbury with a seventh place showing at 182 with a victory oover Abington’s Jaleel Graham with a fall in 4:51.
Central Bucks West wrestlers provided some of the best wrestling of the tournament as Riley Barth captured the 145-pound tile with a 12-6 decision over Austin Lillis (DTE). But it was Jason Douple who wowed the crowd with his ferocious headlock with a pin fall for the Bucks over Upper Moreland standout Dom DeLaurentis at 160. Douple dropped his third place match 4-2 to David Tustin (Haverford) to finish fourth, while DeLaurentis finished fifth after receiving a forfeit from Eric Corliss of Germantown Academy. The 160-pound weight class was the toughest man for man at the Wetzel, as District One’s best 160 pounders competed for a Wetzel title. Pennsbury’s Luke Kowal dropped a 5-4 decision to James Meyer of Radnor in the finals. The Bucks’ Jason Stout finished fourth after losing to Lower Merion’s Brody Bush 9-3.
Upper Dublin’s Colin Devlin was the champion at 132 pounds with a pin in the finals to garner the Most Falls In The Least Amount Of Time Award. Devlin decked Polytech’s Josh Price in 2:42. The other SOL Wetzel Champion was Abington’s Keshon Guiellmo at 195 pounds. Guiellmo knocked off Perk Valley’s Alec DellaDonna 4-3 in the finals. The host Hatters had three medalists in Brendan Wawrzyniak (126-7th) who was hot off his third place finish at Donegal, Matt Chapman (220-5th), and Nick Schuck (285-4th). Matt Chapman is having a fine start to his season and is 16-7 placing in all three tournaments the Hatters have competed in (Solanco Mule Classic/Donegal/Wetzel Classic).
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