Glenn Kaiser recaps the SOL’s top performances at the District One East & Central Tournaments and looks ahead to Southeast Regionals.
PENNRIDGE ROLLS TO DISTRICT TITLE
By Glenn Kaiser
Although it took until Monday night to decide the District One East team title and determine the D1 East’s individual Southeast Region qualifiers, it was well worth the wait for the Pennridge Rams. The Rams slotted eight wrestlers in the finals on Saturday afternoon in the snow and set themselves up for the team title after Continental Coach of the Year RP Norley’s Rams wrestlers won eight semifinal matches at Interboro High School.
Only Council Rock South had an outside chance of catching the Rams with four finalists of their own. However, even Coach Brad Silimperi’s (Coach of the Year SOL National) Golden Hawks did not have an answer for the stampeding Rams.
With only two head-to-head match-ups in the finals at 113 and 195, Pennridge was unbeatable despite CR South and Pennridge splitting those bouts. The Rams’ Kordell Rush was perfect in a 7-0 victory over CRS freshmen Ben Radner, and Ben Kenis (CRS) rode out the Rams Andrew Reinhold 1-0 after scoring the only points of the match with an escape in the second period.
The Rams captured five District titles starting at 106 where Matt Parker put on a gutsy performance, fending off CR North’s Aiden Burke 3-1. Parker is battling through a shoulder injury that has limited him this season. Rush followed at 113 with his championship, and then freshmen Josh Stillings repeated with a victory over SOL Continental foe Ryan Chalifoux from CB East, hanging on 4-3. Look for these two to battle again at Regionals. At 170 pounds, clearly the best in the State at this weight, Kyle Gentile posted a 9-2 win over Quakertown’s Nick Bonomo, as he was looking for bonus points at the end of the match, to continue his trek to Hershey. Big man, Ezra Outlaw grabbed the last title for the Rams as he eeked out a win over CR North’s Kyle Thorpe 3-2. With a point in his pocket for a fleeing the mat call when Thorpe lifted Outlaw out of bounds on the edge of the line, Outlaw outlasted desperate attacks from Thorpe to gain a takedown and win at the buzzer.
Pennridge’s other finalist were impressive as well, as another stellar freshmen, Micah Visuwan went toe to toe with Truman’s Dylan Nuttall in the finals, but a more experienced Nuttall came away with the title at 120, winning 3-2. Joe Kracz at heavyweight could not topple the big from Neshaminy, as Bruce Graeber earned the District One East title at an extremely deep and talented weight class. Both Graeber and Kracz will be ones to watch at the SE Regionals with five berths on the line to go to Hershey to compete in the AAA PIAA Individual Wrestling Championships.
The Rams advanced eight wrestlers to the SE Region, CR South, seven, and CR North, six, Quakertown, five, and Pennsbury, five. Quakertown finished in fourth place with no finalist in the team race, posting 113 points from the consolations. The top five team’s finishes reflected the number of wrestlers advanced: 1. Pennridge (198 points), 2. Council Rock South (152), 3. Council Rock North (122.5), 4. Quakertown (113.5). Pennsbury (93).
SOL teams will look to take hold of the Southeast Regional title next weekend at Oxford H.S. Friday 2/27 (5:30pm start) and Saturday 2/28/15 (9:30am start/Finals 6:00pm.) Both Pennridge and CR South will be frontrunners, as they are clearly solid tournament teams that must face PAC-10 powers Boyertown (D1 West Champs) and Spring-Ford, along with the Ches-Mont’s Downingtown East (D1 Central Champs). CR North, Quakertown, and Pennsbury will be factors in the team race as well. The SOL Continental and National Conference wrestlers dominated the D1 East championships, as only one Del Val wrestler, Eric Thomas won a title at 138 over Pennsbury’s Eric Mongiello, as he had to fight off Mongiello’s furious attack until the end, winning 4-3. The SOL advanced 51 of the available 56 spots to Regionals with only five Del Val wrestlers advancing.
Central Bucks East’s Evan Wilson garnered the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler Award, as he recorded two falls on his way to the finals, both under one minute, and then dominated Phil Stolfi (Souderton) in the final at 182, winning by a technical fall 17-1 in 4:21. Wilson is battling a knee injury but has managed it well with the win over Stolfi and a district title after forfeiting last weekend at SOLs to Stolfi in the finals. He will most likely face Boyertown’s Gregg Harvey this weekend in the SE Regional final.
CR South’s Zack Trampe won the 126-pound title to join Kenis as another of the Golden Hawks champs, and he is looking at a showdown with Wade Cummings (DTE) at Regionals. Cummings beat Trampe last year at regionals. The third Golden Hawks’ champ, Dylan Schwartz (152), was victorious again over Neshaminy’s Dominic Stabilito in this rematch from the National finals 5-2.
The other champs were CB West’s undefeated Riley Barth who again won in a redo of last weekend’s Continental final at 145, as things got tighter with Colin Shannon (North Penn), but Barth hung on for a 4-3 win to up his overall record to 31-0. At 160, Josh Shalinsky (CRN) returned the favor on last weekend’s final opponent, Pennsbury’s Luke Kowal, 3-1, to capture the title for the Indians.
In the D1 Central at Wissahickon, the American Conference struggled to keep pace with Ches-Mont qualifiers. Nonetheless, there were 10 wrestlers that advanced to the SE Regional Championships. Norristown’s Shaheed Hill was the only SOL American champion; he defeated West Chester Henderson’s James McDonald in the heavyweight division with a 3-1 sudden victory in overtime. Norristown also had two runners-up. Eric Fuentes at 113 lost in the finals to James Strommer (DTE) in a close one, 5-4. The Eagles’ Isaiah Samuels at 220 dropped a 5-2 decision to Billy McGinley (DTE). Upper Dublin’s Colin Devlin reached the finals as well but lost a heartbreaker 2-1 to Henderson’s Joey Wilson.
Up at 145, Plymouth-Whitmarsh’s Ben Billings was second to a solid Chase Stephens (Coatesville) 7-0 in the finals tilt. Upper Moreland’s stalwart Dom DeLaurentis was another American Conference runner-up as he came up short (5-2) to Sun Valley’s Alex Elliott. DeLaurentis will look to rebound and make the trip to Hershey this weekend. His fellow Golden Bear Patrick Walker lost to Coatesville’s rugged Wesley McGuire by fall in the finals to settle for second place at 195 and a trip to Oxford.
NOTES FROM DISTRICTS: At D1 East, Interboro High School did a fabulous job adjusting on the fly and being able to reset things for Monday night’s consi-finals and finals. Things ran smoothly, efficiently, and without a glitch. The table help was excellent, and all in all, it was a good experience for wrestlers, coaches, and fans…except for the weather.
Longtime PIAA Official and tournament aficionado Mr. Richard Stamm handled the match-making duties and was assisted by announcer Mr. Trent Mongillo (Keith Valley M.S. Head Wrestling Coach). Both have been running League and District One East tournaments for the past several years.
Wissahickon hosted D1 Central, which was run by Mr. Terry Fennell (Wissahickon M.S. Coach), thanks to Coach Stagliano and his crew for getting the tournament completed…on time.
Look for my predictions and updated SOL rankings later in the week, and good luck to all SOL wrestlers this weekend at Oxford. Don’t forget to have a crab cake or fresh crabs down in NE Maryland!
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