Glenn Kaiser features CR South's District One Team Championship, highlights the team races in all three SOL conferences and includes his SOL team rankings as the regular season winds down.
CR SOUTH GOLDEN HAWKS FLYING HIGH TO HERSHEY
By Glenn Kaiser
Council Rock South defended their 2017 District One Team Championship with a dominating 46-20 win over an upstart Spring-Ford team in the 2018 D1 Team Championship match at Upper Dublin High School this past Saturday afternoon. South will head to the Giant Center in Hershey this Thursday to take on a familiar foe in Cannon McMillan. The Golden Hawks downed the Big Macs last year in round one at the PIAA (AAA) Team Championships. Cannon Mac was a 24-33 loser against Kiski Area in the District 7 team championships.
Should South advance against the Big Macs on Thursday (Feb. 8, 6 p.m.), they will have to grapple with the Cathedral Prep (D10-1)/Shikellamy (D4-1) winner in quarterfinal action.
In Saturday’s final, the Golden Hawks got a huge pin from Giani Gilch at 182 pounds after he was trailing Spring-Ford’s Michael Gradwell to put CR South ahead 15-4 early. The fall enabled South to survive a three-win match streak by the Rams that pushed S-F ahead 17-15 in the team score coming around to 106-pounds. It was from there on that the Golden Hawks laid down the hammer on the Rams, garnering bonus points in five of the last seven matches which included four falls by Max Mendez (113), Ben Radner (132), Eric Woloshyn (138) and L.J. Kahn at 145-pounds. CRS won six of the last seven contested bouts as Shane Hanson-Ashworth tallied a decision over S-F’s rugged Jack McGill in a 4-3 thriller. Brendan Ricchini stepped in at 120 for the Golden Hawks to contest Ram standout Brandon Meredith and was up for the challenge despite losing 8-2 with a takedown on Meredith.
Spring-Ford reached the finals after dropping PAC rival Owen J Roberts 35-27 in the quarters and hammering #2 seed Downingtown West 39-22 in the semifinals. As the #1 seed, CR South had an easier path to the finals as the Golden Hawks downed West Chester Henderson Friday in the quarters 47-19 and then demolished Boyertown 50-19 in their upper half semifinal.
Council Rock North did not fare as well in this past weekend’s district dual results. The Indians were narrowly defeated by Boyertown 40-34 in the quarters and then eliminated by West Chester Henderson by a score of 37-27 in the first round of wrestle backs. North has struggled of late to win dual meets, as they have dropped five of their last eight duals since Jan. 10 Nonetheless, despite their diminished line-up over that time period, the Indians managed to advance to the Round of 8 in the D1 Team Championships. They will surely be a top D1 tournament team starting in two weeks with league tournament that serve as qualifiers for the District One East Championships that will be hosted at Quakertown. Kyle Hauserman (106), Luke Lucerne (120) and Cam Robinson (138) will lead the way. All three SOL conferences will be combined to make up the new look D1 East one last time in the three-district format of the 2018 Southeast Region.
Other SOL happenings:
Quakertown (15-5/6-0) went 3-0 this past weekend capturing the team title at the CB East Invitational Duals with wins over Carlisle in the finals 43-33, CB West 60-22 in the quarterfinals and CB East 61-18 in the semis. Hatboro-Horsham went 3-1 in these duals with victories over CB East 42-30, William Tennent 59-15 and CB West 57-21 to up its overall record to 11-9/5-1 SOL American.
Quakertown has wrapped up the SOL American Conference title. Even if the Panthers suffer an upset loss to Wissahickon (10-15/3-3) Wednesday, they will clinch as they hold the head to head tiebreaker over Hatboro-Horsham. H-H’s Nick Chapman’s pin streak of 27 came to a halt Saturday after he suffered his first loss of the season to Hunter Catka from Sun Valley.
CR South (12-2/6-0) will close out its SOL National campaign versus Abington Wednesday as the league champs since they hold the tiebreaker over Neshaminy (17-5/5-1). In the Continental, it will be North Penn (11-5/5-0) and CB East (12-7/5-0) battling for the title Wednesday as both teams are undefeated in league action. Pennridge has begun to get wrestlers back in the line-up, and the Rams too will be an individual tournament threat with Josh Stillings (182) leading the way. He is complemented by Evan Widing (145) and Logan Green (160). Senior David Blanchard has returned to the line-up for the Rams at 220-pounds but has only wrestled 10 matches, winning six bouts.
Keep an eye on the Souderton Indians in the individual postseason with freshman Sam Beckett 23-8 at 126-pounds, Tyler Williams (23-5/132lbs), Harrison Andrade (20-6/138lbs), Connor Trowbridge (17-11/145lbs) and Bruno Stolfi (25-5/195lbs).
Upper Dublin hosts the Cardinal Invitational this coming Saturday as the regular season duals and tournaments wrap up for the SOL.
SOL Team Rankings (2/6/18):
1-Council Rock South (Overall 12-2/SOL 5-0)
2-Neshaminy (17-5/5-1)
3-Council Rock North (11-7/2-3)
4-Quakertown (15-5/6-0)
5-North Penn (11-5/5-0)
Honorable Mention (in order by strength): Hatboro-Horsham (11-9/5-1), Central Bucks East (12-7/5-0), Pennridge (5-5/3-3), Plymouth-Whitmarsh (8-6/4-2) and Bensalem (11-11/3-2)
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