Glenn Kaiser highlights the top individual and team performances at the 18th Annual Wetzel Holiday Wrestling Classic. Photos from the Wetzel Classic provided courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back later for photos from both Kim and Jon Sklut.
NEW YEAR, SAME OLD WETZEL
By Glenn Kaiser
Horsham, PA-The 18th Annual Wetzel Holiday Wrestling Classic at Hatboro-Horsham H.S. concluded early Saturday evening with nine SOL wrestlers capturing titles after two days of battle. The 30-team field featured some newcomers like Pennsbury’s 126-pounder, Rocky Moretti, and the old guard in William Tennent’s AJ Tamburrino, who captured his third Wetzel title at 145-pounds. Tamburrino recorded first period falls in all four of his matches to garner his third straight Outstanding Wrestler Award at this annual event.
Tamburrino was joined by his Panther teammates, TJ England (120-pounds) and Anthony Colella (132) atop the podium as they both won titles at their respective weight classes. Colella secured his second Wetzel title. He was the winner at 126-pounds a year ago. Although, Tennent had the most champs, they were not able to crack the top five in the team standings due to a lack of entries. However, the wrestlers they have are all outstanding. Tennent 182-pounder, Shamil Aladinov, finished third for the Panthers, and Emrath Faikov finished eighth at 170 lbs.
Harry S Truman was led by 138-pound champion Gunner Fuss, who downed Ephrata’s Kayde Althouse by major decision (16-2) with a well-executed tilt series. Truman amassed 148 points to finish second in the team standings behind only Interboro, the surprise team champions with 162 points. The hosts, Hatboro-Horsham, finished third as a team with 140.5 points. Logan Flynn was the top point getter for the H-H Wrestling Warriors, as he avenged an earlier season loss to Pennsbury’s Davis Lee in the 220-pound semifinal. Flynn won 5-1 in the ultimate tiebreaker on his way to winning his finals match by fall in 4:36 over Pottsgrove’s Avery Shivak. Lee came back thru the consolations to place third.
Truman was able to advance three wrestlers to the finals; however, Joey Goldey, who was battle tested throughout the tourney at 160-pounds as evidenced by his eye shiner, dropped a 5-0 decision to Lower Merion’s James Lledo to finish second. Up at 195-pounds, the Tigers Frank Regalis was overpowered by Northeast stud Jameel Coles, losing by fall, and had to settle for a runner-up finish. Coles won the most-falls in the least amount of time award. Note here that AJ Tamburrino was the mathematical winner of this award, but settled with his OW award.
H-H had six medalists in total. Davis Wheeler was the runner-up at 152-pounds after dropping a hard fought 3-0 finals bout to Avon Grove’s Nick Barnhart, who was a state qualifier in 2018. Patrick Chapman, fifth at 170-pounds, Grayson Smith, seventh at 120 lbs., CJ Grier, seventh at 195 lbs. and Riley Flaville, eighth at 160 lbs., were the other H-H wrestler to reach the podium.
Central Bucks East (138-points), despite no champions, finished fourth in the team standings, and Pennsbury was fifth with 126 pts. Pennsbury freshman Rocky Moretti secured a solid 7-1 championship victory in the 126-pound weight class over Interboro’s Jacob Finley. The 126-pound class was a tough bracket throughout the tournament. Abington’s Jake Rose finished fourth here for the Ghosts, and CB East’s Cole Thiebeau finished fifth.
Upper Dublin created some buzz for its wrestling program as they crowned two champions in lightweight Colin Higgins at 106-pounds and Mason Novak at 182-pounds. Novak came in as the #1 seed, and looked like it the entire tourney, winning 6-0 in his championship bout over Avon Grove’s Chris Buonocore. Higgins, just a freshman, was equally as good as the #2 seed, downing Perk Valley’s Luke Ricci 3-2 in the semis and then winning a tight 1-0 match over Kennett’s Darrale Barrett in the finals.
Bensalem’s heavyweight John Klewin was the best of the big men as he won a talented 285-pound weight class with a fall over Ridley’s Tom Bramwell at the start of the third period in the finals. Klewin decked CB West standout Ryan Hieber in the semifinals. Hieber rebounded with a third-place finish downing Abington’s Maliq Strother 4-1 in the heavyweight consi-final.
CB West’s Chris Cleland placed third at 113-pounds after winning perhaps the most exciting match of the entire tournament in the consi-semi’s. Cleland won 10-6 in a back and forth match that saw both Cleland and Truman’s Danny Baskin throw each other to their backs.
Tournament Notes: 12 SOL teams competed, four of the top five teams were from the SOL and seven were in the top-10 of the team standings. Both Philadelphia Public and Parochial schools were represented along with Pennsylvania Private Academies and Wethersfield from Connecticut. CB West’s Ryan Hieber is the son of former CB East standout Chuck Hieber, who qualified for states in 1983 as a heavyweight.
18th Annual Wetzel Classic
Friday, December 28, 2018 - Saturday, December 29, 2018at Hatboro Horsham HS
Team Standings
(1) Interboro 161.0, (2) Harry S. Truman 148.0, (3) Hatboro Horsham 140.5, (4) Central Bucks East 130.0, (5) Pennsbury 126.0, (6) William Tennent 117.0, (7) Ridley 114.0, (8) Central Bucks West 103.0, (9) Upper Dublin 100.0, (10) Lower Merion 98.0, (11) Abington 92.0, (12) Pottsgrove 90.5, (13) Avon Grove 87.0, (14) Wethersfield (CT) 85.0, (15) Central High 83.0, (16) Northeast High 78.5, (17) Haverford High 76.0, (18) Upper Moreland 71.0, (19) Ephrata 63.0, (20) Central Bucks South 61.0, (21) Kennett 57.0, (22) Springside Chestnut Hill Academy 55.0, (23) Bensalem 54.0, (24) Cheltenham 53.0, (25) Belmont Charter 41.5, (26) Lower Moreland 36.0, (27) Perkiomen Valley 31.0, (28) Germantown Friends 19.0, (29) George Washington 6.0, (30) Archbishop Carroll 4.0
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