Postseason is Upon Us
By Glenn Kaiser
It’s hard to believe that the postseason essentially begins this weekend with the SOL Individual Championships. Although these tournaments are no longer qualifiers for Districts, they may very well have in impact on wrestlers who qualify this season…a season like no other.
A recent announcement of the District tourneys being reduced from a 12-man bracket to an 8-man bracket has created a stir amongst coaches throughout the region. Nonetheless, barring a last-minute change, which is not unlikely, only eight wrestlers will qualify for the two District events. The District One North tournament is mostly comprised of SOL teams, thus the SOL’s could be a starting point for wrestlers to advance. Quakertown will host the North tourney, as well as the new sub-region prior to States. Additionally, they will host this weekend’s SOL Liberty Championships. Council Rock South hosts the Patriot division and North Penn the Colonial. There will be no Freedom conference championship due to the lack of teams wrestling this season. Cheltenham, Springfield and William Tennent have been shut down since day one.
With only eight wrestlers qualifying from 28 teams in the North for the real post-season, any additional wins, especially over quality opponents will go a long way with the selection committee for those looking to begin their trip to Chocolate Town, USA.
The most significant dual meet of the season thus far was completed this past weekend, as Council Rock South downed Quakertown 39-27 in dramatic fashion. Quakertown jumped out to an early 21-3 lead after Dom DeFalco decked Ryan Gottwald at 138-pounds. The Golden Hawks only win after six bouts, was at the start of the match at 106lbs where South’s Luke Reitter shut out a very solid Justin Adamson 6-0.
The tide turned quickly at 145lbs when CR South’s Mohammed Savriddinov pinned Q-town’s Patrick McCoy, the first of six straight falls for the Golden Hawks. Mohammend’s younger brother Behkhurz followed with a pin at 152 and the run was on. Tom Woloshyn (160), Anthony Cerulli (172), Matt Colajezzi (189) and Lucas Doyle (215) all recorded falls to blow open the match. The string of falls pushed CRS ahead 39-21 and left no doubt that the Golden Hawks reign supreme in the SOL this year. Frederick Retter (Q-town) dismissed Charles Socki (CRS) quickly in 19 seconds to close out the match at 285-pounds making the final score 39-27.
Both CR South and Quakertown will be in the mix for the final four of the District One Team Championships. South solidified a spot in the tournament, and should be the #1 or #2 seed assuming the dual championships are held. Quakertown should be in as well, but most likely as the #4 seed with the loss to the Golden Hawks.
The Pennsbury Falcons remain hot, and have pushed their overall record to 8-1 with convincing wins over CR North 39-28 on Feb. 4th and solid win on their Senior Night over Pennridge 43-24. Unfortunately, they will not be in the mix for a final four spot, as West Chester Henderson and Garnet Valley are most likely in line for the final slot at either #3 or #4. The Falcons’ Mason Grodzki (138lbs) is a perfect 9-0 and AJ Stephenson (145) is 7-2, with his only losses coming at the hands of a 12-1, Mohammed Savriddinov (CRS) and Neshaminy’s Zac Martin (5-0 this season). Martin is a returning state medalist (6th place). Pennsbury’s Jay Hay (120) is also 7-2, 113-pounder Quentin Kervick sits at 6-3, freshman Andrew Romer (106) is 4-1 and Aiden Velez (160) and Nicholas Sieger (126) are both 6-3 on the season. John Luchansky, another Falcon freshman is 3-1 also at 106-pounds.
North Penn has clinched the Colonial conference at a perfect 5-0, they are 6-3 overall. Upper Moreland wins the Freedom with their win over Lower Moreland 48-30. Quakertown should clinch the Liberty, they are 3-0 currently there and 13-1 overall. CR South remains perfect at 13-0 overall and has the edge over Pennsbury for the title in the Patriot with their 49-12 win back on Jan. 27th.
Plymouth-Whitmarsh has put together a good season this year, as the Colonials are 7-3 and take on Council Rock North in an out of conference SOL tilt tonight that highlights this evening’s matches. Other matches include CRS at Bensalem for the Golden Hawks to clinch the division. Abington and Upper Dublin have been on hold due to COVID protocols, and CB East travels to Truman for another out of conference tilt. CBE is a bit of a mystery again this season as they have lost some close ones, a la North Penn 27-28 which was essentially for the conference title, but have racked up eight wins and stand at 8-7 overall. 15 matches for the Patriot wrestlers is a big deal to help them move onto the postseason.
Most interesting is East’s 215-pounder Quinn Collins who stands at 11-2, with both his losses coming to two wrestlers he has also defeated this season, Carl DiGiorgio (CBW) and Lucas Doyle (CRS). These three will tangle for sure at District One North if they land in the same weight class…Doyle most likely will be down a weight. DiGiorgio is 14-1 with that one loss to Collins, and Doyle is 10-3 on the season, with two of those losses to DiGiorgio and the other to Collins.
Look for some updated individual rankings coming out in the real near future, below are the Team Rankings as of 2/10/21.
2021 SOL Dual Team Rankings (2/10/21)
Entire SOL:
1-Council Rock South (13-0)
2-Quakertown (13-1)
3-Pennsbury (8-1)
4-North Penn (6-3)
T5-Neshaminy (4-3)
T5-Plymouth-Whitmarsh (7-3)
Colonial:
1-North Penn (Overall 6-3/SOL 5-0)
2-Central Bucks East (8-7/4-1)
3-Central Bucks South (5-7/3-2)
Freedom:
1-Upper Moreland (4-1/1-0)
2-Lower Moreland (0-5/0-1)
Liberty:
1-Quakertown (13-1/3-0)
2-Plymouth-Whitmarsh (7-3/2-1)
3-Abington (0-1/0-1)
Patriot:
1-Council Rock South (13-0/4-0)
2-Pennsbury (4-1/8-1)
3-Neshaminy (4-3/3-2)
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