SOL Wrestling: SOL Division Titles Decided (By Glenn Kaiser)

2024 SOL WRESTLING DIVISION TITLES DECIDED
QUAKERTOWN WINS SOL LIBERTY WITH SEVEN INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONS

By Glenn Kaiser
Abington, PA-The Quakertown Panthers crowned seven champions Wednesday evening at Abington High School to run away with the SOL Liberty Division league title.  All in all, they placed 10 grapplers in the top three spots, posting 195.5 points which was nearly 50 points better than runner-up Abington with 146.5 points.  It really was just a battle for second place in the team race from the start between Abington and Hatboro-Horsham, which finished third with 141 points.

This individual league championship featured a 6-man bracket.  Thus, it was a short tournament wrestled on only two mats in a beautiful, refurbished Abington athletic facility.  Quakertown with marquee individuals were clearly the favorites, having gone undefeated (5-0) in Liberty dual action.  Although Hatboro-Horsham jumped out to an early lead and Abington made a finals’ push in the team standings by crowning four champs, the Panthers took care of business with nine finalists.   The Panthers finished with seven champs, two runners-up and a bronze medal.  No surprise Mason Ziegler, other than being down at 121-pounds, Gavin Carroll (145) Collin Gaj (152), and Calvin Lachman (285) all won titles.  On the flip side, Julian Moonlight has settled in at 114-pounds and won the title by major decision over Plymouth-Whitmarsh’s Kahleef Leonard 16-4, and Max Hibsman downed the Ghosts’ rugged Ryan Solomon 5-1 for the 160-pound title.  Solomon came into the tourney with a 22-4 record.  Isaac Williams recorded a fall in his 127-pound title tilt over H-H’s David Jensen in 1:09 of the first period and seems to be in the groove in time for the postseason. 

The biggest final matchup pitted the Panthers Gavin Carroll against the Hatters Chris Staub at 145-pounds.  Carroll came in ranked #6 by PA Power in the AAA State Rankings, and Staub at #17.  Carroll once again won over Staub, this time with a 7-0 shutout, and is now 4-1 lifetime over Staub.  Abington, the hosts, placed John Kaplan (133), Robert Hessmann (172), Dylan Kiesling (189) and John Wright (215) on top of the podium to highlight their eight top-3 finishers which included Solomon (2^nd at 160) and three third place finishers.  Kiesling improved to 22-1 on the season, and Kaplan, a junior, won his 133-pound title in overtime with a sudden victory 6-4 over H-H’s Bennie Staub.  Staub wrestled well on the way to the finals with a semifinal win over Upper Dublin’s Joseph Sirianni 6-3.

Hatboro-Horsham crowned two champs as Dominick Morrison, the #1 ranked AAA 107-pounder according to PA Power cruised in his championship match with a 17-2 tech fall over another solid freshman, UD’s Dominick Powell.  Dom’s older brother Aidan, has upped his game of late and won the 139-pound title with a pinfall over Q-town’s Kyler Roesener.  Quakertown, Abington and Hatboro-Horsham captured all 13 individual titles.

Cheltenham won the SOL Freedom Division, posting 204 points at William Tennent H.S. Wednesday. The Panthers went undefeated (5-0) in league dual action to retain their Freedom Division title.  The Chelts had seven champs, a runner-up and two third-place finishers.  Arthur Gordon has been solid all season and carries a 26-3 record into the postseason after pinning down the 160-pound title over Tennent’s Sean Hazlett. 

Pennridge also had seven individual champions to lock-down the Colonial Division with their undefeated (5-0) dual finish.  There was no doubt the Rams, 21-6 after their fourth place finish in the PIAA AAA Team Championship this past weekend would dominate at Central Bucks South H.S. in these championships.  Council Rock South wrapped up the Patriot Division awhile back, as they also went undefeated at 5-0 and won the league’s individual title. 

Now it’s off to the PIAA Individual Championships, which is one contiguous tournament starting with the District One Sectional Championships that will be conducted at four sites Saturday February 24, 2024.  The 2024 Girls District One Individual Championships kick off this Saturday 2/17/24 at William Tennent High School, starting at 9:00am.  District 12 girls will also be competing with D1 for a chance to advance.  On the boys side, SOL teams are separated into three different D1 Section Championships.  The majority of SOL teams will travel to Quakertown in the East, and the others to Hatboro-Horsham in the South & Souderton is the lone team in the North at Perkiomen Valley.

*District One Section Host Site

**Southeast Regional Host Site