By Alex Frazier
District One’s three teams were a combined 2-6 at the PIAA State Dual Meet Tournament Friday and Saturday at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Council Rock South was the lone team to win a match. Council Rock North and Boyertown each went 0-2, while the Golden Hawks were 2-2.
Both North and South lost their second round matches, South to District Six champion and eventual bronze-medalist Central Mountain, 42-20 and North to District Seven runner-up Kiski Prep, 32-26.
Central Dauphin, which beat Central Mountain 35-34 in the semifinals, went on to win the state title with a 41-9 thumping of Parkland.
“The top bracket was just loaded with the best teams,” said South coach Brad Silimperi.
In the first round of consolations, Rock North faced District Four champion Shikellamy and lost a heartbreaker, 29-28, to end its run.
“We wrestled pretty well,” said North coach Tom Vivacqua. “We won seven matches against Kiski and seven matches against Shikellamy. We just didn’t get enough bonus points and gave up too many bonus points.”
Against Kiski, the Indians forged a 13-0 lead and a 22-3 lead before the Braves stormed back to within three before the final match. Shikellamy’s Jacob Witmer majored Sean O’Neill 16-7 to pull out the win.
But O’Neill can hardly be blamed for the loss.
Shane Longstreth was going for a tech fall at 119 and gave up a late takedown and had to settle for a major decision. Stephen Kaschak lost 2-1 on a caution at 285, and Hayden Schenker lost his match 2-1 at 135.
“Both matches we were ahead and just couldn’t hold them off,” said Vivacqua.
Despite the early exit, six North wrestlers came out of the tournament unbeaten. They included John Dutrow (112), Shane Longstreth (119), Adam Slezak (125), Allan Slezak (130), Anthony Dutrow (140) and Jamie Callender (189).
South, on the other hand, took full advantage of the revenge factor to oust Boyertown, a 31-27 loser to Parkland, 42-22 in the first round of consolations. The Bears had defeated South 38-35 in the finals of the District One tournament.
“We pretty much hammered them,” said coach Brad Silimperi. “We wrestled our best. It speaks of the character of the kids and their mental toughness.”
A match “that was worth the admission,” according to Silimperi, came at 135. Boyertown sent Alex Pelicciotti, ranked No. 1 in the state at 135 in one poll, out on the mat, and the Hawks responded with Josh Dziewa, ranked No 1 at 140.
It was a matchup Silimperi had hoped to get in the District One Dual Meet Championship, but Boyertown bumped him to 140.
“We were really ecstatic,” said Silimperi. “I respect Boyertown for doing that.”
Dziewa won the battle of No. 1’s, 4-1.
“There were a lot of flurries and some great wrestling,” said Silimperi. “Kudos to both those guys for going after it and cutting loose.”
Another wrestler who has been coming on is Tim Riley. He bumped up to 152 and pinned Chase Garber to give the Hawks the lead for good.
“He’s only lost once or twice in his last 10 bouts,” said Silimperi. “He’s a pinner and gets us a lot of bonus points.”
Also in the Boyertown match, the South heavyweights, which had disappointed in the district match, responded. Bobby Lavelle (171) and Mike Bennett (189) flip-flopped weights, which resulted in two wins, while at 215 Tom Dingui pinned Boyertown’s Ryan Schwager, who in the previous encounter pinned at heavyweight to give the Bears the win.
“Sometimes they’re under scrutiny because we let a few bouts get away,” said Silimperi of his big guys. “The last couple of bouts they’ve done more than their job. It started with LaSalle and followed through at the state duals. We challenged them after the Boyertown match. They responded well.”
Then, it was South’s turn to take on Shikellamy, and the Hawks used their momentum to beat the Braves 39-28.
The win put them smack up against Central Mountain for the second time in two days. South made it a bit closer this time, but still fell 36-25.
“They’re better than us,” said Silimperi, “but if we had won the coin toss, we had a chance of beating them. They were just coming off a heartbreaking loss (35-34) to Central Dauphin. We didn’t get the coin toss, but the kids wrestled tough.”
Five South wrestlers were undefeated in the tournament. Billy Rappo (103), Matt Rappo (125), Josh Dziewa (135) and Bobby Lavelle were all 4-0, while Connor Moore was 3-0.
Silimperi is particularly happy with the way Moore has been wrestling.
“Connor Moore wrestled awesome the entire week,” he said. “He’s been on a tear. He’s one to watch. He was out injured a lot this year, and he’s going to do some serious damage in the post-season.”
Next week remains busy for both teams. On Tuesday, Rock North wrestles William Tennent at 5 p.m. and Neshaminy at 7 p.m., while South takes on Pennsbury. Wednesday, North wrestles Pennsbury, and South has Abington and Harry S Truman, and then both teams head into the Section One Tournament Saturday.
“We’re going out to wrestle hard,” said Vivacqua. “There’s not a lot of pressure.”
“At this point our focus is on sectionals, districts, regions and states, not on the dual meets,” said Silimperi. “We’re going to be getting guys ready this week whether they’re wrestling in dual meets or training.”
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