By Alex Frazier
Highlighting…Dave Yannes
Dave Yannes is reaping the benefit of off-season training. Last year Yannes finished with a 7-18 record. This year the Wissahickon junior is 20-6 heading into the new year.
“It feels pretty good,” he said.
Coach Jim Swiggard thinks Yannes could top 30 wins before the post-season is over.
“He wrestled all summer,” said Swiggard. “He wrestled for our club, Pinnacle. He may have missed one practice. He ran all summer to keep his weight down and his confidence is up.”
In addition, he went to a camp in New Jersey and wrestled MAWAs.
Yannes is a relative newcomer to wrestling. He didn’t start until eighth grade.
“I really didn’t know much about the sport,” he said. “My friends and a teacher who was a coach started talking to me about it, and it seemed interesting, so I went out for the team.”
As a freshman he wrestled 103, but weighed only 90 pounds. Last year he grew into the weight.
“It was easier than my freshman year,” he said.
As a sophomore, Yannes started out on jayvee, but when he won the jayvee tournament at Germantown Academy, he was promoted to varsity.
He went on to place fourth at sectionals to qualify for districts. He should have placed fifth at districts but fell victim to a headlock in the last 10 seconds of his match against Upper Perkiomen’s Dan Rodenberger, whom he led 4-1 before giving up the four-point move.
“There were a lot of matches last year he could have won,” said Swiggard.
This year he’s back at 103 once again and only has to lose a couple of pounds.
“Getting to districts started everything,” said Swiggard. “We tried to stay in his head about it. This year he’s dominating people for the most part. He has a lot of pins. He has a pinning war going on with Brian Corliss.”
Yannes’ goal is to make regionals this year.
“I did a lot of work over the summer and it’s paying off,” he said.
Deceptive Indians – Starting the new year, Council Rock North sits on top of the National Conference with a 2-0 record. But overall, the Indians are 3-4.
What does that say about the Suburban One League?
Well, that’s somewhat deceiving.
Tom Vivacqua has put together the toughest schedule in Rock history this year. The only District One team Rock has succumbed to is Boyertown, not once but twice. Both matchups came at Boyertown’s Bear Duals. The first match came down to the last bout, with Boyertown pulling out a 31-25 win; the second wasn’t as close as the Bears won 45-27 to claim third place.
The two teams could meet two more times this year. They most certainly will compete at the Cumberland Valley Duals Saturday and possibly at district duals. Boyertown will most likely be seeded first.
The Indians’ other two losses came to nationally ranked St. Mark’s (Del.), 47-15, and District 11’s Bethlehem Liberty, 29-27.
The Indians also participated in two invitational tournaments, taking third at the Keystone Invitational in York and 24th at the POWERade Tournament at Canon-McMillan, which is considered to be one of the top five tournaments in the nation.
Greg Lanctot (13-4), who is having a good season at 145, placed fourth. In the semifinals, Scott Sagaguchi, a California state champion, knocked him into the consolations with a fall at 3:42.
Teammate Jamie Callender (16-2) finished fifth at 189. He was bumped from the championship round by Shady Side Academy’s Roman San Doval, last year’s Class AA state champion at 189.
Zac Haynes (12-4), a state qualifier last year, is also enjoying a good season, and is a favorite to return to Hershey.
While regional qualifier Shane Longstreth (112) is only .500 (7-7), he has come up against some very tough competition.
“The kids he’s lost to are state quality kids,” said Vivacqua.
Rock North also has a bunch of what Vivacqua calls “regular Joes” that are contributing at different times.
Freshman Stephen Kaschak, who only weighs 210, is making a stunning debut at 285, a weight class you seldom see such a young grappler, much less one that is now 8-3.
“He’s beaten some pretty decent kids,” said Vivacqua.
Ironically, his brother Jack, who wrestles 215, beats him, but only has a 5-12 record.
At 171 Tom Clark (9-9) has shown improvement this year after going 9-19 last year.
The wrestler who has improved the most is 160-pounder Bruce Froshour. He’s turned a 1-20 record from last year into a 4-9 mark to date.
The records are not likely to get any better this weekend as the Indians travel to the Cumberland Valley Duals. Besides taking on the hosts, Rock will also face defending state champion Central Dauphin, Boyertown and Colonial Forge (Va.).
The following weekend they host their own tournament and will get a local test before district duals against Springfield Delco.
“It truly could determine our seeding for district duals,” said Vivacqua.
The coach is hoping all the tough competition will pay off in a league championship and perhaps a district duals title.
Though things are looking positive right now, Vivacqua knows there’s still a lot of wrestling to be done.
“We control our own destiny,” he said. “We have some tough matches ahead and we can’t take anybody lightly. We’re not long on talent, but we’re a hard-working team.”
A new top Rappo — With each succeeding Rappo, the pressure builds. Matt Rappo, now a sophomore at Council Rock South, certainly has a remarkable reputation to live up to, as all three of his brothers were state champions.
“I’m trying to keep up with them and follow in their footsteps,” he said. “Hopefully I’ll get up there and win a state title. There’s a little pressure, but I try to pass by that and do what I do best, just work hard.”
This year Rappo is focusing on getting better on his feet, in particular trying to work on his sweep single and start shooting to both sides.
“I always start out slow at the beginning of the year, and I always improve,” he said. “I got a lot better from last year on my feet. I’ve been working out with (assistant coach) Trap (McCormick) and he’s been teaching me a lot of tricks and stuff.”
Though brother Mark graduated, there are still two Rappos on the team again this year as Matt is joined by his younger brother Billy, who is wrestling 103, weighing about 85 pounds.
“He’s a little light,” Matt said, “but it’s good to have him on the team. He’s a kid that always works hard and never quits.”
Even with the tough competition South faces, Billy has won six of his first 15 matches.
Around the league – After all the tournaments over Christmas break, teams returned to their league schedules Wednesday before heading on the tournament circuit again this weekend. • The National Conference continues to be tightly contested. Abington trailed Pennsbury 32-25 heading into the final two bouts. The Ghosts’ Ryan Rozniakowski pulled them to within one point with a fall at 189, and 215-pounder John Trasser defeated Jarred Parrish to give Abington a 34-32 win.
• Things were just as close with Neshaminy and Harry S Truman. That result hinged on the 189-pound bout in which an undersized Garrett Simpson pinned the Tigers’ Jordan Carstarpher 9-1 midway through the second period when he trailed 9-2. Neshaminy went on to record a 37-35 victory, the 600th in school history.
• A similar turnabout occurred in the C.B. East-Pennridge match. Pennridge 215-pounder Anthony Fecondo had Bob Poleshuk on his back for over a minute in the first period, but didn’t get the slap until the final buzzer sounded. When the ref checked with the table, it was determined that time had expired before he blew his whistle signaling the fall.
Trailing 9-4 in the third period, Poleshuk stood from the bottom, reached back and headlocked Fecondo to his back to get the fall. East went on to defeat Pennridge 31-36, thanks to a 12-point swing.
• In case anyone didn’t think Upper Moreland was for real, the Golden Bears annihilated Plymouth Whitemarsh 48-19. There were two marquee bouts and the Colonials won both. Tim Santry moved up to 130 and tangled with Lucas Wisniewski, who handed him a 6-1 defeat. At 160, PW’s super soph John Staudenmayer, who has yet to lose this year, cruised past John Bolich, 6-0.
• In another key matchup, Wissahickon toppled Upper Dublin, 40-33.
• Council Rock North finished 24th at the POWERade Tournament at Canon-McMillan, considered by many as one of the top five tournaments in the country. Greg Lanctot (145) finished fourth and Jamie Callender (189) was fifth.
• Quakertown won the Zephyr Duals, defeating Paramus Catholic (NJ) for the title by a scant 34-33. The Panthers also had a tough match with LaSalle. After Nick Lubenetski won at 160, the Panthers held on by their claws, as LaSalle reeled off four straight wins, including two falls.
Quakertown also defeated Emmaus 66-12 and Northwestern Lehigh 56-9.
• Norristown squeaked out a win over neighborhood archrival Methacton 31-30. The match came down to Doug Forlano, who bumped up to 130 and decisioned Brendan Bright, 5-0.
Top Five SOL teams
1. Quakertown
2. Council Rock North
3. Council Rock South
4. Upper Moreland
5. Abington
Top Guns
103-Scott Wolfinger, Quakertown
112-Matt Harkins, Hatboro-Horsham
119-Zac Haynes, Council Rock North
125-Tim Santry, Upper Moreland
130-Luke Wisniewski, Plymouth Whitemarsh
135-Matt Rust, Quakertown
140-Zac Bush, William Tennent
145-Stephen Parker, Norristown
152- Jim Vollrath, Council Rock South
160-Ed Shupe, Council Rock South
171-Devon Passman, Central Bucks East
189-Jamie Callender, Council Rock North
215-Dan Clemenson, William Tennent
285-David Osei, Abington
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