By Alex Frazier
Highlighting…Tom Burke
Neshaminy’s Tom Burke is making the most of his last year of wrestling.
The senior 152-pounder started his varsity career as a sophomore with a 1-7 record. Last year he was a regular in the lineup, but still finished with a losing mark of 11-19 and didn’t advance past the sectional tournament.
But this year, Burke has come of age.
Heading into this week, he is 18-6. Last weekend at the Conestoga Five-Star Duals he compiled an impressive 5-1 record.
Even since the beginning of the season, Burke has come on.
“He’s starting to win the close matches that he would have lost last year,” said Neshaminy coach Dan Winter.
Burke is hard put to explain the drastic improvement.
“I don’t know what it was,” he said. “The only thing I can think of is being more experienced.”
It’s not like Burke wrestles year around. Except for the occasional summer clinic or tournament, his season begins in November and ends in March.
“If I did do that (wrestle all year), I would be better,” he said, “but I never did it. I’d rather do other things. I can’t imagine doing it year round. It’s too intense for me.”
His coach attributes his progress to hard work.
“He’s just a great kid,” said Winter. “He has a good work ethic; he’s a solid wrestler and does a lot for us at 152.”
Burke is also wrestling the same weight class as last year, despite putting on an additional five pounds.
In 13 of his 18 wins, he has earned bonus points, with eight pins, one tech fall and four major decisions.
Many of his pins come via his favorite pinning combination, the crossface cradle.
“He pins a lot of kids with that cradle,” said Winter.
If it doesn’t work, he looks to his Turk to rack up back points.
Burke is much more comfortable on the mat than he is on his feet.
This year he has also improved on bottom. He’s made an effort to ask questions and stay after practice to work on the fine points of his technique.
Burke is captain of the team this year, a position he takes seriously.
“It sounds good,” he said, “but there’s a lot of responsibility. It’s not easy; you need to work to get the team better. It’s a big change.”
The Redskins are a young team this year and need a good senior role model, which Burke provides.
“He speaks up when he needs to, but he’s more of a lead-by-example type of leader,” said Winter. “He’s great to have in the room.”
Burke considered wrestling in college, but decided that a major in engineering would be enough on his plate. He will probably attend Penn State-Abington.
But he’ll be close enough to check up on the team.
“I’ll miss wrestling, but I’ll probably stop by during college breaks just to get back to the room,” he said.
With that in mind, he is planning on extending his season as long as he can.
“This year I think I’ll be going a lot further than just sectionals,” he said.
Kaiser reaches 100—for the second time – Hatboro-Horsham coach Glenn Kaiser was presented a plaque honoring his 100th win at Hatboro-Horsham Wednesday night, following the Hatters’ 41-29 win over Pennridge.
That was the second time he was honored for reaching his 100th victory. Last year, Kaiser attained his 100th win as a head coach, which included his three years as head mentor at Upper Dublin.
“It kind of went under the radar last year,” said Kaiser. “This year I knew I needed nine wins to get to 100 here at Hatboro-Horsham. I feel pretty good.
“It was Senior Night and Pennridge gave us everything they had. I was pretty surprised the school presented me with a plaque. The school gave me a certificate last year honoring my 100 wins as a coach.”
A Hatboro-Horsham graduate, Kaiser started his coaching career as an assistant at Abington under Jeff Franko. He stayed there five years.
“It helped me out in terms of high school coaching,” he said. “I always wanted to be a coach. That got my feet wet.”
Kaiser was young enough that he could roll with the heavyweights. One of his protégés was Sean Boyle, who finished second at states.
“I got to work with him every day in the room,” he said. “I was a young guy and could bang with the big kids. It was a good experience.”
When the head position opened at Upper Dublin, he consulted with his high school coach Ralph Wetzel and Franko, and both encouraged him to take it.
“Ralph Wetzel said, ‘You’ve got to take it,’” said Kaiser. “I couldn’t do anything but go up those first couple of years. I kind of put them back on the mat.”
Kaiser brought in two of his friends Dave Jones and Scott Cousins. When Kaiser left to return to his alma mater, Jones took over the program. Cousins is now an assistant at Pennridge.
Kaiser has been head coach at Hatboro-Horsham for nine years.
“I’m really proud to come home and coach my alma mater,” he said.
Hopefully for at least another 100 wins.
What’s the best team in District One? In another week we’ll know the answer. The District One Duals begin today and continue next weekend.
The answer to that query might not be as clear-cut as it has been in years past.
This year’s field should be more competitive than ever with Boyertown (No. 1), Quakertown (No. 2), Great Valley (No. 3), Springfield Delco (No. 4), Council Rock North (No. 5) and Council Rock South (No. 6) all eyeing one of the top three state-qualifying spots.
No. 3 Great Valley unexpectedly withdrew from the tournament because some of its wrestlers had a skin disease.
Rather than re-seed the tournament, district officials decided to allow the winner of the Central Bucks East-Radnor match to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal round.
Springfield leads the Central League with an 8-0 record. The Cougars are 16-3 overall. Their lone local win came over Pennsbury, 52-24.
“They don’t impress me when they wrestle teams from the north,” said Hatboro-Horsham coach Glenn Kaiser.
However, just last weekend at the Council Rock Elite Duals, Springfield did beat Council Rock North 37-28. The match came down to the last bout between Rock’s Jamie Callender and Springfield’s Andre Petroski, who placed fifth in the state last year at 171. Callender defeated him in the district finals.
Had Callender pinned, which would have been a long shot at best, Rock would have won; however, Petroski won 12-8.
“That changed the seeding,” said Handel.
Boyertown is definitely the favorite going in. The Bears won three dual meets over Council Rock North and finished ahead of Quakertown at the Beast of the East, but a dual meet is a different breed than an individual tournament.
“Boyertown doesn’t seem to match up with some teams. Their talent is spread out,” said Kaiser.
It would appear as though the Bears have the easiest route to the finals in the top half of the bracket.
“He has a real solid lineup,” said Quakertown coach Kurt Handel.
The bottom half could turn out to be a real war between Council Rock South and Quakertown.
“Boyertown is pretty tough in that upper bracket,” said Handel, “but our bottom bracket is going to be a jungle. Whoever shows up to wrestle that day and walks out of the dual meet with the most bonus points is going to be the team in the finals. Whoever comes out of the bottom bracket is going to give them (Boyertown) a run for their money.”
Council Rock South lost to Quakertown, 35-29 in the second meet of the year, which came down to one bout, but the Hawks were missing Matt Martoccio and Quakertown didn’t have Nick Lubenetski.
Rock South has dominated in its last three dual meets and placed third at its own tough tournament.
“I think Council Rock South may surprise some people,” said Glenn Kaiser. “With Martoccio back in their lineup, they seem to be turning it on. That makes their moves a lot stronger. I think they’ll be the team to beat.”
Handel is also wary of South.
“I wouldn’t be surprised to see them do something,” he said.
Quakertown should be at full strength. Only David Malischewski is questionable with a shoulder injury.
“We’ll be good to go,” said Handel.
In Class AA, Octorara appears to be the odds-on favorite. Springfield Montco is the lone SOL team and will have its hands filled trying to advance, since only one AA team qualifies for states.
My predictions:
1. Boyertown
2. Quakertown
3. Council Rock South
District duals –First round action begins Thursday, Jan. 22.
This year there are 24 AAA teams eligible for the tournament, which is double elimination after the first round.
First round matches take place at the following locations: Pennsbury, Hatboro Horsham, Upper Perkiomen, Radnor. Weigh-ins for all teams begin at 4:30 p.m. There will be six teams and two mats at each site.
Round 1 begins at 5:30 p.m. with the loser going home. Winners of Round 2, which starts at 7:30 p.m., will advance to the finals on Friday and Saturday Jan. 30 and 31 at Council Rock South. Losers are eliminated.
On Friday, Jan. 30, weigh-ins begin at 5 p.m. with quarterfinals at 6 p.m. on four mats. Wrestlebacks and semifinals begin at 8 p.m. on four mats
On Saturday, weigh-ins begin at 12 noon with consi semifinals and AA semifinals at 2 p.m. Class AA and AAA finals and consi-finals will begin at 4 p.m.
Three AAA teams advance to states along with one AA team.
District Dual Results –
First round
Perkiomen Valley 31, Central Bucks West 27
Abington 40, Neshaminy 22
Sun Valley 39, Harry S Truman 25
Hatboro-Horsham 39, Pottsgrove 30
Central Bucks East 30, Radnor 28
Upper Moreland 44, Downingtown East 32
Spring-Ford 38, Garnet Valley 26
Norristown 42, Pennsbury 28
Second round
Boyertown 47, Perkiomen Valley 21
West Chester Henderson 34, Abington 27
Council Rock North 48, Sun Valley 16
Springfield Delco 36, Hatboro-Horsham 29
Council Rock South 60, Upper Moreland 12
Upper Perkiomen 47, Spring-Ford 14
Quakertown 47, Norristown 15
Around the league – In the National Conference, Abington’s Matt Mandel decisioned Harry S Truman’s Brandon Ryan, 3-0, in the last bout of the match to give the Ghosts a 30-28 victory.
In the Continental Conference, Devon Passman of Central Bucks East suffered his first loss of the season Wednesday night. Souderton super soph Joe Stolfi, not only beat him, but did so convincingly by a 12-4 major decision. The Patriots, however, still won the team battle, 39-31.
Upper Moreland and Norristown continue to be on a collision course for the American Conference title. The Golden Bears defeated Upper Dublin 46-22, while Norristown beat Plymouth Whitemarsh 39-27.
• Both Neshaminy and Harry S Truman pulled out close matches last weekend. The Redskins nipped Central Bucks South, 36-35, while Truman edged Kennett, 42-20.
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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