By Alex Frazier
Meet…Bobby Lavelle
Need a 215-pounder?
Call on Bobby Lavelle.
Need a 189-pounder?
Ask Bobby Lavelle.
Need a 171-pounder?
Yep, Lavelle’s there.
The Council Rock South senior is a natural at 171, but because his team has needed him, he has sacrificed by moving up one or even two weights.
“He’s definitely one of our team leaders,” said South coach Brad Silimperi. “He’s really sacrificed a lot for the team the past two years. It allowed us to have some strategy there. At the same time, our upper weights are improving a great deal, and I attribute that to having him as a workout partner and trying to follow his lead.”
Lavelle started the year at 189, where he has wrestled the majority of his bouts. Five of his six losses came at that weight.
“I tore my meniscus over the summer and I put on a lot of weight,” he said, “so I started off the season real high in weight.”
He bumped up to 215 for six bouts, losing just once.
But at 171, where he has been the last couple of weeks, he is undefeated at 5-0.
“This is the best I’ve seen Bobby wrestle ever,” said Silimperi. “He’s quick. His technique is strong and he’s in great condition. He’s peaking at the right time.”
“I started off slowly,” said Lavelle. “I didn’t perform how I wanted to at the beginning of the season, but everything’s kind of picking up now.”
It takes a special wrestler to be able to bounce around weights and still be successful. You don’t wrestle a 171-pounder the way you do a 215-pounder.
“When I’m wrestling a lighter kid that is quicker, I try to use my strength more,” he explained. “When I’m wrestling the upper weights, I’m not trying to go upper body with them; I try to use my speed and set up angles to start my offense going and try to push the pace hard as I can into the third period to use the conditioning I have against them.”
Lavelle takes pride that he can adapt his style to the opponent and weight class he’s wrestling.
“My whole career I’ve been wrestling 215,” he said. “I’ve gotten used to it. It doesn’t really bother me anymore. At first it was intimidating, but I’ve gotten used to all of them.”
Lavelle started wrestling at four when his father took him to practice at Council Rock.
“For the first year I was getting used to it, and then I ended up loving it,” he said. “I was always an aggressive kid and it leveled me out.”
He also played linebacker in football through his junior year when he decided he should quit to focus on wrestling. He made the decision after losing two matches at states last year.
“I was disappointed after my first match,” said Lavelle. “I lost on ultimate rideout and that kid ended up in the finals. After the second one, I felt my dream had become shattered, so I decided to give everything up and focus on that.”
Over the summer, he commuted two hours to New Jersey several times a week so he could get coaching from a two-time All-American.
Unfortunately, he tore the meniscus in his knee late in the summer and had to undergo arthroscopic surgery. The surgeon told him that he wouldn’t be able to wrestle this year.
“I went through the rehab so quick to get myself back for the season,” said Lavelle. “I kind of ignored what he said and just pushed through harder than what he told me to do.”
So much for doctor’s orders.
This has been Lavelle’s best year in the four years he has wrested varsity. As a freshman, he broke even at 7-7. The next year he was 25-11 and last year came in at 34-13, qualifying for states and going 1-2 at Hershey.
With a 31-6 mark this year heading into sectionals, Lavelle is hoping this post-season will be even better.
Despite all the juggling, Lavelle is on course to reach the coveted 100-win plateau. If all goes well, he should do it at sectionals Saturday.
Next year Lavelle will attend Clarion or Virginia Tech. He likes Clarion because of the small-town atmosphere and Virginia because it is a large school.
He plans on majoring in elementary education. His ultimate goal is to coach wrestling.
“I’m trying to find a job I can enjoy and will allow me to coach,” he said. “I always seem to get along with little kids.”
Last year he captured sectional and district titles, but fell one spot shy of winning regionals. With a year of dedication to wrestling behind him, Lavelle is hoping to make it farther this year.
“My goal is to be as far up the podium as I can be,” he said.
Spartans finish with winning season – For Springfield this week was both a beginning and end.
The end first.
The Spartans concluded their dual meet season wrestling Wissahickon Wednesday afternoon. Not only was it the end of the 2010 dual-meet season, it was also the last match Springfield would wrestle in the Suburban One League.
Unfortunately for the much-improved Spartans, they did not finish the league with a winning mark as they fell to Wissahickon 33-32.
Rich Kassabian gave the Spartans the lead in the fourth bout at 103. They led the rest of the way until Wissahickon pulled to within two on Andre Watson’s pin at 160.
In the final bout at 171, Wissahickon’s Paul Wisloski nipped Justin Peyton 3-2 for the win.
“It could have gone either way,” said McCaslin. “We just can’t seem to catch the breaks. We matched up pretty well and were able to win the coin toss and get the matchups I wanted.”
The Spartans lost a similar match to Upper Dublin, splitting matches 7-7.
Now, the future.
On Tuesday evening, the Spartans blew out Lower Moreland for the second time in two weeks. On Feb. 8, they pounced on the Lions 46-21 in the semifinals of the Class AA Dual Meet Tournament.
Tuesday’s match was even uglier as the Spartans won 10 of 14 bouts, including eight falls, to maul Lower Moreland 58-21.
“It was a complete team effort,” said McCaslin. “It was Senior Night and the kids knew we needed the match in hand to be sure all our seniors got a chance to wrestle. They assured that, and some of the seniors that don’t normally get out there went out and did some damage of their own. From top to bottom, it was a great effort.”
Next year Springfield will become affiliated with the Bicentennial League of which Lower Moreland is a member, along with Delco Christian, New Hope Solebury, Phil-Mont Christian, and Plumstead Christian.
“Lower Moreland and New Hope are solid programs,” said McCaslin. “We will have competitive matches with them year in and year out. The trick in the Bicentennial League is that a lot of those schools have trouble filling a full program. My concern with that is not getting the opportunity to wrestle.
“We were really competitive in the Suburban One this year. I’ll make an effort to try to schedule Wissahickon, Upper Dublin and Upper Merion. There’s the local piece, and at this point, we’re competitive with them, and it’s not a waste of a match with them. We’ve made great strides, and it will be tough to leave that league, knowing that we can now be a part of it.”
The win over Lower Moreland Tuesday ensured the Spartans their first winning season in at least 10 years at 11-10.
“It's something as a team we’re real proud of,” said McCaslin. “It feels like a validated winning season. Every kid on the team has played a part in it. These kids definitely deserve it. This team has really grown and matured over the year. Sometimes I wish the schedule was reversed and we could have seen some of these other teams later on.”
Since there are no Class AA sectional tournaments, Springfield has a week and a half off to prepare for the district championships at Harriton High School on Feb. 27.
“The goal now is to get as many through to regionals as possible,” said McCaslin. “That’s goal No. 1. I really feel like we could have big numbers. I’m a realist but I’d like to challenge Octorara for the district title. We wrestled them in a dual and we’re not out of their league.”
100 Club – Harry S Truman’s Sean Edmondson joined the 100-Win Club Monday at the C.B. East Tournament.
“After my freshman year, I pretty much set it,” he said.
As a ninth grader Edmondson won 33 matches, placing him in a good position to achieve 100 wins in his career.
Heading into sectionals, Edmondson is 31-1 for the year and 100-11 for his career.
Only a junior, he has now set a loftier goal.
“The school record is 123,” he said. “Now I set my goal for there.”
Sections – The post-season begins Saturday with the Class AAA sectional tournaments. Class AA doesn’t hold a sectional tournament. Those teams go right to districts.
Here’s a rundown of where they are and who’s competing in them.
Section One
At Abington
Bensalem, Council Rock North, Council Rock South, Neshaminy, Pennsbury, Upper Moreland, William Tennent, Harry S Truman
Section Two
At Upper Perkiomen
Central Bucks East, Central Bucks South, Central Bucks West, North Penn, Pennridge, Pottsgrove, Pottstown, Quakertown, Souderton
Section Three
At Perkiomen Valley
Hatboro-Horsham, Methacton, Norristown, Phoenixville, Plymouth Whitemarsh, Upper Dublin, Upper Merion, Wissahickon
Section Four
At Boyertown
Coatesville, Downingtown East, Downingtown West, Great Valley, Kennett, Owen J. Roberts, Spring-Ford, Unionville, Bishop Shanahan
Section Five
At Ridley
Academy Park, Chichester, Glen Mills, Haverford, Interboro, Penn Wood, Radnor, Ridley, Springfield Delco, Sun Valley, Upper Darby
Section Six
At Oxford
Avon Grove, Conestoga, Garnet valley, Lower Merion, Marple-Newtown, Penncrest, Strath haven, West Chester East, West Chester Henderson, West Chester Rustin
Schedule
First session
Weigh-ins – 8 a.m.
Wrestling begins at 9:30 a.m. and continues through semifinals and wrestlebacks.
Second session
5:45 p.m. – Parade of Champions
6 p.m. – Championships and consolation finals
Around the league – This is the last week of the regular season, and it is a busy one. At least two teams—Council Rock South and North—had three league matches to fit in before sections start Saturday.
South wrestled one of them, a 40-21 win over Pennsbury. Council Rock North decided not to wrestle any of its three, which dropped the Indians to fourth place in the league at 3-1. South won the National Conference at 5-0 with Pennsbury in second at 5-1.
Another big match was also canceled. The Upper Moreland and Norristown match for the American Conference title due to have been wrestled on Tuesday was canceled and both teams will share the title.
The match was originally scheduled for last week but was postponed when one of Upper Moreland’s wrestlers came down with a skin infection.
Monday Central Bucks East and West, Bensalem, and Harry S Truman competed in the C.B. East Invitational.
Truman finished second to LaSalle by just four points. Sean Edmondson suffered his first loss of the season to the Explorers’ Casey Kent (9-0) in the finals, but the Tigers’ Larry Abramson won at 215, and Steve Evens (112) and Quinton Bryant (285) finished second.
Bryant lost to C.B. East’s Zak Mysza 1-0 in the finals.
Central Bucks West crowned Bubba McGinley at 119, while Steve Ferrara finished second at 130 to Bensalem’s Nick Lippincott, 4-3.
The Owls’ Mike Pritchard won the 103-pound title, tech falling East’s Mike Laurinaitis in 4:50.
Pennridge went 2-1 on Monday, defeating Wilson 48-21 and edging Allentown Dieruff 40-39 on near fall criteria.
Central Bucks West won the first seven matches, four by pins, to run up a 34-0 score enroute to a 52-20 rout of Pennridge Tuesday. Chris Jastrzewbski had the fastest fall for the Bucks in 50 seconds.
• Over the weekend, Central Bucks South and Neshaminy had great tournaments at the Panther Duals. The Titans finished fourth as a team, going 4-1. They defeated New Hope, Academy Park, Archbishop Wood and William Tennent and lost to Plymouth Whitemarsh by 14 points.
Neshaminy went undefeated. The Redskins beat William Tennent (in a match that counted in the National Conference standings), Bishop Shanahan, Pennsbury, West Chester East and Plymouth Whitemarsh.
In three meetings this year with Pennsbury, Neshaminy has won the last two. Ironically, the one they lost counted in the league standings. In the most recent 32-29 win, Nick Russell (152) avenged two previous losses to the Falcon’s Mark Nicholson, as did 103-pounder Ryan O’Connor, who defeated Anthony DiEmidio for the first time in two tries.
Hatboro-Horsham had a tough weekend, losing to Germantown Academy, Methacton by one point, and to Souderton, which wrapped up second place in the Continental Conference for the Indians.
The Hatters held a 34-29 lead heading into the final bout at 189, where Methacton’s Elliot Reisz pinned to give the Warriors the win.
Souderton’s upper weights came through again against Hatboro-Horsham, winning the last four matches to gain a 36-25 decision. Peter Jenne (160) collected a forfeit, Rob Smothers earned a decision, Joe Stolfi pinned, and Joe McNamara decisioned.
Bensalem’s Nick Malaney (152) and Eric Gray (160) started off the Owls’ match against Central Bucks West with a pair of pins, and Bensalem didn’t give up the lead enroute to a 38-31 victory.
TOP Five SOL
1. Council Rock South
2. Council Rock North
3. Norristown
4. Quakertown
5. Upper Moreland
Top Guns
103—Billy Rappo, Council Rock South
112—Josh DiSanto, Pennsbury
119—Chris McGinley, Central Buck West
125—Matt Rappo, Council Rock South
130—Tim Santry, Upper Moreland
135— Josh Dziewa, Council Rock South
140— Matt Martoccio, Council Rock South
145—Brandon Parker, Norristown
152— Eric Koch, Quakertown
160— John Staudenmayer, Plymouth Whitemarsh
171—Bobby Lavelle, Council Rock South
189—Jamie Callender, Council Rock North
215—Joe Stolfi, Souderton
285—Marcus Robbins, Norristown
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