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By Alex Frazier
Except for his Chinese ancestry, Bryan Wu was undistinguished in the halls at Hatboro-Horsham.
Not anymore.
The Hatter senior had his heyday at the 9th Annual Ralph Wetzel Holiday Classic as he walked off with all the top honors, winning the 140-pound weight class, the Most Pins in the Least Amount of Time Award and, as if that weren’t enough, he received the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler award.
For Wu, it was his first-ever tournament championship since he was talked into coming out for wrestling as a sophomore by classmate Nick Lynch.
“He was congratulating me about five times,” said Wu.
Last year he was a quick 0-2 and out of the tournament.
Wu’s championship was even sweeter considering no one expected it. He had to wrestle out of the pigtail round. He pinned all four opponents he met in an aggregate time of 11:57, including the third, second and first-seeded grapplers.
“I did good yesterday,” he said. “I came into today with a little more confidence and I won my first match and I knew I was getting better.”
Wu was the lone Hatboro-Horsham champion as hometown favorite Matt Harkins was stunned in the 119-pound final when, with a 3-2 lead in the second period, he was reversed and cradled to his back for a fall.
The Hatters also had two thirds, two fourths and a fifth to finish third place as a team.
Upper Moreland tied fourth place Malvern Prep for the most champions with three and finished second with 161.5 points.
Downingtown East proved too strong for the locals as the Cougars claimed the team title with seven finalists and 193 points.
Leading the hit parade for the Golden Bears was 130-pounder Tim Santry, who ran his season record to 9-0 with 1:35 decking of Downingtown East’s Kevin Sager.
“I was just thinking to go out there and see what he had and see what I could do,” said Santry.
It was Santry’s third Wetzel title. He won as a freshman and sophomore but lost in the finals last year in the last 30 seconds.
After missing out on a second trip to states last year, Santry has his sights on returning this year.
“I’m working hard in practices,” he said. “I have more of a sense of urgency because it’s my senior year. I don’t want to hold anything back.”
John Bolich (171) and James Nicholson (189) provided back-to-back championships for the Golden Bears.
Bolich, who was facing Downingtown East’s Rob Fitzgerald for the fourth time, kept his winning streak intact with a 12-0 major decision.
It was his third straight Wetzel championship.
“I wanted to keep it going,” said the junior. “My freshman and sophomore years were more intimidating, plus I was wrestling older and tougher kids.”
Nicholson also ran into an old acquaintance in Malvern Prep’s Bobby Scaramuzza, whom he beat 5-1, for his fourth straight win and second tournament championship.
“I thought I could come in and major him,” said Nicholson, “but it gets harder every time you wrestle someone.”
Nicholson won on the strength of two takedowns.
“I wasn’t really worried about getting taken down,” he said. “It was more of how was I going to take him down. I wanted to get more leg attacks, but I had to stick with the Russian.”
Bensalem and Wissahickon each had a champion.
The Owls’ Mike Pritchard started the finals off with a dramatic 6-4 overtime rideout victory over Downingtown East’s T.J. Nelson.
Pritchard led 4-2 into the third period but gave up two stalling points, the last with 9.7 seconds remaining to force overtime.
“He kept pushing me and I backed off and the ref hit me with it,” said Pritchard. “And then I was riding the bulldog and I didn’t know why he gave me stalling for that.”
With no takedown in the first OT, Pritchard chose down in the second and switched Nelson to take the lead. In the third, he had to hold on for dear life at the end to claim his first tournament title.
“He was a tough kid,” said Pritchard. “I had to go and my team needed it and I wanted to get first.”
After missing most of last year, Wissahickon’s Andre Watkins is back with a vengeance. After capturing the Southeast Classic crown, he added another to his resume with a fall over Central Bucks East’s Andrew Foltyn. Trailing Watkins 4-2 late in the third, Foltyn attempted a desperate lateral drop, and Watson flattened him with 17.7 seconds left.
“That was a bonus,” said Watkins, who is now 10-0. “I did not think that at all. I thought in my mind that it would be a close match.”
Weighing only about 155, Watkins was clearly the smaller of the two wrestlers.
“He’s an extremely strong kid,” said Watkins. “I’d get in on a single and it was hard to finish. The single’s my main thing.”
Last year he defeated Foltyn 7-3 at the Southeast Classic, which turned out to be his last competition of the year.
9th Annual Ralph Wetzel Holiday Classic
Team standings: 1. Downingtown East (DE) 193, 2. Upper Moreland (UM) 161.50, 3. Hatboro-Horsham (HH) 157; 4. Malvern Prep (MP) 131, 5. Perkiomen Valley (PV) 108.50, 6. Cape Henlopen (CH) 106.50; 7. Bensalem (B) 106.50, 8. Central Bucks East (CBE) 99, 9. Peguea Valley (PQV) 92, 10. Wissahickon (W) 78, 11. Abington (A) 66, 12. West Chester East (WCE) 58, 13. Archbishop Wood (AW) 56.50, 14. Chestnut Hill Academy (CHA) 50, 15. Cheltenham (CH) 50, 16. St. Joseph’s Prep (SJP) 9, 17. Abington Friends (AF) 4
Championship finals
103—Mike Pritchard (B) dec. T.J. Nelson (DE) 6-4, OT RO
112—Alex Wait (DE) dec. Justin Cummings (B) 4-2
119—Ricky Durso (MP) pinned Matt Harkins (HH) 2:47
125—Jimmy Stowell (MP) dec. Jake Ellis (UM) 9-7
130—Tim Santry (UM) pinned Kevin Sager (DE) 1:36
135—Gavin Milligan (PV) major dec. Will Goldman (DE) 10-0
140—Bryan Wu (HH) pinned Will Dill (UM) 2:52
145—Scott Engle (DE) dec. George Baker (PQV) 4-1
152—Ray Ball (PQV) dec. Tyler Heermann (WCE) 8-6
160—Andre Watkins (W) pinned Andrew Foltyn (CBE) 5:43
171—John Bolich (UM) major dec. Rob Fitzgerald (DE) 11-0
189—James Nicholson (UM) dec. Bobby Scaramuzza (MP) 5-1
215—Louis Fioravanti (PV) pinned Chris Palmieri (DE) 3:08
285—Joe DiTroilo (MP) pinned Zak Mysza (CBE) 2:15
Consolation finals
103—Bobby Harmon (UM) pinned Jake Topley (AW) 2:57
112—Riley McDermott (AW) dec. Mike Laurinaitis (CBE) 8-2
119—Chris Young (CH) dec. Shane Hughes (B) 7-2
125—Anthony Prisco (B) dec. Drew Jackson (PQV) 3-2
130—Drew Felice (HH) dec. Brennan Weiss (W) 3-1
135—Nick Dau (CBE) dec. Sean Saunders (W) 7-2
140—Sammy Mohr (CH) dec. Connor Burns (MP) 4-1
145—James Bitter (CH) pinned Corey Bodnar (HH) 4:24
152—Tadeo Gonzalez (CH) pinned Mike Lunch (HH) 2:48
160—Nick Lynch (HH) dec. Dave Florek (WCE) 5-2
171—Dan Gallagher (CHA) dec. Joe Mannino (CBE) 7-3
189—Orvin Liburd (CH) dec. Bobby Strickland (PV) 7-5
215—Jack Devine (MP) dec. Dan Smith (CH) 7-4
285—Will Emery (CHA) pinned Angel Carlo (A) 3:25
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