SOL FREEDOM ACTION:
WILLIAM TENNENT PINS DOWN SPRINGFIELD
by Glenn Kaiser
Warminster, PA-William Tennent (Overall record 5-7/SOL 1-1) celebrated alumni wrestlers, middle school wrestlers and youth wrestlers with a 45-28 win over Springfield Wednesday night in their SOL Freedom division dual. Tennent’s victory creates an interesting scenario with Cheltenham knocking off Upper Moreland (11-4) 41-31 at the same time. Cheltenham is unexpectedly atop the division with a 2-0 record and is 5-3 overall. Thus, leaving the Freedom up for grabs moving forward.
The parity in the SOL Freedom division was clearly observable during last night’s match in Tennent’s gymnasium. Upper Moreland looked like the clear favorites here after dismantling Tennent 55-18 last week. But things change quickly, as Tennent has rebounded with two straight victories, as the Panthers throttled an undermanned Archbishop Wood team 60-18 last Saturday to go along with last night’s thumping of the Spartans.
Springfield has been a perennial force in the Freedom Division and was clearly the favorites on paper to win this dual at Tennent. However, with Tennent’s heavyweight out of the lineup, head coach Joe Stabilito, Jr. bumped up 189-pounder Sean Hazlett to 215-pounds to start off the match with a quick fall in just 47-seconds over Felix Boccella. Hazlett is Tennent’s leader, and manhandled Boccella from the first whistle. Hazlett upped his record to 13-5 on the season. Tennett’s 215-pounder Julio Mattos moving up to 285 handled business with another first period fall for the Panthers, decking Springfield big man Tim Barry with two seconds to spare in the first.
Springfield got on the board and slowed the Panther’s momentum briefly as James Piroli pinned Panther Cameron Guzman quickly in the 107-pound match, but a Springfield forfeit to Tennent’s 114-pounder Travis Donovan, and monster fall by the Panther’s Brock Rudy over Springfield’s Colin Pennington at 121 blew the match open for the Panthers, who extended their lead to 24-6.
The Panthers went on to record back-to-back falls at 133 and 139-pounds with first period pinfalls by Trey Noll and Xdrian Isaac respectively, creating an almost unsurmountable lead at 36-12 with five matches left in the dual. Tennent did not allow the Spartans back in the match as Joel Andrewsky notched the Panthers sixth fall of the evening at 152-pounds, sealing the deal with a 42-16 score with two matches left. Viktor Purshaha closed the exciting win for Tennent on their Youth and Alumni Night with a 2-1 decision over Aaron Kauffman at 189-pounds.
Lower Moreland will be in the mix as well here, as they are also 1-1 in the division with their lone loss to Cheltenham. Although, Cheltenham has positioned themselves well to win their first division title in years as they will hold some head-to head tiebreakers, if Tennent can knock them off, it would set up a crazy finish here for the Freedom title. The Chelt’s will head up to Tennent’s gym next Wednesday Jan. 18, 2023, to do battle for league supremecy in the Silver Laces Night for Pediatric Cancer match.
WILLIAM TENNENT 45, SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP 28
215: Sean Hazlett (WTH) over Felix Boccella (STH) (Fall 0:47)
285: Julio Mattos (WTH) over Tim Barry (STH) (Fall 1:58)
106: James Piroli (STH) over Cameron Guzman (WTH) (Fall 0:32)
113: Travis Donovan (WTH) over (STH) (For.)
120: Brock Rudy (WTH) over Colin Pennington (STH) (Fall 2:48)
126: Nick Caruso (STH) over Cameron Small (WTH) (Fall 3:08)
132: Tre Noll (WTH) over Gavin McCaney (STH) (Fall 1:48)
138: Xdrian Isaac (WTH) over Dominic Antinucci (STH) (Fall 1:45)
145: Julian Mitchell (STH) over Damien Pride (WTH) (MD 8-0)
152: Joel Andrewsky (WTH) over Kenneth Cordon-Acevedo (STH) (Fall 2:53)
160: William Horn (STH) over Daniel Ellis (WTH) (Fall 3:59)
172: Jason Morrissy (STH) over AJ Foulds (WTH) (Fall 2:44)
189: Viktor Purshaha (WTH) over Aaron Kauffman (STH) (Dec 2-1)
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