SOL Wrestling: Glenn Kaiser Recaps SOL Highlights (2-25-24)

Photos courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for a gallery of photos of the District 1 East Section: https://solsports.zenfolio.com/f933726263

2024 DISTRICT ONE INDIVIDUAL WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
HATBORO-HORSHAM COMES UP SHORT AT HOME IN 2024 DISTRICT ONE SOUTH SECTION

by Glenn Kaiser

Horsham, PA-The table was set for some home cooking in the Hatboro-Horsham Wrestling Warriors house Saturday, but they missed dessert by 10-points.  Ridley stole their plates as they won the District One South Section for the 2024 title, the first leg to Hershey.  Although it was a family affair, with the Staub brothers, Benny & Chris, winning D1 South individual titles, especially with Benny capturing the 133-pound crown and the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler Award, Ridley stole the show in the team race.  H-H had the most champs (3) in the 15-team field, as super-frosh Dominic Morrison won the 107-pound title as they advanced seven wrestlers to next weekend’s Southeast Regional at Oxford H.S.  Ridley, from the rugged Central League, had two champs and matched the home team with seven SE Regional qualifiers, who posted 172-points to H-H’s 162.  Unfortunately, an H-H wrestler missed weight at the scale which hurt the team without the opportunity to use his points.

Nonetheless, in a D1 Section combined of three different leagues’ teams, the Central, Del Val and Suburban One League, the SOL shined garnering six individual championships.  The Central League had six and the Del Val one champ.  Cheltenham had two back-to-back champs in Arthur Gordon and Corey Bradley who won at 160 and 172-pouunds, respectively.  Both wrestled extremely well throughout the long day of grappling.  Plymouth-Whitmarsh’s Jacob Plant came back to win in the 127-pound championship bout over Upper Dublin’s Niko Pittakas 10-7.  H-H’s Chris Staub dominated at 145-pounds with a first period fall in the finals, the #2 seed Taiwo Mogaji (Penn Wood) missed weight, making it an easy day for Staub who recorded two tech-falls on the way to the finals.  Benny Staub advanced through the 133-pound bracket knocking off the #1, #2 and #3 seeds to garner gold.  Staub recorded three pins on his way to the finals, including an exciting fall in the semifinals over local rival Joe Bussell from P-W.   

The SOL had 11 finalists in all with five runners-up:  H-H’s Andy Alameda-Guzman returned to the mats at 215-pounds and finished second, Upper Dublin’s outstanding Dominick Powell was second to H-H’s Morrison at 107, dropping a 10-3 decision, and Flying Cardinal teammate Pittakus secured silver at 127. At 152lbs. P-W’s Ty Borkowski fell to Nadav Nafshi (Harriton) by major decision 18-6, and Cheltenham’s Kurt Scheuerman’s undefeated season came to an end in overtime at heavyweight at the hands of Lower Merion’s Temitayo Sevi-David in the ultimate tiebreaker 4-2.

SOL teams had four of the top five teams with runner-up H-H, Cheltenham third (148pts.) with six qualifiers, Plymouth-Whitmarsh fourth (121) with four and Upper Dublin fifth with 120.5-points in the team scoring and three qualifiers.  The top four place-winners here advanced to the SE Regional tournament to be held at Oxford Area H.S. Friday and Saturday March 1 and 2, joining the top-4 finishers from the other three D1 Sections (North/East/West).  The next stop on the road to Hershey will be a tough one, as D1 is stacked with talent this year, with many state title contenders hailing from the SOL.

COUNCIL ROCK SOUTH WINS D1 EAST SECTION OVER PENNRIDGE

CR South kept its magical season going with another victory over Pennridge, this time for the D1 East Section team title.  The Golden Hawks beat the Rams twice in duals this season, once for the D1 Team title not long ago.  This battle for D1 supremecy will continue at Oxford for the Southeast Regional team title.  CRS recorded 239-points to Pennridge’s 222.5 points.  Both teams finished well ahead of a strong field that included Quakertown, who were third with 173.5.  Wrestle-backs always play a big part, along with bonus points in the team race.  Both South and the ‘Ridge advanced nine wrestlers to regions, the Rams garnered one gold and six silver medals.  However, the Golden Hawks out-pointed them with two individual champions, three runner-up finishes and three bronze performances.  It should be noted that Quakertown will reinsert themselves in the debate of who will win the regional team title, as they had four champs and moved seven wrestlers on.  CR North was rock solid as well grabbing two golds and will take six grapplers down to Oxford.

The East, comprised of all SOL teams, featured some of Pennsylvania’s best wrestlers.  Several SOL and D1 wrestlers are primed to win a state title, but the road to Hershey is a long one and there is a lot of wrestling to be done before the medal count and titles can become history.  Nonetheless, Chocolate Town, USA should be full of SOL grapplers high on the podium.  There were many high-level matches wrestled in Quakertown’s wrestling dome, and the Panthers shined with their fab-four all garnering gold.  Mason Zielger (122), Gavin Carroll (145), Collin Gaj (152) and Calvin Lachman (285) will all be in contention to win a state title after advancing with D1 East titles in the first battle of the 2024 PIAA Individual Championships, which is one contiguous tournament that started Saturday.  Gaj was named the East’s Outstanding Wrestler.  CR South’s Gavin Cole (160 champ) and Bek Sadriddinov (172 champ) continue to win, and despite losses here and there by some big names, South will be in it to win it just like Pennridge and Quakertown when it comes to team titles.  Pennridge’s only champ, Colby Martinelli (114), along with his teammates will be battling SOL foes all the way through to the state championships and on the Giant Center floor. Souderton’s Charlie Arobone won the 121-pound title by fall in the D1 North Section. Souderton advanced Kole Lester as well at 189 (3^rd place).

CR North has Eren Sement (127 champ) and Alex Diaz (107 champ), and keep an eye on Central Bucks wrestlers Chris Dennis (133 champ) and Patrick Kelly (139 runner-up) from West and CB South’s Jake Neill (139 champ).  Key rematches to keep an eye on moving on to Regionals include Neill versus Kelly and North Penn’s Joey O’Brien at 139-pounds.  At 127-pounds Pennridge’s, Quinn McBride will make it interesting along with Pat Woloshyn (CRS) in a stacked weight class with top-contender Sement.  The 121-pound weight class is completely loaded with runner-up Cole Coffin (Pennridge), Luke Reitter (CRS) and Pierce Kane (CRN).  The home town competition is extreme, and it only gets better at each level.  Bringing them all together for state qualifying tournament at Oxford will be nothing but spectacular. 

There are too many weight classes to speculate upon, but after Regionals, it will start to take shape to predict the outcomes in Hershey.  Nonetheless, here is a list of SOL guys ranked in the top-10 by PA Power Rankings, some of which are also nationally ranked by various media outlets, including FloWrestling.

107-#1 Dom Morrison (H-H) & #2 Alex Diaz (CRN)
114-#2 Colby Martinelli (Pennridge) & #9 Connor Lenahan (CRS)
121-#2 Mason Ziegler (Q-town), #8 Cole Coffin (Pennridge) & #9 Luke Reitter (CRS)
127-#2 Eren Sement (CRN), #6 Quinn McBride (Pennridge) & #10 Pat Woloshyn (CRS)
133-#6 Chris Dennis (CBW)
145-#4 Gavin Carroll (Q-town)
152-#2 defending state champ Collin Gaj (Q-town)
160-#7 Gavin Cole (CRS)
172-#1 Bek Sadriddinov (CRS) & #7 Talan Hogan (Pennridge)
189-#10 Ben Primich (Pennsbury)
285-#3 Calvin Lachman (Q-town) & #6 Joe Collins (CB East)

DISTRICT ONE SECTIONAL FINALS RESULTS