Photos from the Brian Bealer Memorial Bear Duals provided courtesy of Kim Supko. Check back for a gallery of photos of the event.
SOL TEAMS & INDIVIDUAL GRAPPLERS SHINE AT BEAR DUALS
Council Rock North Looks Rock Solid
By Glenn Kaiser
Boyertown, PA-The Council Rock North Indians looked solid here at the hard start of the 2024-25 dual meet season in the Brian Bealer Memorial Bear Duals hosted by Boyertown Area H.S. Some of the best individual grapplers and wrestling teams in the Keystone state gathered here for a terrific start of the season as teams began their journey of a long grind which culminates in the Hershey promised land in March. As expected, several SOL teams were up to the challenge early as they begin to navigate their lineups, and individual wrestlers start their weight decent plans.
CRN went 4-1 on the day, with its only loss in the finals against the host Boyertown 48-23. Their biggest win of the day was over perennial Berks County powerhouse Wilson (West Lawn) 33-31 in the semifinals. The Indians impressed with a solid lineup throughout the 13-weight classes, and shined with super frosh A.J. Kane (107 lbs.), and solid light and middle- weights Marco Loss (127), Pierce Kane (139) and Eren Sement (145), who all went 5-0 on the day. All four are ranked in the top twenty in AAA by PA Power. North made a statement that they as a team should be in the mix of best of the best in PA, especially here in District One. They surely were prepared for this early test.
Pennsbury, which also hails from the SOL Patriot Division, along with CRN and Neshaminy also fared well on the day, with a nail-bitter of a win over Hatboro-Horsham 41-34, going 3-2 as a team. The Falcons also appeared balanced with their dual meet lineup and should be another team lurking when the D1 Team Championships get underway in February. Pennsbury had other solid wins over Owen J Roberts 44-18 & Conestoga 39-28.
Pennridge had their typical early season adversity with the loss of standout Talan Hogan, but they were resilient as always. They will build on this experience and get better and better as the season goes on. There were fireworks on the mat every time the Rams stepped on it. They posted a 3-2 dual record on the day with big wins over OJR 58-15, Pennsbury 44-30 and another lopsided one, downing Conestoga 53-17. Quinn McBride was upset in the OJR match, but Colby Martinelli (127) and Sawyer Emigiotti (189) each posted five wins Saturday. Martinelli and McBride are highly touted again this season to be forces to be reckoned with in Hershey. The ’Ridge came up just short against Wilson 39-32 in the consolation final and could not keep pace with the host team Boyertown, who won the event, losing 37-25 in the semifinals.
Hatboro-Horsham did not get all the team victories they wanted here, but impressed hanging with both Boyertown and CR North in all bouts as they came to wrestle here. Returning state champion Dominick Morrison was a perfect 5-0 to start his season at 121-pounds. They too will build on the experience and move on to their extremely rugged individual tournament schedule. Ryan Allgeier had an impressive 13-8 win over Boyertown’s Beck Babb at 139-pounds. H-H will need to sort out their line-up to boost their team results, as they too are looking ahead with a chance in the D1 Team Championships. H-H easily handled Neshaminy 45-27 in the 5th place bout which happened since Pennsbury and Neshaminy did not want to go head-to-head. Neshaminy recorded solid wins over Perkiomen Valley 39-36 & OJR 36-28 going 2-3 as a team. Bek Baiyshbekov (160) was a perfect 5-0
with 5 falls to lead the ‘Skins along with big Owen Swartz (285) recording four pins and a forfeit. This tourney featured some of PA’s most accomplished wrestlers and remains the barometer for early season success for teams in a dual event, which can be an indicator of what lies ahead…or not.
Pottstown Invitational-The Abington Ghosts finished fourth at the Pottstown Invitational which featured some powerful private school teams, especially the Hill School that has some Faith Christian Academy transfers. Ryan Solomon won the 172-pound championship as teammates John Kaplan (127) and big man John Wright (285) both won silver. Nathan Sanders won bronze at 121-pounds to bolster their team score. No other SOL teams had finalists here.
Case-Flynn Duals at Pottsville-Central Bucks West impressed with four wins and two losses as they opened their season. The Bucks have plenty of star power with Patrick Kelly (145), Chris Dennis (160) and little brother, super frosh Daniel Dennis (139), who all went 6-0 up in Schuylkill County.
Spartan Duals at Springfield-The SOL’s Springfield Spartans hosted their annual duals with the hosts winning 2 duals over Howard Tech (DE) 54-21 and Harriton 42-26.
Individual Tournaments upgrade this coming weekend along with some standard Wednesday duals on the schedule. CR South, Pennsbury an Pennridge head the CV Kick-off Classic, always a good one. CB EAST & WEST travel to the Carlisle Classic, CB SOUTH & Tennent head to Penn Manor and H-H travels way west to the Panther Invitational at Mt. Aloysius College where they will battle the best from across the state and beyond.
Here we go again…
All results can be found on www.pa-wrestling.com
- Log in to post comments
