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SUBURBAN ONE LEAGUE
NEW YEAR WRESTLING WRAP
1/8/25
By Glenn Kaiser
It’s been a while since my last report, but nonetheless a lot has happened here in the SOL wrestling community as we pioneer into a new year. Teams have begun to take shape and get into prime form after the holiday tournaments as the Road to Hershey begins with turns and twists. Many wrestlers have dropped down to their respective weight classes for the post-season, which has created some logjams for teams at certain weights. Thus, other wrestlers have moved up a weight class to solidify their team’s lineups. Either way, the SOL leads the way with several top-ranked wrestlers in the house. They of course include Hatboro-Horsham’s Dominick Morrison down at 114-pounds and Quakertown’s Colin Gaj up at 160, who have both been state champions, Morrison last season as a freshman and Gaj in 2023. Gaj was the runner-up last year
and has three state medals to his name as he was fourth as a freshman in 2022. He has committed to wrestle at Virginia Tech at the next level. These two are the top-ranked wrestlers in the state at their respective weight-classes according to PA Power in AAA.
Council Rock South is looking to see how former National Prep Champ (2022) Anthony Mutarelli can do at the PIAA Championships, as he had to sit out last season due to PIAA transfer rules. He also is #1 according to PA Power at 139-pounds. However, Mutarelli has not been on the mat since Dec. 12, 2024, at the Beast of the East. Mutarelli is heading out West to Oregon State to wrestle for the Beavers when his scholastic career is completed. CR North’s Eren Sement will look to get his fourth medal in Chocolate Town, USA, in March. Sement owns three bronze medals as he looks to finally climb atop the podium in his senior season. Sement has signed on to wrestle in the Big 10 at Michigan after graduation and is a 3x Southeast Regional champ.
In the District One Team race, both CR North and South will be in the hunt for a title along with Quakertown, Pennridge and Pennsbury. North has solidified themselves as bonified contenders with their star power and own a record of 6-3, with two of those losses coming at the hands of national powers Wyoming Seminary and Malvern Prep, and the other to Boyertown, who are the D1 front-runners at the moment. North has one of the most difficult schedules in all of America. South is starting to heat up as well, but are relatively unknown as a dual meet team with their 2-1 record. SOL Division matches kick-off tonight, the Golden Hawks will take on Neshaminy (10-4), and North will battle Pennsbury (6-5) which should set the stage for who will reign in the Patriot Conference.
23rd Annual Wetzel Holiday Classic (December 27th & 28th, 2024)
Pennsbury captured the team title at Hatboro-Horsham’s 23rd Annual Wetzel Holiday Classic as they wrestled extremely well. The Falcons crowned two champs in Kyle Von Schmidt (127) and Walker Murray (215) along with two runners-up in Alex Reiling (160) and Charlie Kealy (172). Brett Kean was third at 114lbs. and Michael DeFinis at 121. They had 12-medalists overall, racking up 233.5 points finishing just ahead of Lenape (NJ) who had 224.5 pts. H-H finished third in the team race scoring 168pts., as Neshaminy (152.5 pts.) & Abington (152) rounded out the top-5. Thus, making it four out of five top-teams from the SOL in the field of 25-teams.
Central Bucks East, Neshaminy and H-H all had two champs. Chase Williams (CBE) downed Dom Powell (Upper Dublin) in the 107-pound weight class and Sam Hunter (CBE) beat Abington’s Nathan Sanders in the 121lb. final. Neshaminy standouts Bek Baiyshbekov and Owen Schwartz won their respective weight-classes at 160 & 285-pounds. H-H champs were Dom Morrison (114), who was named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler and Ryan Allgeier won the 139lb. title. Abington’s Ryan Solomon defeated Pennsbury’s Charlie Kealy by tech fall 21-6 at 172lbs. to remain undefeated at 13-0. CB East’s Chase Williams match versus UD’s Dom Powell in the 107lb. title tilt was the most entertaining, as Williams came back to win 3-1 in an Ultimate Tie Breaker bout. Besides Solomon, all of these SOL Wetzel Champs are currently state ranked, and will be forces to reckon with throughout the region leading up to the individual post-season.
Beast of the East (December 21st & 22nd, 2024)
The 2024 Beast of the East lived upped to its name down at the University of Delaware, as it was an extremely talented field that made for a grueling grinder of an event. Notably, one of the best if not the best in the entire land for scholastic wrestling. Both Council Rocks attended the event, with only one medalist between the two of them. That was North’s Eren Sement who was a finalist at 144-pounds. Sement had a stellar tourney, reaching the finals all the way from a pigtail match, winning six straight matches to the finals where he ran into a rugged Tahir Parkins from Nazareth. It was a great battle won by Parkins executing a takedown in overtime, winning by Sudden Victory 4-1. It’s possible these two meet again, and it could be for a state title, as Parkins is ranked #1, Sement #3 along with studs Dalton Perry (Central Mountain) #2 and McKadden Speece (Wilson West Lawn) #5. Sement already has an 8-4 win over Speece in an early season dual with Wilson in which the Indians won 33-31.
Powerade at Cannon-Mac (December 27th & 28th, 2024)
Council Rock North traveled yet again prior to the New Year out to Cannon-McMillan H.S. to another top tourney the Powerade. Central Bucks West also took their talent to Powerade and came away with some hardware. Eren Sement at 145lbs. garnered bronze with a nice 8-2 victory over St. Edwards (OH) Adam Butler. Sement had to wrestle-back after losing in the third-round of the championship bracket to Delbarton’s (NJ) Nicholas Schwartz to get to the consolation finals, winning five straight matches in this monster of a tourney. Sement’s record stands at 22-2 already here in 2025. CB West landed one on the podium with Patrick Kelly finishing 6th at 145-pounds.
Bethlehem Holiday Classic (December 28th & 29th, 2024)
Quakertown finished ninth as a team at Bethlehem Liberty HS, posting 112-points. CR South was 15th out of 33-teams with 88-pts. The Panthers Colin Gaj was the 160-pound champ, downing Phillipsburg, NJ’s Gavin Hawk handily 16-4. Gaj is undefeated at 12-0 and will look to secure his second perfect season scholastically. He was 49-0 in 2023. Q-town’s Gavin Carroll snatched the silver at 152 and is looking forward to having a fine postseason. CR South’s Gavin Cole looks to be peaking with his 172lb.championship run winning 7-love over Blaise Eidle (Wilson West Lawn). Golden Hawk John Segata placed third here with a sweet 6-1 win over Liberty’s Elijah Heimbach. Patrick Woloshyn (CRS) dropped his consolation final, losing to D1’s Blake Boyer (Kennett) in an overtime match UTB 2-1. North Penn’s return of Johnny O’Brien was a good one with his bronze performance, as he won the 152-pound consolation semifinal 8-3 over North Allegheny’s Griffen Reid 8-3 and won the consi-final by injury default over Saucon’s Jackson Albert. Carroll decked O’Brien in the quarter-finals at 152.
Dual Tournament Results:
Parkland Winter Duals-Quakertown looked good this past-weekend securing four wins at Parkland HS as they improved to 6-2 overall. Their only two losses were to the Lehigh Valley’s host Parkland 37-24 and to Northampton’s Concrete Kids 38-33 in a slugfest. Q-town has already notched some good wins over Saucon Valley 36-29 and to crosstown rival Pennridge 41-25. They will be the favs to win the Liberty Division here in the SOL.
Raider Duals at Twin Valley HS- Souderton has posted 10 wins already (10-3) as they kick-off their league play against CB East tonight. They went 5-1 at the Raider Duals. The Colonial Division could be a wild one with several teams in the hunt here. It could very well be decided by the Individual League Championships with all the teams comparable with their dual meet lineups. Slight edge goes to Pennridge here, but keep an eye on this team race.
A look at the rest of the SOL: With prestigious individual tournaments the big attraction with SOL Wrestling teams, and the new trend, most teams will only have a few duals outside of their leagues. Those duals will come at team dual events, which culminates with the District One Team Championships for a chance to punch your ticket to the PIAA Team Championships.
Here is a look at each SOL Division.
Colonial: As discussed above, here are the current rankings:
1. Pennridge (3-4)
2. Central Bucks West (4-2)
3. Souderton (10-3)
Match of the Week: CBE @ Souderton
Freedom: This is always a wide-open team race with more individual talent then team power. Going strictly on results here ya go:
1. Upper Moreland (9-5)
2. Springfield (3-3)
3. William Tennent (2-4)
Match of the Week: Tennent @ the Chelts
Liberty: This is another league with lots of parity, but Quakertown always remains supreme. Hatboro-Horsham could push the Panthers this season. However, they have to navigate past Upper Dublin tonight.
1. Quakertown (6-2)
2. Hatboro-Horsham (2-3)
T3. Abington (5-0) & Upper Dublin (5-2)
Match of the Week: UD @ H-H
Patriot: Clearly the strongest of all the Divisions, this one too is somewhat wide-open. I have CR North winning it until someone beats them. Pennsbury is a dangerous dual meet team! I have not seen this type of balance in a long time here.
1. Council Rock North (7-3)
2. Council Rock South (2-1)
3. Pennsbury (6-5)
Match of the Week: Pennsbury @ CR North
*League Individual Rankings to follow…enjoy a great night of wrestling!
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