By Alex Frazier
With all the finalists determined and two rounds of wrestlebacks left, anticipation soared for Upper Moreland wrestlers at the 8th Annual Ralph Wetzel Holiday Classic.
The Golden Bears seemed to have a comfy 30-point lead over LaSalle.
But when the dust settled following the 285-championship bout, it was the Explorers who claimed the championship, 196.50-178.00. Host Hatboro-Horsham finished third (150.50), Abington was fourth (145), Central Bucks East was sixth (120.50), followed by William Tennent (8th, 107), Upper Dublin (11th, 87), Wissahickon (13th, 60), Upper Merion (16th, 32.50) and Cheltenham (20th, 7).
Upper Moreland coach Stefan Muller was far from upset with his team’s finish, one of the best in school history.
“I have nothing to be disappointed about,” he said. “My guys wrestled well. It was a good day. We’re going to keep our heads high. It’s no shame to lose to a team like LaSalle, which is pretty well stacked throughout. We’re building. We’re going to get better and better.”
The Golden Bears took some consolation from the fact that 119-pounder Jake Ellis received the award for the most pins (4) in the least amount of time (7:18).
All four of Ellis’ pins came via cradle.
“I love the cradle,” he said.
Ironically, at the conclusion of the tournament, LaSalle 145-pounder Shane Springer was announced as the winner. When Muller, who was in the other gym watching a jayvee match, heard it, he hustled to the scorer’s table to correct what he thought was an error.
“I went through it and knew he had to be in contention for it,” said Muller. “The only question was that LaSalle kid, and I saw he had two pins in like three minutes, so at that point even if the kid pinned in 10 seconds we should have had it. At first they said they had already done it, but they made a mistake. You have to fight for your guys.”
Chestnut Hill Academy’s Justin Heller was awarded the Most Outstanding Wrestler for his 3-2 upset win over Upper Moreland’s Tim Santry at 125. Santry took a 2-1 lead on a single leg takedown with 40 seconds left in the bout, but Heller reversed with just 4.8 seconds on the clock to steal the victory.
Though Upper Moreland crowned three champions to LaSalle’s two, the difference came in the wrestlebacks where the Explorers placed eight in the top six to Upper Moreland’s four.
“It was a little deceiving seeing that 30-point lead,” said Muller. “We didn’t have as many guys in the wrestlebacks and that’s where you get the points.”
Upper Moreland crowned more champions —three—than any other team. Ellis led the group with his fourth pin. He trailed Cape Henlopen’s Chris McMahon 5-2 into the second period. But Ellis scrambled to get a takedown to begin the second and then clamped McMahon in a cradle for the fall at 3:07.
“I was on my back fighting as hard as I could to get off and come back and win the match,” he said. “I try to do my best, take him to his back and pin him.”
Ellis was nearly pinned in the first period when McMahon reversed him after he got the initial takedown and then put him on his back for three near fall points.
The championship was particularly pleasing since it was Ellis’ first tournament win.
“It feels good,” he said. “I always get knocked out in the semis or lose in the finals.”
The Bears’ second gold medal came at 160, where John Bolich major decisioned Abington’s Max Barsky, 12-2.
And the final one came at 189. James Nicholson said he wasn’t thinking about revenge. But as a freshman he lost twice to Upper Dublin’s Sean Carson. A lot has happened since then for Nicholson, including a couple of big tournament showings last summer, and his extra work paid off as he settled the debt with Carson with an 8-3 win.
“This year I don’t really think about who I wrestle,” he said. “I just go out and try to do what I’ve been training to do.”
It was Nicholson’s second tournament win after capturing gold at the Southeast Classic to start the season. He is now a perfect 14-0.
Abington crowned two champs in Cody Carrigan at 152 and David Osei at 285. Carrigan had little trouble with Malvern Prep’s Andrew Giannascoli as he won 7-2.
Osei was pleased with his 4-1 win over Hatboro-Horsham’s Alex Myers, whom he has wrestled many times before.
“Every time we have a match, it’s usually close,” said Osei.
Third place Hatboro-Horsham had just one champion in Matt Harkins. The 112-pounder actually trailed 4-0 after he was taken down and put on his back by Cape Henlopen’s Chris Young.
“He got me in a single and I was thinking about whether I could throw him, and then next thing I know I’m on my back,” said Harkins. “It got me a little angry.”
The same thing happened at the Southeast Classic and he came back to win that, too.
“I get slow starts normally,” he said. “It’s kind of annoying. I’m not ready for the matches.”
But by the end of the first period Harkins held sway with an escape, takedown and a pair of back points of his own.
The rest of the match he dominated en route to a 14-5 major decision. He is now 17-2 for the season.
Central Bucks East and William Tennent each had a champion. One of the most anticipated matches of the night came at 140 where undefeated Zac Bush of Tennent faced once-beaten Jon Brodzik of C. B. East. The two had never wrestled before.
Brodzik took early control taking Bush down twice in the first period for a 4-1 lead. Bush rode Brodzik with legs in a scoreless second period.
In the third, Bush was awarded a penalty point when Brodzik locked hands, before he escaped. Then with 53 seconds left, he took Brodzik down at the edge of the mat and rode him the rest of the way to keep his undefeated skein intact at 19 straight.
“I knew he was good on his feet,” said Bush. “When he took me down the first and even the second time I wasn’t worried about it. Our coach pushes us to the limit every practice so our conditioning is one of the best around. That’s what I knew would get me the win at the end, being in better shape and wrestling smart the whole time.”
East got its champion at 171 in another match that was closely contested. This time Devon Passman got the better of Hatboro-Horsham’s Dave Smith, though if aggressiveness counted for points, Smith would have taken the match. Passman took a 2-0 lead on a single in the first period, but Smith closed the gap on an escape with 23 second left.
Passman escaped in the second and spent much of the period, as well as the third, countering Smith’s shots. Smith’s escape in the third pulled him to within one, but Passman denied him the go-ahead takedown.
“I’ve wrestled that family for the past four years,” said Passman, who holds a 5-1 record against the Smiths, his only loss coming to Don as a freshman. “He wanted that match a lot. He came at me. I’d like to say I wrestled a bad match, but I think part of the reason I wrestled a bad match is because he was able to throw me off my game.”
8th Annual Ralph Wetzel Holiday Classic
Team standings
1. LaSalle (L) 196.50, 2. Upper Moreland (UMo) 178, 3. Hatboro-Horsham (HH) 150.50, 4. Abington (A) 145, 5. Downingtown East (DE) 122, 6. Central Bucks East (CBE) 120.50, 7. Perkiomen Valley (PV) 108, 8. William Tennent (WT) 107, 9. Cape Henlopen (CH) 100, 10. Malvern Prep (M) 90.50, 11. Upper Dublin (UD) 87, 12. Milford (Mi) 82.50, 13. Wissahickon (W) 60, 14. Chestnut Hill Academy (CHA) 57.50, 15. Archbishop Wood (AW) 37, 16. Upper Merion (UMe) 32.50, 17. George Washington (GW) 19, 18. Germantown Friends (GFS) 11, 19. Harriton (H) 10, 20. Cheltenham (C) 7, 20. St. Joe’s Prep 7, 22. Cardinal Dougherty (CD) 3
Championship finals
103—Jimmy Stewell (MP) tech fall Riley McDermott (AW) 4:00
112—Matt Harkins (HH) maj. Dec. Chris Young (CH) 14-5
119—Jake Ellis (UMo) pinned Chris McMahon (CH) 3:07
125—Justin Heeler (CHA) dec. Tim Santry (UMo) 3-2
130—Ryan Ginsburg (L) major dec. Gavin Milligan (PV) 13-5
135—Billy Heemer (DE) dec. Will Dill (UMo) 10-7
140—Zac Bush (WT) dec. Jon Brodzik (CBE) 5-4
145—Shane Springer (L) pinned Jarrett Sanders (CBE) 4:00
152—Cody Carrigan (A) dec. Andrew Giannascoli (M) 7-2
160—John Bolich (UMo) major dec. Max Barsky (A) 12-2
171—Devon Passman (CBE) dec. Dave Smith (HH) 3-2
189—James Nicholson (UMo) dec. Sean Carson (UD) 8-3
215—Amro Elansari (DE) dec. Dan Clemenson (WT) 10-6
285—Dave Osei (A) dec. Alex Myers (HH) 4-1
Third place consolations
103—Justin Beitler (PV) dec. Bryan Pflanz (L) 5-1
112—Casey Kent (L) dec. Doug Silveria (CBE) 4-2
119—Nick DiMuzio (UD) pinned Mick Dau (CBE) 2:10
125—Matt Cimato (L) dec. Drew Felice (HH) 5-2
130—Dino Vitale (HH) dec. Andrew Westgate (CH) 8-4
135—Kevin Smith (CH) major dec. Matt Mandel (A) 12-2
140—Dustin Killinger (Mi) major dec. Pat Reilly (UD) 15-6
145—Max Agasar (UMo) dec. Ryan Alford (WT) 10-3
152—Alex Vuotto (UMe) dec. Nick Lynch (HH) 10-5
160—Andrew Foltyn (CBE) dec. Dan Gallagher (CHA) 4-2
171—Taylor Franko (W) pinned Andrew Scholer (WT) 4:25
189—Chris Palmieri (DE) dec. Ryan Rozniakowski (A) 5-1
215—Steve Jones (L) major dec. Brian Corliss (W) 16-5
285—Kyle DiGiacobbe (L) pinned Joe DiTrolio (M) 7:29 (OT)
Fifth place consolations
103—Dave Yannes (W) pinned Kyle McCall (A) 1:47
112—Ricky Durso (M) dec. Elliot Levy (H) 7-2
119—Jesse Furukawa (GFS) dec. C.J. Flack (WT) 5-3
125—Edgar Ramirez (Mi) dec. John Young (CH) 10-4
130—Anthony Bonville ((Mi) dec. Sean Saunders (W) 11-9
135—James McLaughlin (HH) pinned Chris Masten (Mi) 4:04
140—Nick Vuotto (UMe) dec. Brian Carter (DE) 2-1
145—Jalil Davis (Mi) pinned Scott Engle (DE) 1:20
152—Mark Poderis (UMo) won by forfeit
160—Bobby Angst (PV) dec. Sean Fisher (L) 4-2 (OT)
171—C.J. Burns (L) major dec. Dylan Freedman (UD) 15-7
189—Brett Petriello (PV) won by injury default
215—Lou Fiorvanti (PV) pinned John Trasser (A) 3:57
285—Chase Godfrey (PV) dec Rick Dracup (NA)
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