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By Alex Frazier
“We’re in a war here.”The slogan on the back of Council Rock North’s T-shirts told the story.
Every year at the Rock South-North Unity Cup, wrestlers who are good friends the other 364 days suddenly become combatants out on the mat with pride and district bragging rights at stake.
“We’ really friendly, real tight, especially when we go to states, it’s not Council Rock South and North, it’s Council Rock,” said South 130-pounder Connor Moore, whose win in the final bout gave South a 35-31 win. “That’s the way I like it.”
The Hawk’s Nest was filled with spectators, including alumni, parents, youth and jayvee wrestlers, and wrestling aficionados.
The evening started with a jayvee and freshman match and then tug of wars between youth wrestlers and youth cheerleading routines before the varsity came out.
The Council Rock Wrestling Association youth programs feed both schools making it even more of a community night.
“That’s our lifeline,” said South coach Brad Silimperi. “They see that here tonight and experience it and they get sucked right in.”“This is pretty much what we’ve been training for all year,” said North senior Greg Lanctot, who was experiencing Unity Cup night for the fourth time. “It’s a shame it comes so early in the season. This is the biggest match we have.”
No one was particularly surprised Wednesday evening that the 12th annual Unity Cup between Rock North and South came down to the last bout.
More to the point, spectators would have been surprised if it didn’t.
“I knew it was going to happen,” said Lanctot, whose 9-4 win over Austin Reichenbach kept him undefeated (5-0) for the year. “It always does.”
“If you don’t expect it, something’s wrong,” said South coach Brad Silimperi.
With the Indians holding a slim 31-29 lead heading into the final 130-pound bout, the match came down to senior Allan Slezak and South junior Moore.Just last Saturday Slezak found himself in a similar situation against Boyertown’s Peter Jones, whom he defeated 8-7 to clinch the match for the Indians.
“He had a kid that beat him last year, and Allan’s improved a lot,” said North coach Tom Vivacqua.
Moore felt confident when he stepped out on the mat in that pressure situation. He had faced Slezak before and won by a major decision.
“The more pressure the better,” said Moore.
Moore found himself down 2-1 after the first period, but he relied on his bread-and-butter dump to take down Slezak and go ahead 3-2 at the beginning of the second period. After Slezak escaped, Moore hit the move again, this time taking Slezak to his back for two back points. He earned three more for an 8-3 lead after two.
“I’ve been doing that (dump) since I was eight years old,” said Moore. “I felt like that was the match.”
Moore learned the dump from Matt Rappo when he moved into the Council Rock School District in third grade. Of course he’s had better success with it against other wrestlers like Slezak than he has against Rappo.
In the third period, Moore escaped, took Slezak down with a single and threw in the half to get a fall at 5:27 to give South its eighth Unity Cup in the 12 seasons it’s been contested.
“We knew it was going to be a tight match,” said Vivacqua. “Connor’s good.”
As with any matchup between the two sister schools, lineup juggling played a big part.
“Both teams strategize very good,” said Silimperi. “We know them so well and they know us so well, it’s really match strategy. The week leading up to it is sometimes more fun than the match because we’re trying to guess what they’re doing and they’re trying to guess what we’re doing. It makes it a lot of fun.”
The opening coin flip gave Council Rock North choice in odd bouts, which played into the Indians’ hands, forcing South to shift its lineup.
“Without the flip, we didn’t have much of a chance,” said Vivacqua. “We needed the flip.”
The downside to the juggling was that some of South’s best wrestlers like Tim Riley didn’t get a chance to wrestle.
However, the addition of Josh Dziewa, who has been nursing an injured shoulder, to the Hawks’ lineup for the first time this year was big for South and surprised Vivacqua.Dziewa barely worked up a sweat, as he manhandled Anthony Dutrow, decking him in 1:42.
“He’s real close to being ready on a full time basis,” said Silimperi. “You’ll start seeing him more regularly now.”
Silimperi likened the rivalry between the schools to the long-standing one in the Lehigh Valley between his alma mater Nazareth and Northampton.
“It’s really good to see that we have two of the best teams in the state,” said Silimperi. “It’s only going to make us better. I like to think we push them, and they push us in return. We now have something the rest of the state has. We can both compete on that same stage in a dual meet. It took a couple of years to build and now it’s here. You have two of the top 10 teams in the state wrestling year in and year out. It’s not a one or two year thing. That’s a compliment to both programs.
This match is likely only a tune-up for another which could come at the district duals later in the season, at least that’s what Council Rock North is hoping.
“That’s the plan,” said Vivacqua. “I was proud of our guys today. The effort was awesome. You couldn’t ask for more.”
Council Rock South 35, Council Rock North 31
135—Hayden Schenker (CRN) 10, Keith Hickey 5
140—Matt Martoccio (CRS) won by forfeit
145—Josh Dziewa (CRS) pinned Anthony Dutrow, 1:42
152—James Hollawell (CRN) dec. Dalton Wiltrout, 2-1
160—Greg Lanctot (CRN) dec. Austin Reichenbach, 9-4
171—Shane Gilmore (CRS) dec. Joe Coates, 11-6
189—Jamie Callendar (CRN) pinned Tom Dingui, 1:04
215—Bobby Lavelle (CRS) won by forfeit
285—Steve Kaschak (CRN) pinned Tom Trampe, 1:45
103—Billy Rappo (CRS) tech falled Sean O’Neill, 5:10
112—Johnny Dutrow (CRN) majored Trey Balasco, 13-1
119—Shane Longstreth (CRN) pinned Ian Krouse, :44
125—Matt Rappo (CRS) dec. Adam Slezak, 14-9
130—Connor Moore (CRS) pinned Allan Slezak, 5:27
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