By Alex Frazier
If Joe Stolfi had been picking the Outstanding Wrestler of the Section Two Tournament, he would have chosen Quakertown’s Matt Jorgenson.
But he would have probably been the only one.
Almost everyone else chose him.
Deservedly so.
The Souderton 215-pounder dispatched all three of his opponents in a scant four minutes and 18 seconds.
“I was just looking to do the best I could out there, take one match at a time and hope to come away with the gold,” said Stolfi.
It was his first OW award.
“I’ve seen a lot of good guys win this,” he said holding his plaque. “I’m honored to have this.”
Ironically, the first wrestler he faced was Jorgenson, a second string jayvee grappler who was wrestling in his first varsity matches. Coming into the Section Two Tournament 0-0, incredibly Jorgenson left it 4-1 along with a bronze medal for his third place finish.
Performances like that propelled Quakertown to its third consecutive Section Two title.
“We didn’t meet our team goals in our performance at district duals,” said Quakertown coach Kurt Handel. “It’s been something that’s been driving us since then. The guys have really picked it up in the practice room. It showed today.”
Quakertown advanced seven to the championship finals with Scott Wolfinger (125), Briar Malischewski (140), Eric Koch (152) and Edwin Gonzales (160) winning titles.
Of those, Gonzales was perhaps the most unlikely as he entered the tournament seeded fourth. He knocked off No. 1-seed Danny Michaels of Pottsgrove 6-4 in the semis and majored North Penn’s Dominic Colangelo 15-3 in the finals.
“Where’s Edwin coming from?” asked Handel. “He’s been jayvee for three years and he’s really making noise. I’m so happy and proud of him. There’s a guy that works so hard and has always been in that second position, and now he’s in first position and taking full advantage of it.”
Wolfinger’s second title came rather easily this year against Upper Perk’s Dan Rodenberger after he won in overtime against him last year.
“That really disappointed me,” he said. “I’ve wrestled him four times now and prior to us going into overtime, it was never a close match. I felt wrestling him now I wanted to show him it was a bad match last year.”
Wolfinger’s hardest match came in the semifinals where he defeated North Penn’s Tyler Romano 7-4.
“All the points that he was awarded I basically gave him,” he said.
Jorgenson found out Friday at practice that he would be wrestling after Rob Basile announced that he wasn’t wrestling in the post-season so that he could focus on football. He will be playing next year at Princeton.
Malischewski won his first sectional championship.
In his final against Pennridge’s Dylan Moore, Malischewski scored all his points in the third period enroute to a 6-1 decision.
“The first two matches I pinned the kids in the first period,” he said. “He was definitely bigger than me. The three-hour break killed me. I kind of went in there cold. It took me a period and a half to get moving.”
A couple of injuries didn’t help the Panthers. Tyler Seislove had to forfeit to Central Bucks West’s Bubba McGinley because of a cut over his eye that happened in a head collision.
Unfortunately for McGinley, he didn’t get a chance to wrestle his record-setting match, which gave him the career record for victories at West. The forfeit win was 128, which broke Dave Armstrong’s mark of 127.
“That’s been my goal since freshman year,” said McGinley. “After I got 32 wins my freshman year I added it up and said, ‘I can do that.’ I’ve been chasing that. It’s good to get it out of the way before districts.”
The Panthers’ Tyler Wolfe hobbled through his match with a badly sprained ankle, losing to North Penn’s lone champion Will Bachert, 1-0, at 171.
Bachert avenged a tech fall by Wolfe in the dual meet.
“I felt good after the first two wins, knowing I would move on,” he said, “but that third one really did it. I came out more fired up and had something to work for. I had something to prove.”
For the Knight senior, the work paid off in his first sectional title.
Besides Stolfi, Souderton’s Rob Smothers won his second section title in a barnburner over Upper Perk’s Nick Hale. Hale took a 1-0 lead in the second on an escape, and Smothers tied it up in the third to send it into overtime After a scoreless first OT, Hale deferred in the second, so Smothers chose down. With 11 seconds left, he reversed Hale to go up 3-1.
Hale escaped five seconds into the third period. Smothers, who had been warned for stalling in regulation, had to be careful not to get called again.
“It was a little closer than I hoped, but I got the job done,” said Smothers. “I’ve been hearing since halfway through the season that it would be one heck of a match.”
Last year, Stolfi won the 189-pound title and Smothers won at 215. This year they flip-flopped.
Souderton’s upper weights came through again. Besides two champions, Joe McNamara (285) and Sidney Outlaw (171) finished third, as did 140-pounder Chris Force (140).
Besides McGinley, C.B. West had another champion in Seth Ehlo, who defeated rival Nick Dau of C.B. East 7-4 to win his first sectional title.
“It feels good,” said the sophomore. “Last year I got fourth. This year I came in wanting to do well and beat that.”
Ehlo and Dau wrestled each other just the Monday before sectionals at the C.B. East Tournament with about the same result.
“I knew in my head what I wanted to do,” said Ehlo. “Last week I didn’t get a takedown in the first period when I should have. My goal was to make sure I got the lead right away and take him down first.”
Central Bucks South, which finished fourth, advanced three wrestlers to the finals, with Mike Mathis (112) capturing his second sectional title.
Mathis had a close bout with Upper Perk’s Wolfgang McStravick. And also a long one as the Titan had to take several stoppages to staunch a bloody nose, something that has been hampering him all year.
“Both sides bleed almost every match,” he said.
Mathis’ first-period takedown turned out to be the deciding points in a 3-2 win. He gave up a stalling point in the third period and fought off a takedown shot in the closing seconds to pull out the victory.
“Some of the calls were kind of controversial,” he said. “It all comes down to keeping going at the end. I felt it was going to be close at the end, but I kept circling.”
District One Section Two Tournament
(at Upper Perkiomen)
Team standings: 1. Quakertown 191.5, 2. Upper Perkiomen 136.5, 3. Souderton 117, 4. Central Bucks South 87, 5. Pennridge 86, 6. North Penn 82.5, 7. Pottsgrove 75.5, 8. Central Bucks West 67.5, 9. Central Bucks East 67, 10. Pottstown 43.5
Championship finals
103—Dylan Steffenino (UP) dec. Nick Haegele (CBS) 9-5
112—Mike Mathis (CBS) dec. Wolfgang McStravick (UP) 3-2
119—Bubba McGinley (CBW) won by medical forfeit over Tyler Seislove (Q)
125—Scott Wolfinger (Q) major dec. Dan Rodenberger (UP) 15-4
130—Denny Gibbons (PG) dec. Steve Ferrara (CBW) 7-5 OT
135—Seth Ehlo (CBW) dec. Nick Dau (CBE) 7-4
140—Zach Robinson (PG) dec. Rich Jasinski (PR) 2-1
145—Briar Malischewski (Q) dec. Dylan Moore (PR) 6-1
152—Eric Koch (Q) major dec. Randy Haun (NP) 10-0
160—Edwin Gonzales (Q) major dec. Dominic Colangelo (NP) 15-3
171—Will Bachert (NP) dec. Tyler Wolfe (Q) 1-0
189—Rob Smothers (S) dec. Nick Hale (UP) 3-2 OTTB
215—Joe Stolfi (S) pinned William Bendon (CBS) 1:19
285—William Carter (PT) dec. Gregg Walker (Q) 2-1
Consolation finals
103—Alex Brulliea (Q) dec. Mike Laurinaitis (CBE) 6-2
112—Zane Bechtel (PT) dec. John Lewis (S) 8-5
119—Avery Scripture (UP) dec. Andrew Houghey (PR) 9-2
125—Tyler Romano (NP) dec. Joshua Konz (PR) 7-0
130—Alex Barday (PR) dec. Ray Young (UP) 8-2
135—Marty McStravick (UP) pinned Drew Daubert (NP) 1:40
140—Chris Force (S) dec. Rick Syeboldt (CBS) 7-2
145—Thomas Demitrio (PG) pinned Austin Beyer (S) 3:40
152—Joe Mannino (CBE) dec. Dalton Fleming (UP) 3-2
160—Andrew Foltyn (CBE) dec. Cody Ambrose (UP) 12-11
171—Sidney Outlaw (S) pinned Nate Pompei (UP) 2:21
189—Seth Gray (Q) tech fall Randall Harrison (PR) 5:00
215—Matt Jorgenson (Q) dec. Chris Nester (PG) 7-4
285—Joe McNamara (S) dec. Zack Mysza (CBE) 9-2
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