This week’s notebook recaps the highlights of last week’s tournament and takes a look ahead at this weekend’s wrestling action.
Wrestling Notebook 1/2/14
Upcoming Weekend Action:
The snow is falling, and wrestling is threatened to once again be snowed out this weekend. However, with mostly dual events this weekend, Saturday’s action should be able to take place. Four SOL teams will stay local at the Rockyard Duals at Council Rock North. Those teams are CR North, CR South, Pennsbury, and North Penn. The duals at CRN are in honor of Mr. Jack Callender. This event will feature Pennsylvania schools and New Jersey schools. Germantown Academy joins the field.
Hatboro-Horsham will travel to the Lehigh Valley to compete in the always tough Easton Invitational Duals. The Hatters are scheduled to wrestle traditional Delaware power Caesar Rodney Saturday. All duals have been moved to Saturday as they have cancelled Friday’s action due to the pending winter storm. Abington heads to Hamburg in the Mountain Hawk Duals. Wissahickon, Upper Moreland, and Springfield head out to the Octorara Duals.
Upper Dublin will head to the main line to the Ram Duals at Harriton. A trio of SOL teams – Pennridge, Souderton and Quakertown - will also heading to the Lehigh Valley for the Zephyr Duals (at Whitehall). It’s good to see SOL teams travelling out of the area to test their mettle as they prepare for the upcoming league duals.
Plymouth-Whitemarsh will do battle at the Gauntlet up at Blue Mountain. SOL teams will know where the stand with some of the state’s, and in some cases the nation’s best after this weekend’s competitions, weather pending.
13th Annual Wetzel Classic @ Hatboro-Horsham:
The latest edition of the Wetzel Classic was easily the best ever. Twenty-three teams competed for individual and team honors. Downingtown East won the team event, followed by the PAC 10’s Perkiomen Valley (2nd), and Germantown Academy (3rd). Host Hatboro-Horsham had a 4th place finish as a team, topping the other six SOL teams competing. Norristown finished 5th right behind the Hatters with Mike Springer capturing OW honors with a fall in the finals at 152 pounds.
The 152-pound weight class featured some of the area’s best 152 pounders. H-H’s Connor Bodnar, a Regional Qualifier a year ago managed to finish 7th. Springer decked last year’s SE Region runner-up Shane Rhunke (Great Valley) in the finals. Springer once again looked like the state place winner he was two years ago.
CB East’s Francesco Fabozzi continued to impress, capturing his third individual tournament title of the year with a 16-4 major decision in the finals at 145. Fabozzi talked about his improvement over the years since his first Wetzel Classic. He was a champion a year ago at the Wetzel and said that his hard work to “wrestle a college-type style” has made him technically better. His ferocious leg attacks and threat of the big move at any time keep his opponents off balance. His ability to wrestle his match against the competition makes him almost unbeatable in his senior year. The 145- pound weight class also featured some of the region’s best. Brad Humski (Hatboro-Horsham) recorded three falls on his way to a 3rd place finish after suffering his second loss of the season to Fabozzi in the semis. Matt Swiacki (H-H) held his seed with a 3rd place finish at 132, avenging his only loss of the tournament to Ryan Finn (Pottsgrove) by a 3-1 decision in the consolation finals.
Other SOL finalists were Phil Torresani (Hatboro-Horsham) at 120 – the H-H senior lost to 2013 Delaware state runner-up Kody Stevens from Polytech 4-3; Rashon Lusane (Norristown) was runner-up to GA’s John Grossi, losing a hard fought 3-1 decision; Zach Tuerke (H-H) dropped a 3-2 decision at the buzzer to St. Joe’s Prep Tom Johnson in the finals at 182-pounds; and Shaheed Hill won the 285-pound weight class 4-3 over 2013 State Qualifier Sean Snodgrass of Downingtown East.
Bethlehem Holiday Classic @ Liberty High School:
Pennridge’s Scott Parker followed up the Beast with another title at 120-pounds. Parker, who will attend Lehigh next fall, showed the Lehigh Valley why he will soon be a Mountain Hawk. Ben Ross (126) and Joe Kracz (285) both finished 5th, while Ezra Outlaw finished 7th at 220. Pennridge will look to get back to dual action with its solid line-up of young light weights, Matt Parker and Kordell Rush, with that strong finishing tandem of Outlaw and Kracz. Throw in Kyle Gentile in there, and the Rams can compete with the best.
Council Rock South finished just behind the Rams (10th) tied for 11th place with Dan Martoccio returning at 126 pounds and a 4th place finish. Martoccio defeated Ben Ross in the consolation semis 4-0. The Golden Hawks Zack Trampe garnered a 5th place finish at 120 pounds with a 2-1 win over James Hoffman from Hazleton Area. Riley and Nick Palmer finished 7th respectively at 106 and 113.
North Penn’s dynamic duo of Jeff Reimel (152) and Alex Price (182) placed for the Knights. Price made it to the finals and dropped a 8-3 decision to Nazareth’s Nick Sevi. Reimel finished 4th, and Chris Barr 7th at 195 pounds.
Quakertown’s Collyn Dorney made the drop to 106 and finished 4th losing in the ultimate tiebreaker 4-3 to Northampton’s Dan Moran. Dorney’s presence at the 106-pound weight class makes him a legitimate contender for a state medal when we get to March. Luke Garges finished in 7th place for the Panthers and continues to have a strong early start to his season at the ever so strong 152-pound weight class.
Other Tournament Action:
In dual tourney action, Upper Dublin and Upper Moreland took a ride down I95 to Academy Park to grapple in the Delco Duals. Upper Dublin may have sent a message to the SOL American that even without their seniors from a year ago, the Flying Cardinals may be able to make a run at Norristown again for the title. The Cardinals were able to knock off the Bears, who were hurt by forfeits, with a narrow 42-40 win just outside the city of Philadelphia. Three first period pins by Talib Davis (120), Aarron Katz (126), and Colin Davis (132) gave UD a 24-12 lead. But the Golden Bears roared back with a fall from Chris Fleming at 138 and a major decision by Anthony DeLaurentis at 145 making the score 24-22. They took the lead with a forfeit to Dom DeLaurentis (160) and a fall by Justin Hester at 170 (UM 34-UD 30). But a forfeit in the last bout (220) sealed the deal for Upper Dublin.
UD went 3-2 on the day, and finished 6th, while UM won the 7th place bout vs. Sun Valley 48-27 to end up 2-3 overall.
At the Manhiem Central Tournament, one of Pennsylvania’s oldest tournaments, Council Rock North’s Tim Ambacher grabbed a bronze medal with a 7-4 victory over Dane Robbins (Robinson, VA) in the 138-pound consolation final.
Plymouth-Whitmarsh’s 132-pounder Gianpiero DiBattista made it to the finals of the Governor Mifflin Tournament, but lost 5-2 to Gavin Arredondo of Wyomissing.
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