Glenn Kaiser previews the upcoming District One East Tournament and makes his predictions for the finals in each weight class.
District One East Preview:
By Glenn Kaiser
With the regular season behind us, and the league qualifiers completed, it is time for the real wrestling to begin. Although, this past weekend’s happenings did not pass by without some fireworks. Hatboro-Horsham was a surprise winner of the SOL American tournament over Quakertown and Plymouth-Whitemarsh. Pennsbury’s star, Antonio Martoccio, did not advance out of the SOL National at 126-pounds, and there were many other mild upsets and surprises.
Perhaps the most difficult weight class in all of District One will be 126-pounds. Martoccio has already been removed from the mix, and this weekend at Quakertown High School’s newly renovated complex, it will be an all-out war here. Wrestling begins at 9am with the preliminary round, which features four wrestle-ins for each weight class, as losers go home in these pigtail matches.
Truman’s Gunnar Fuss is the #1 seed at 126-pounds, as he was able to dismiss CR North’s Sammy Hayes by major decision in the Nat’l semis, and down Neshaminy’s Colton Jordon 6-1 in the finals. Josh Stahl (Quakertown), the two-seed, downed P-W’s Marco DiBattista in the American finals. Both will join the Continental champ, #3 seed, Souderton freshmen Samuel Beckett as the four wrestlers who do not need to wrestle in, but rather wait for their opponents in the quarterfinals. Tennent’s Anthony Colella is dangerous here and will battle Hayes in a prelim bout, and CR South’s Braden Richinni could be a bracket buster after he wrestles in.
With only four wrestlers advancing to the Southeast Regional, the season will come to an end at districts for some very good wrestlers.
Other weight classes that pique some interest include a wide open 160-pound weight class that features numerous D1 ranked wrestlers. The 182-pound final should conclude with the #1 ranked wrestler in the state in Josh Stillings battling Upper Moreland’s undefeated Harry Green. Big men battles include H-H’s Nick Chapman, who is 30 (wins) for 30 (pins), versus Owen Verespy (North Penn) in the 220 final and the two top-ranked grapplers at 285, banging in the finals, with Bensalem’s Nick Cooper and NP’s Ryan Cody respectively. A rematch between 113-pounders CRS ’s South’s Max Mendez and Neshaminy freshman Zach Martin in the semifinals makes for a good show as well.
The wrestling will certainly be more exciting, then the majority of the league matches contested this past Saturday. CR South is still the favorite to win the D1 East team title with 13 contestants, but there are plenty of teams that could put up a fight, as Neshaminy, CR North, Quakertown, H-H, Pennridge and North Penn all come in with solid line-ups with both numbers and talent. Sleepers here in the team race are Bensalem, Tennent and a very good tournament team Souderton. It will certainly be a tremendous battle for second, and possibly not a walk through for the Golden Hawks. In fact, it could be a tight race for the team title.
With that said, let’s take a look at some predictions:
D1 East Individual Finals
106: Kyle Waterman (CRS) avenges his loss to CR North’s Kyle Hauserman
113: Luke Lucerne (CRN) faces off with Max Mendez, Lucerne wins
120: Shane Hanson-Ashworth (CRS) downs Abington freshman Jake Rose
126: Gunnar Fuss (HST) gets by DiBattista in semis and defeats Colton Jordan (Nesh) again
132: A.J. Tamburrino (WT) over Ben Radner (CRS)
138: Cam Robinson (CRN) downs Souderton’s Harrison Andrade
145: Evan Widing (Pennridge) edges Jackson Erb (Nesh)
152: Dillon Sheehey (CRN) over Davis Wheeler (H-H) vs. Cole Flanagn (CRS) semi winner
160: Throw a dart, anyone here can make the finals and win it with O’Neill (NP), Needleman (H-H), Dan Esenov (Bensalem), Spain (Nesh), Green (Pennridge), Nucero (CRN) and Fisher (P-W). I’ll be a homer and pick Matt Needleman.
170: Nik Korbich (CRS) over David Esenov (Bensalem) same result as Nat’l final
182: Josh Stillings (Pennridge) hands Harry Green (UM) his first loss
195: Yusuf Alidinov (WT) avenges loss over Bruno Stolfi (Souderton). Pennridge’s David Blanchard sleeper here since he has not wrestled much this season, Davis Lee (Pennsbury) wins if he makes the finals.
220: Nick Chapman (H-H) keeps pin streak alive over Owen Verespy (NP)
285: Nick Cooper (Bensalem) over Ryan Cody (NP) in a war.
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