Glenn Kaiser highlights the SOL’s top showings at this weekend’s invitationals.
SOL TEAMS HAVE SUCCESS AT ABINGTON GHOST TOWN DUALS
By Glenn Kaiser
Abington, PA-Several SOL wrestling teams had success at the annual Ghost Town Duals that featured District One power Spring-Ford, hosted by Abington H.S. The biggest surprise may have been a Pennsbury team, under the leadership of new head coach Wayne Stinston, that knocked off two solid SOL teams. Pennsbury got off to a fast start in Round One of this eight-team pooled dual event as the Falcons downed Hatboro-Horsham 47-26. H-H was without three starters, but Pennsbury never allowed the H-H Wrestling Warriors to get into the match. Riding early falls from Nick Sieger (106-pounds) and Dylan Figueroa (113), the Falcons recorded six pins. Pennsbury racked up plenty of bonus points to keep H-H from rallying in the upper weights to post a solid victory.
Pennsbury’s Davis Lee , wrestling at 220-pounds, downed H-H’s Logan Flynn 7-2 in the duals’ spotlight match with the outcome of the dual meet already decided at 44-20. Bonus points were added by the Falcons’ Michael Molloy (152) who recorded a 16-1 tech fall over H-H freshman Hunter Long. Patrick Kirk, Pennsbury’s 145-pounder may have been the deciding factor of the match’s outcome, as he decked A.J. Vegas (H-H) to put the Falcons up 33-5 heading into the 152-pound match. The Warriors rallied at 160-pounds with a fall by Davis Wheeler (5-0 on the day) to lead a stretch of three wins, that was followed by Patrick Chapman’s pin of Josh Swenk (Pennsbury) and Jake Wood’s 9-5 decision over Ben Fritzsche, which made the score 38-20 and gave H-H a chance to tie the match if they could pin out. However, Pat Chappel (Pennsbury) at 195lbs secured a fall to end any chances of an H-H comeback. H-H’s Champman was also 5-0 on the day.
Pennsbury could not follow-up their big win over H-H as they dropped a hard-fought match to Upper Darby 42-36. Nonetheless, the Falcons edged Wissahickon 39-38 in a cross-over match as Wissahickon forfeited the final bout of the dual at 120-pounds. The Falcons’ Davis Lee’s decking of Brian Fennell (Wissahickon) in the first period at 1:19 was most likely the difference in this match. Fennell came into the match ranked #25 in the state at 220-pounds by PA Power Rankings. Pennsbury finished the day at 3-2 after Spring-Ford dismantled them in the finals, 62-9.
Hatboro-Horsham finished the day with a 4-1 record, downing Upper Darby, Northeast, Abington and Penncrest. Wissahickon finished at 3-2 with victories over the hosts, Abington (2-3), Upper Darby and Penncrest. The team champs, Spring-Ford dominated the field, as the Rams went 5-0 on the day, beating Pennsbury, Wissahickon and Abington. The Rams only allowed 82 team points throughout the day, while they posted 273 points on their opponents.
GOLDEN HAWKS CROWNED KING’S OF THE MOUNTAIN
Council Rock South traveled to Mill Hall, Pennsylvania, this weekend to compete in the prestigious King of the Mountain wrestling tournament hosted by Central Mountain H.S. The Golden Hawks, who crowned two individual champions in Eric Woloshyn and Matt Colajezzi, won the team title with 198.5 points. Colajezzi, just a freshman, wrestled in his second individual tournament championship final at 170-pounds (he was a runner-up a week ago at the Cumberland Valley Kickoff Classic). Colajezzi (#23 PA Power Rankings) downed Fort LeBoeuf’s Brent Burbules (#11 AA-PA Power) 7-5 in the finals. Woloshsyn (#10 PA Power) won the 152-pound weight class, winning by a 7-5 decision over Seneca Valley’s Nick Montalbano in the championship bout.
The Golden Hawks outclassed a strong field of both PIAA AA and AAA teams, as well as a couple of highly regarded out-of-state teams, including Phillipsburg (NJ). CR South edged the team runner-up, Seneca Valley (189 points) by 9.5 points. Chestnut Ridge (158), Phillipsburg, NJ (143) and Franklin Regional rounded out the top-5. CR South had eight medalists in total. Cole Flanagan (#10 PA Power) was the runner-up to Mifflin County’s Trey Tribe dropping a 4-0 decision in the final at 160 lbs. Consolation bracket winners included Max Mendez (120) and Shane Hanson-Ashworth (126). Mendez (#6 PA Power) downed Andrew Best (General McLane) 4-0 for the silver while Hanson-Ashworth (#9 PA Power) majored Central Mountain’s Dalton Bechdel 10-1 in his third-place bout.
Gianna Gilch was fifth at 195 lbs., and LJ Kahn (138) and Nik Korbich (182) both finished sixth at the KOM tourney. The Golden Hawks have established themselves early as a strong tournament team that has aspirations of a state title both in the PIAA Team and Individual Championships in 2018-19.
MYHOUSE X-CALIBER
Quakertown, North Penn and Pennridge all traveled to Wilkes University to battle at the MyHouse X-Caliber individual tournament this weekend. Quakertown X-celled as they placed third in the team standings, scoring 117 points. Wyoming Seminary, a national wrestling power, won the event with 341.5 points, as they had multiple entries through-out the weight classes. This tourney was well rounded, as teams came from near and far to compete. Bergen Catholic (NJ) was second with 236 points, West Morris Central (4th-113.5 pts.) and St. Anthony’s (5th-94 pts.) rounded out the top five.
Quakertown was led by runner-up at 113-pounds Corey Cope (#13 PA Power), who dropped a 10-2 major decision in the finals to Corey Morabito (Wyoming Seminary), a Methacton transfer. Seven Panthers medaled at Wilkes. Sophomore Dom DeFalco was third at 138, winning 5-4 in the consolation final over W. Morris Central’s Eli Shepard. Kyle Miller was fourth at 126, Ralph Martin fifth at 220, Zach Lewis sixth at 126 and Dustin Pompei (170) and Max Russell (195) both finished eighth. Quakertown, with an extremely balanced line-up from start to finish, exemplified its superior team strength, both individually and as a tournament team. Coach Kurt Handel was excited about his team this season, but was concerned about pre-season expectations. He can rest easy know after his team had this strong showing at X-Caliber. This Quakertown team will be a force in District One and clearly the team to beat in the SOL Continental Conference.
Pennridge’s Evan Widing (152lbs) finished fifth at these championships after not participating in last weekend’s action, as his teammates Christian Perrine (182) and Logan Green (195) also placed on the podium in fifth place as well, in their respective weight classes. Pennridge finished 17th overall, just ahead of North Penn (18th). The Knights Patrick O’Neill (#2 PA Power) garnered silver at 160-pounds dropping his finals match 9-1 to Wyoming Seminary’s Owen Davis.
PENN MANOR
Council Rock North and Souderton wrestled at Penn Manor this weekend, and the Rock North Indians finished eighth in the team standings with 112 points. Luke Lucerne (CRN-#8 PA Power) was crowned the champ at 132-pounds defeating Ethan Hardy (Washington, VA) by major decision 15-5. The Indians Kyle Hauserman (#5 PA Power) lost a close decision to Bethlehem Liberty’s Tai-Reese Flemming 2-1 to grab silver. Dillon Sheehy (CRN-#10 PA Power) was the third finalist for the Indians as he finished second to Coy Bastian (Sellingsgrove), losing in Sudden Victory OT 9-7. The Indians added Anthony Burke (106) and Sammy Hayes (152) on the podium, as both finished in fifth place.
Souderton was also noticeably recognized with three medalists. Tyler Williams (#4 PA Power) continued his hot start to his senior campaign with a 145-pound championship beating Wilson West Lawn’s Anthony Steinmeyer handily 8-2 in the finals. Souderton’s Connor Trowbridge (#12 PA Power) won the consolation bracket at 152 with a decking of Chase Guldin from Exeter to grab the bronze medal. The Souderton Indians’ lightweight Tyler Geiger impressed with a seventh place finish. Souderton finished 16th in the team standings with 72.5 points.
Liberty was the team champ with 246 points, 2nd-New Oxford (143), 3rd-Sellingsgrove (141), 4th-Penn Manor (134) and Wilson (West Lawn) rounded out the top-5 with 125.5 points.
In other action: Harry S Truman won the Upper Moreland Duals with a finals victory over Lower Moreland 48-30. The Tigers downed Upper Moreland 63-18 in early round action. Upper Dublin finished third with a 59-18 win over South Philly, the Flying Cardinals went 3-1 on the day overall, and Upper Moreland also went 3-1 at these duals.
- Log in to post comments
