IT’S TIME TO WRESTLE
2021 SOL Season Preview
By Glenn Kaiser
The PIAA has given the green light for winter sports to resume tomorrow (Monday 1/4/21) and most SOL schools will restart their seasons with practices in the New Year of 2021. So let it begin, it is time to wrestle. Unfortunately, Hatboro-Horsham and William Tennent will not be able to get their seasons started tomorrow, as their school boards and administrations have put their wrestling programs on ice and cancelled their seasons for now. Hopefully, they will reconsider as they see other SOL schools wrestling safely.
There is plenty to be thankful for with the passing of 2020, mostly the end of a terrible year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and tragic losses across the state, country and world. Hopefully, with the vaccine, more testing and more social awareness and prevention, school sports can safely resume with multiple safeguards in place to allow student/athletes do what they do best, compete.
What will wrestling look like in 2021? Well, we know this – most, if not all, major wrestling tournaments have been cancelled, including the Escape the Rock (Council Rock South) and the Wetzel Classic (Hatboro-Horsham) locally. The Wetzel was to celebrate its 20th year with this annual event, and both H-H and CRS staff’s had to make difficult but, in the end, easy decisions to cancel tournaments of such magnitude with multiple teams (with large coaching staffs, entourages and parents/fans), and teams from out of state. Both tournaments plan to resume these annual events after a one-year hiatus.
Thus, both in-season individual and dual/team tournaments will be a thing of the past for at least this year. The SOL has made it clear that teams must wrestle within the SOL “bubble” and primarily just their conference schedules. With the new alignments of four new conferences in the SOL, it will be difficult for wrestlers to accumulate mat time in live competitions. Some teams may only get to wrestle four matches if quads are not allowed amongst non-conference SOL teams, which have been suggested.
The individual postseason will also look different. A super-region is coming with a recommended eight-man bracket. The district tournaments to qualify remain undecided in terms of the format and logistics. We could see an old school two-district format with each district advancing four wrestlers to regionals. The PIAA Individual State Championships may only have eight wrestlers in each weight class, with all eight medaling. The PIAA Team Championships are on the ropes, as there is no date yet scheduled for the event in Hershey, PA. District One will decide the fate of SOL teams to compete in a dual championship this season, as the D1 Wrestling Steering Committee meets this week to vote on postseason proposals. The thought here is that four D1 teams will compete for berths in Chocolate Town, USA if the PIAA proceeds with the team championships. Check out the www.piaa.org and www.piaad1.org websites for all postseason and COVID updates as we move into the new year.
One thing for sure is that it will be short sprint to the finish for SOL wrestlers this season. The SOL has some outstanding individuals and teams ready to tow the line as soon as the first whistle blows at the start of the season, which is scheduled to start as early as Wednesday 1/13/21 for some SOL teams. Stay tuned to www.suburbanonesports.com for schedule updates.
2021 Top Individuals:
The SOL is stacked with individual talent in 2021. Kyle Hauserman (CR North) leads the way, the University of Penn bound grappler is ranked #1 in the state by PA Power Wrestling at 138-pounds. Hauserman is a three-time state qualifier who finished fourth in 2020 and third in 2019. Zac Martin (Neshaminy) will be following Hauserman at 138lbs this season and looks to return to the medal stand, as he finished sixth a year ago. Martin, ranked sixth, will take his wrestling talents to Lehigh after graduation. Bensalem’s Connor Eck is ranked #7 and looks to compete at 152-160lbs this season. Eck’s teammate, Talon Pisarchuk, will follow at 172lbs and look to ride to Hershey with Eck in 2021. Big men Mike Miller (Plymouth-Whitmarsh) and Max Harrar (CRN) are ranked #7 and #8, respectively at 285lbs. Central Bucks schools have several wrestlers looking to make some noise in Hershey this year. They include East’s Quinn Collins (215lbs) and West’s Chris Cleland (126) and Carl DiGiorgio (215). Look for Collins and DiGiorgio to reconvene their rivalry this season, should be some epic battles ahead for them.
Keep an eye out for freshmen phenoms Cole Griffin (Pennridge) and Mason Ziegler (Quakertown) in the lightweight divisions. Upper Dublin’s Danny Gorman, who is only a sophomore, will also be in the mix. CR South’s Cavan Kinne, a state qualifier a year ago, will most likely move up to 113-pounds this season and will be a force to reckon with. Abington has two state ranked wrestlers in Matt McCaughey (126) and Shane Kibler (160) as the Ghosts look to win another league title in 2021. Quakertown’s Dom DeFalco looks to get on the podium this year at the Giant Center, DeFalco is a three-time state qualifier heading into his senior campaign. North Penn’s William Morrow, a bona fide stud will be lurking in the upper-middle weights as well. Joining Morrow, will be newcomer Behkhurz Savriddinov (CR South), a freshman who is the real deal according to CRS head coach Brad Silimperi who says he is “special.” Savriddinov is the brother of CRS junior Mohammed Savriddinov with an outstanding resume as a PJW grappler. Silimperi says we will see “how he makes the transition to high school” in the upper middle weight classes, which is always a tall task as a freshman. Additionally, CR South’s Matt Colajezzi appears ready to make some noise at states this year with two trips to Hershey already under his belt.
It is no hidden fact that Council Rock South will once again be in the mix to be the best in District One. The Golden Hawks adding improved Charles Socki, Tom Woloshyn and Lucas Doyle to an already stacked line-up appears to be a recipe for success as a team. Others to contend for SOL titles include the always powerful Council Rock North Indians and Neshaminy in the Patriot Conference. Quakertown will look to win the realigned Liberty Conference over Abington. In the new Freedom Conference, it appears to be wide open with Tennent not wrestling, and the addition of Lower Moreland. Upper Moreland, Cheltenham and Springfield comprise the rest of the conference. In the newly named Colonial Conference, Central Bucks East, which returns the majority of their squad, looks to be the team to beat. Pennridge could see a resurgence, and North Penn is always a tough out.
2021 SOL Dual Team Pre-Season Rankings
Entire SOL:
1-Council Rock South
2-Quakertown
3-Central Bucks East
4-Neshaminy
5-Council Rock North
Colonial:
1-CB East
2-North Penn
3-CB West
Freedom:
1-Springfield
2-Lower Moreland
3-Upper Moreland
Liberty:
1-Quakertown
2-Abington
3-Plymouth-Whitmarsh
Patriot:
1-CR South
2-Neshaminy
3-CR North
Next up: Interview with Council Rock South Head Coach Brad Silimperi
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