Spring-Ford beats Perk Valley again, Methacton falls in District Duals

HOLLAND >> Brandon Meredith couldn’t recall ever experiencing it.

Neither could Tim Seislove, whose background in the sport goes back around 40 years — both as a wrestler and coach.

One day after facing off in a league dual, Spring-Ford and Perkiomen Valley found themselves in an encore match on the opening night of the District 1 Duals. While there was a slight difference in the final score, the Rams put together a similar result: A 53-15 victory over the Vikings in followup to Wednesday’s 58-12 verdict.

“This is the first time I can remember this,” Meredith said. “My freshman or sophomore year, we wrestled Owen J. Roberts during the week and then in the district dual. But never the same team two days in a row.”

“I don’t think we ever had this,” Seislove added. Given last night’s outcome, though, his mission for Spring-Ford was quite clear.

“We were trying to improve on what we did (Wednesday),” he said. “It’s hard to wrestle a team back-to-back like this.”

To be sure, there were a few changes in Thursday’s matchups than were trucked out onto the mat the night before. But the comparative results — PV winning one more bout and scoring three additional team points this time around — didn’t translate much differently.

“Our goal was to go out and score more points,” Meredith said. “Looking back, there are some things we can fix.
The main changes for the Rams were a flip-flop of Zach Needles (132) and Dirk Nugent (138) from the weights they previously wrestled, and Shane Reynolds in at 106. Those switches accounted for 15 points in Spring-Ford’s favor, and two of its seven pins.

It all got the Rams their latest Top Eight duals qualification. They have been in that crowd every season since 2010-11.

“They know this is the first step in the duals,” Seislove said. “Getting to next week is an accomplishment.

“We’ve had success, and we’ve had tough losses. Considering we’re in the top eight … we’re honored to be there.”

Spring-Ford got off to a nine-point start with Zach Needles’ opening 3:57 pin at 132 and Dirk Nugent adding an 11-6 decision at 138. PV then got on the scoreboard with Austin Rowley’s third-period fall at 145, but the Rams answered with successive pins from Joey  Milano (160), Michael Gradwell (170) and Chase Smith (182) after Ben D’Arcangelo got the roll going with a technical fall 28 seconds before the end of the 152-pound bout.

Before it was all over, the Rams added falls by Reynolds, Meredith (120) and Jack McGill (126) to their tally. Tyler LaRocca also chipped in with a decision at 220.

PV’s other points came from Willie Mathis’ decision at 195, Dashir Holmes’ 2-0 shutout at 285 and P.J. Kakos’ 3-1 verdict at 113.

The Rams are looking at a challenging run between now and Upper Dublin. They will visit Central Bucks East Saturday for a non-league match, then host Boyertown next Wednesday.

“We’ve got a lot on our plate the next two weeks,” Seislove said. “The kids are excited. We’ll see what we can do.”

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The final outcome was not what Brad Clark was seeking from his Methacton squad. But qualifying for the District 1 Duals offered him some satisfaction, even though the trip ended with a 52-18 loss to top-seeded Council Rock South.

“Having confidence and believing in ourselves,” Clark said. “Showing we can compete with a tough team.”

The 16th-seeded Warriors had a brief moment of success against the host Hawks, Kibwe McNair starting things off with a decision at 132. But Rock South took command with a pair of falls and a forfeit in the next three weights, and they won seven of the next nine after Michael Blakemore got Methacton a decision at 160.

“There were some personal battles the kids won tonight … conditioning and technique,” Clark said.

Methacton got late points from pins by Connor Sullivan (220) and Tonee Ellis (285). But that rally faded in the face of CRS getting a pin, major decision and two regular verdicts down the stretch.

“It’s been a roller-coaster month for us,” Clark said. “We wrestled nationally-ranked kids early, but it ended up a very long month, with us battling injuries.

“The opportunity to improve … to be able to embrace wrestling a top team, is big for our individuals and the program.”

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In other matches from CR South:

West Chester Henderson 33, North Penn 25 >> The Warriors broke up a 19-19 tie with the Knights with control of the lower weights in their District 1 Duals opener.

Henderson, the tournament’s eighth seed, got its stretch run started with Sam McMonagle’s major decision at 106. Killian Delaney followed with a third-period technical fall at 113, and Justin Tran scored his own tech-fall at 120 for a match-clinching 33-19 lead.

Alex Schrum closed out the match for ninth seed North Penn with a third-period fall. The Knights worked their way back from an initial 16-0 deficit with Reid Denther’s decision at 170, a Garret Quallet major at 182, and pins by Nolan Verespy (220) and Ryan Cody (285).

The Warriors’ early lead was staked by a Robert English decision at 132, Ty Mullen’s major at 138 and three-point verdicts by Luke Phayre (145) and Matt Phayre (152) and Ray Martin (160). Connor McGuinness added another decision at 195.

Council Rock North 36, West Chester East 36 >> This dual came down to Criteria H, the number of matches where the first point was scored.

The Indians, with a 14-10 edge in that category, got the win to advance to the tournament’s Upper Dublin phase.

East’s points came from a Cameron Spencer decision at 170, another three-point verdict by Joseph Timm (285), pins by Andrew DiBernardo (182), Syncere Cooper (195), Hugh Lemmon-Kishi (220) and Tommy Luke (126) and Corey Celenza winning by disqualification at 120.