Pennridge’s Green is gold at District 1-AAA East

QUAKERTOWN >> Logan Green wasted little time securing his first district title.

The Pennridge junior got an early takedown on Quakertown’s Max Russell and followed with a pin on the edge of the mat 46 seconds to win the 195 pound final Saturday at the District 1-AAA East Wrestling Championships at Quakertown Community High School.

“I took my shot and lifted him up, landing straight on his back I was surprised he didn’t belly down a little bit faster,” Green said. “But in the end, I caught him.”

It was a fitting end to an efficient day for Green, who earned first-period pins in his first two matches as he won the area’s long gold and advanced the South East Regional for the second time in his career.

“This is the time of the season where really you need to show what you got,” he said. “And I’m just starting to show what I got.

Council Rock South had five wrestlers win district titles as the Golden Hawks claim the top spot in the East team standings 244 points. Neshaminy was second at 181 while Quakertown placed third at 159.5.

Council Rock North’s Cameron Robinson was named the meet’s Most Outstanding Wrestling as the junior won the 145 title with a 4-3 decision over William Tennent’s AJ Tamburrino. Robinson used a pair of second-period takedowns to build a 4-1 lead then held off the Panthers junior in the third.

North Penn took fifth with 110.5 points, the Knights having four earn top-four finishes to qualify for regionals — at Souderton Friday and Saturday — with both Patrick O’Neill and Amir Pickens claiming second place at both 160 and 285, respectively.

O’Neill came up just short of back-to-back district golds, as the Knights senior was edged by CR South freshman Matt Colajezzi 4-3 in tiebreak.

“Still think I can win region just a little setback here, just different seeding now,” said O’Neill, who was wearing a face mask due to breaking his eye socket two weeks prior. “Still just go wrestle whoever’s out there and do my best to get my hand raised at the end.”

O’Neill came up with a late takedown to tie the match 3-3 and almost came up with another in sudden victory, but was ruled off the mat.

In the first tiebreak, O’Neill almost rode Colajezzi for the full 30 seconds but the South freshman got an escape with just a second on the clock. O’Neill then could not find a point in the second tiebreak.

“I relaxed a little bit, I saw I had short time on the clock,” O’Neill said. “I knew I just had to ride him out and relaxed, he got out like was it one second? One second left.”

Pickens meanwhile is heading to the regionals for the first time at 285 by getting a pin in the quarterfinals then a 5-4 decision the semis. In the final, Pickens was pinned by unbeaten Bensalem junior John Klewin at 5:21.

“It feels great,” Pickens said. “Ever since my freshman year I always wanted to say by my senior year I’m going to be one of those guys going down to regionals and states and so forth. I’m here and it feels good.”

The Knights’ Jarret Niedosik at 170 and Alec Schrum at 138 also qualified for regionals. Niedosik took third in his weight with a 2-1 decision over Hatboro-Horsham. Schrum was fourth at 138 after getting pinned by Quakertown’s Patrick McCoy.

Hatboro-Horsham and Tennent both had three wrestlers advance to regionals.

Tennent had a two second-place finishes — Tamburrino at 145 and T.J. England at 120, who dropped a 3-2 decision to CR South’s Shane Hanson-Ashworth in the final. The Panthers’ Shamil Aladinov placed fourth at 182.

HH’s Logan Flynn came in second at 220 after a tight final with Davis Lee of Pennsbury — Lee coming away with a 2-1 decision via tiebreak. The Hatters also had a pair finish fourth — Chapman at 170 and Mark Custer at 285.

Pennridge and Central Buck West each had two regional qualifiers. Along with Green’s gold for the Rams, Evan Widing came in third at 145 with a 12-2 major decision over Rock South’s Eric Woloshyn. West had a pair of third-place finishes — Chris Cleland taking bronze at 113 with a 6-4 decision over Calvin Lederer of Neshaminy while Ryan Hieber won the 220 consolation final pinning Quakertown’s Ralph Martin in 32 seconds.

Upper Moreland’s Chris Walker earned second place at 138, the junior with decision in his first two matches before losing to Central Bucks South’s Dominic Stoughton by 12-2 major decision in the final.

Abington’s Chris Rose qualified for regionals with a fourth place finish at 126.