FT. WASHINGTON — It has been said that a score line can say a lot about a game.
Then again, looking at the score line from Friday night’s District 1 Class AAA duals semifinal between third-seeded Spring-Ford and second-seeded Council Rock South didn’t even begin to tell the story.
In what can only be described as a good old fashioned backyard brawl, the Golden Hawks got a second-period fall from Joe Doyle at 170 pounds, the final bout of the match, to hold off a late Rams push for a 33-23 victory to secure a place in Saturday’s Class AAA final against top-seeded Boyertown.
“We went out there and gave it our best effort,’ senior 120-pounder Ryan Hayes said. “It’s upsetting because we were in the final last year, and we came in this year with the same mentality. We came to get another chance with Boyertown. We came to get our rematch. Unfortunately, we won’t get that chance, but we have to come back strong (Saturday).’
The Rams advanced to the semis with a 36-15 statement win over sixth-seeded Downingtown East in the quarterfinals. They will now face Owen J. Roberts, a 45-25 consolation round winner over Upper Perkiomen, at 1 p.m. today in the consolation semifinals with a PIAA tournament spot on the line at Upper Dublin High School.
The semifinal contest was a back-and-forth affair right from the start as Council Rock struck first with a 1-0 decision by Ben Kenis (182), and the Rams answered with a Brendan Zimmie major decision at 195.
Another Golden Hawks decision at 220 gave them the lead back at 6-4, but after they were forced to forfeit at 285, the pendulum swung back in Spring-Ford’s favor at 10-5.
Council Rock South then strung together the only back-to-back victories for either team throughout the match with a Riley Palmer major decision (14-3) at 106 and a Ben Radner technical fall (16-0; 4:52) at 113 to open up a 15-10 lead.
The Rams would cut that deficit to one at 15-14 thanks to Hayes’ major decision, but again the Golden Hawks had an answer.
Council Rock South seemed to gain control of the match for good after Lucas Martoccio picked up a come-from-behind victory over Jonathan Cooper at 152, but Frankie Krauss set up the chance for a storybook ending when he scored a late takedown at 160 and held off a flurry of offense from Golden Hawks counterpart Dylan Schwartz to hold on for a 3-2 victory that made it 27-23 going into the final match.
Doyle scored the takedown to grab a 2-0 lead early in the first period, but Rams junior Steven Rice answered with an escape and a takedown of his own to grab the lead, 3-2. Starting the second period from the bottom position, Rice then picked up a quick escape to increase his lead to 4-2, but with only 13 seconds to go in the period Doyle used Rice’s aggression against him and caught him on his back before scoring the fall at 3:47.
“I am proud of the kids for the way they battled,’ Spring-Ford head coach Tim Seislove said. “We had guys go out there and do the job that we needed them to do and stay off their back. Council Rock South is a good team, though, and you have to give them a lot of credit.’
There won’t be much time to dwell on the loss though for the Rams as they must now come back firing on all cylinders against an Owen J. Roberts team that had to battle back itself.
“This is how wrestling is,’ Seislove said. “In tournaments you don’t have time to sit around and worry about it. Everybody now just has to get ready to wrestle (Saturday).’
NOTES — In the win over Downingtown East, the Rams got falls from Hayes (120), Jonathan Westlake (132), Zimmie (195) and Zach Dorsey (285). Cooper chipped in with a major decision at 152, while Brandon Meredith (106), Matt Krieble (138), Krauss (160), Rice (170) and Ryan Yanulevich (182) each added decisions in the winning effort.
