WHITEMARSH — If revenge is a dish best served cold, then Upper Dublin High’s Collin Devlin had the perfect scenario for his plotted 132-pound get-back against Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Francesco Palagruto at Saturday’s Suburban One League American Conference Wrestling Championships at Colonial Elementary School.
With the morning temperatures in the teens ultimately giving way to a brief snowstorm, the stage was set as Devlin hatched his trap.
Devlin, you see, was bested, 2-0, when the Cardinals wrestled the Colonials in the dual-meet portion of this season, and the loss was something that Devlin was not ready to let go.
“It’s natural to remember something like that,’ the Cardinals junior and returning district champ said. “He’s a good wrestler and I’m a good wrestler so I knew it was going to be a tough match.
“And you always want to work hard to get back at someone who just beat you.’
The work, and Devlin’s game plan, paid off as Devlin got his revenge courtesy of a 2-1 victory that also earned Devlin the tourney’s Outstanding Wrestler award.
But on a day when host PW blitzed the field to cruise to the team title, the Devlin-Palagruto match was far from the only drama.
Cheltenham’s August Gershwin stunned nearly everyone, but most of all 126-pound finals foe Dan Smith of Plymouth Whitemarsh by rebounding from a 5-0, first-period deficit to nail down the championship in sudden-victory overtime, 10-8, while PW senior Gianpiero DiBattista pleased himself and the partial home crowd by pinning Norristown’s Rich Maggio in the 138-pound finals to nail down his 100th career victory.
“I just wrestled every match like (every opponent) was the toughest kid I was going to wrestle all year,’ DiBattista said. “I didn’t underestimate anyone.
“In fact, I almost got caught because I was being too cautious in one of my matches.
“Getting the 100th is really a load off my shoulders, because it’s only going to get tougher and tougher from here on.’
It was supposed to be tough for Norristown’s senior heavyweight Shaheed Hill, who faced much-improved PW heavy Quincy Williams in Saturday’s heavyweight final.
But Hill was as solid as a rock, seemingly snapping and spinning each Williams shot into a takedown, eventually taking an easier-than-anticipated, 10-4 victory.
“My game plan was not to run out there and try and pin him,’ Hill said. “I wanted to take it slow, pile up points and keep the lead.’
At 152 pounds, Wissahickon’s Patrick Kovacs, wrestling for the first time all year at that weight, easily vanquished the field, ultimately topping PW’s Andrew Vo in the finals, 5-1.
“I saw the bracket and I felt it was manageable,’ Kovacs said. “I felt I had a great chance to compete and even win.
“I feel good at this weight, and winning here gets me a good seed at districts. And who knows, we’ll go from there.’
In all, host PW landed five individual titles, with Marco DiBattista (106), Zach Wakefield (120), Gianpiero DiBattista (138), Ben Billings (145) and Robert Brooke (170) all emerging victorious.
Second-place Upper Moreland thrived in the upper weights with Dominic DeLaurentis (160), Harry Green (182) and Patrick Walker (195) all mining gold, while Norristown enjoyed titles from Eric Fuentes (113), Isaiah Samuel (220) and Hill (285).
Cheltenham’s Gershwin (126), Wissahickon’s Kovacs (152) and Upper Dublin’s Devlin (132) rounded out the winner’s circle.
BACK POINTS: The strangest set of results came out of the 120-pound weight class, where both PW’s Wakefield and Upper Merion first-year wrestler Zach DeSanto upset top-seeded Devon Memis of Wissahickon and second-seeded Rich Bregenzer of Norristown, respectively, in the semifinals. Wakefield prevailed in the finals.
SUBURBAN ONE LEAGUE
AMERICAN CONFERENCE
WRESTLING CHAMPIONSHIPS
At Colonial Elementary School
Final Team Standings: Plymouth Whitemarsh (PW) 234; Upper Moreland (UMo) 170; Norristown (N) 150; Upper Dublin (UD) 126; Wissahickon (W) 117; Upper Merion (UMe) 101.5; Cheltenham (C) 76; Springfield (S) 53.
Championship Results
106 — Marco DiBattista (PW) pinned Grant Rubin (N), 2:33.
113 — Eric Fuentes (N) dec. Matt Amy (UMo), 7-2.
120 — Zach Wakefield (PW) maj.dec. Zach DeSanto (UMe), 10-2.
126 — August Gershwin (C) dec. Dan Smith (PW), 10-8 (OT-SV).
132 — Collin Devlin (UD) dec. Francesco Palagruto (PW), 2-1.
138 — Gianpiero DiBattista (PW) pinned Rich Maggio (N), 1:49.
145 — Ben Billings (PW) dec. Nick Monestero (UMe), 8-5.
152 — Patric Kovacs (W) dec. Andrew Vo (PW), 5-1.
160 — Dominic DeLaurentis (UMo) pinned Josh Trunk (W), 3:37.
170 — Robert Brooke (PW) inj.def. over Tyler Smith (UMo), 0:01.
182 — Harry Green (UMo) dec. Noah Stribny (UMe), 19-12.
195 — Patrick Walker (UMo) pinned John McClinton (S), 5:51.
220 — Isaiah Samuel (N) maj.dec. Henry Winebrake (UD), 16-6.
285 — Shaheed Hill (N) dec. Quincy Williams (PW), 10-4.
Third-Place Matches
106 — Amanda Walker (UMo) inj.def. over Kinkaide Thomas (UD), 0:01.
113 — Liam Brown (C) pinned Zach Fisher (PW), 1:20.
120 — Devon Memis (W) dec. Alex Bonczkiewicz (UD), 5-3 (OT-SV).
126 — Alex Ortiz (W) dec. Anthony Yacovetti (UMe), 2-0.
132 — Matt Koresko (UMe) pinned Tim Vincent (S), 3:50.
138 — Ernest Brown (UMo) pinned Stephan Dennis (UMe), 3:45.
145 — Mason Hall (N) dec. Alec Greene (UD), 6-0.
152 — Mike Johnson (N) inj.def. over Luiz Losada (UD).
160 — Tommy DiSisto (PW) maj.dec. Dan Limbauan (N), 11-2.
170 — James Guckin (S) pinned Kyle Moynahan (W), 4:00.
182 — Nick Sudell (PW) maj.dec. Kevin Chung (UD), 11-0.
195 — Connor Weiss (W) had a bye.
220 — Jack Gordon (C) pinned Jason Caso (W), 4:00.
285 — Nick Carpenter (UD) pinned Ricky Mapes (UMo), 2:50.
