BUCKINGHAM >> No, neither Methacton nor Pottsgrove is going to have much of an impact on the Pioneer Athletic Conference championship chase this season.
But outside the PAC, the Warriors and Falcons can more than hold their own.
In fact, they can wind up wrestling each other in a dual-meet tournament final.
Not coincidentally, Methacton and Pottsgrove just happened to meet in the finals of Saturday’s Central Bucks East Invitational.
And while the Warriors emerged with a 39-24 victory and the tournament championship plaque, it’s safe to say the rivals — who will meet in a PAC dual meet on Wednesday — are sometimes happy not to be banging heads with the Boyertowns and Owen J. Roberts of the world.
“Hey, Boyertown might be the best team in the state,” said Falcons head coach Jeff Madden of the quality of the conference Pottsgrove calls home. “And both Spring-Ford and Owen J. are very good.
“It’s not always possible to go for a league title, so getting to the finals in a tournament like this was big for us.
“I thought we wrestled real well today, especially somebody like Ryan Finn, who beat two quality kids (William Tennent’s David McCoy and Springfield-Delco’s Chris Sciarrino), and he went up a weight class to wrestle (McCoy).”
In the finals, the Falcons didn’t fare as well, but Madden chose to give Methacton credit for that result.
“They’re real good, especially through the middle part of their lineup,” the coach said. “We have to wrestle them again this week, so we’d better figure something out before then.”
As for the Warriors’ success, they seemed to manage their best wrestling of the day in a 30-24 semifinal win over Central Bucks East, where they seemed to get exactly what they needed out of each bout.
“Hey, we’re trying to win and do our best,” said Warriors senior middleweight Dylan Henry, who had three falls on the day. “For us to do that as a team, everybody has a job to do and everybody has to do their job.
“We did that today, and that’s why we won.”
In the finals, the Warriors bolted to a 30-3 lead. And even though the Falcons would win five of the remaining seven bouts, they would come up short.
“Neither of us are at the top of the PAC-10,” said Methacton head coach A.J. Maida, “but I think that it’s kind of nice that in a tournament full of Suburban One teams that we can be 1-2.”
Speaking of the Suburban One League, host Central Bucks East managed a third-place finish in the tournament, while Wissahickon and William Tennent did not fare as well.
Wissahickon managed a 1-3 mark, with its lone victory coming at the expense of Tennent, while the Panthers finished seventh, outlasting Delaware school Appoquinimink in the 7-8 match.
Wissahickon head coach Anthony Stagliano said he was happy with the Trojans’ finish, especially considering three starters were out of the lineup.
“My goal was for us to finish 2-2,” he said, “so we fell short of that. But we had those starters out.
“I take these types of dual meets differently than most coaches. I try and get the kids matches so that we can talk about getting a team effort.”
