OXFORD — With little resistance from the Suburban One League American Division, the Ches-Mont League dominated the Class AAA District 1 Central tournament, Saturday at Oxford High.
Now, the honeymoon is over.
The Ches-Mont sent 47 of the 56 top-four finishers to next week’s Southeast Regional tournament, including 12 of 14 champs.
With the tournament so one-sided, there was many a rematch from last week’s Ches-Mont Championships, and Oxford’s Brandon Sheffield (120 pounds) was named Outstanding Wrestler after he avenged a loss to West Chester Rustin’s Brett Kaliner in the semifinals.
Things will get much, much tougher at regionals, but the Ches-Mont will be well-represented.
Oxford’s Brandon Sheffield scrambles with Unionville’s Jake Taylor in a 4-1 win in the 120-pound final. (Nate Heckenberger – Digital First Media)
“Whenever I wrestled when I was younger, I was always defensive,” Sheffield said. “I kind of learned how to funk when I came to practice at Rustin a few years ago and it just came to me and made my style what it is today.”
Sheffield’s unorthodox style had Kaliner off his game, and the freshman Hornet jumped out to an 8-0 lead before giving up two late for his first win in three tries this season. Sheffield then earned a workmanlike 4-1 decision over Unionville’s Jake Taylor in the finals.
There were seven rematches from the Ches-Monts in the finals and five of the results were the same. Downingtown East’s James Strommer (113) and West Chester Rustin’s Isaiah Spriggs (220) were able to reverse the results from a week ago to earn byes in the regional brackets.
Much like last week, Strommer fell behind West Chester Henderson’s Jacob Reid early. This time,
Downingtown East’s James Strommer celebrates after beating West Chester Henderson’s Jacob Reid in overtime of the 113-pound final. (Nate Heckenberger – Digital First Media)
Strommer rallied to tie the match at four with 30 seconds left and scored the winning takedown with one tick on the clock in the sudden victory period.
“I knew my conditioning was a lot better than his,” Strommer said. “When it got to overtime, I knew I had the win because he was definitely gassing and I was more on the offensive at the point.”
Spriggs found some offense of his own after splitting a pair of 3-2 ultimate tiebreaker decisions with Downingtown East’s Owen Morris this season. The Rustin senior scored two takedowns to hold onto a 5-3 decision to win his first career postseason title.
West Chester Rustin’s Isaiah Spriggs ties up with Downingtown East’s Owen Morris in a 5-3 win in the 220-pound final. (Nate Heckenberger – Digital First Media)
“I knew if I had motion I could open it up more,” Spriggs said. “I tried to capitalize on his mistakes, but he’s a good wrestler and gave me a good run.”
The other rematches saw Downingtown West’s brothers, Doug and Cole Zapf win championships again. Doug scored the only two takedowns against Downingtown East’s Lukas Richie to claim 106 pounds, while Cole managed a second-period fall against West Chester East’s Caleb Subach at 170.
Downingtown East’s Wade Cummings (126) won his third district crown by knocking off West Chester East’s Noah Hankin for the second straight week, this time by technical fall. Oxford’s David Cox (160) once again topped Alec Horne of the Cougars, 11-2.
Avon Grove had a pair of champs with Vince Walls (285) and Kevin Edwards (145), who beat Rustin’s Dan Labus in consecutive finals.
“I was trying to get myself to face him like he was anyone else,” Edwards said. “Even though I knew his style and what to expect, he was coming at me twice as hard and I just had to give it everything I had.”
Henderson’s Kyle Medrow (132), Coatesville’s Chase Stephens (152) and Rustin’s Costas
West Chester Henderson’s Kyle Medrow won the 132-pound title over Norristown’s Eric Fuentes. (Nate Heckenberger – Digital First Media)
Hatzipavlides (182) continued their dominating postseasons with titles, also.
Downingtown East sent a tournament-high 10 qualifiers to regionals, while Downingtown West and West Chester East each sent six. The top seven teams in the standings were from the Ches-Mont.
The top four finishers at the regional tournament will advance to the PIAA tournament in Hershey, starting March 10.
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Also at Oxford, Saturday, was the Class AA District tournament, and Church Farm finished sixth out of nine teams.
Sebastian Corrales (113) and Chaz Price (220) won titles for the Griffins, while Tristan Spivey (285) qualified for the regional tournament with a third-place finish.
Corrales wrestled just twice on the day, but used two pins, including a first-period fall against Lower Moreland’s David Shin in the finals. Price followed with his second pin of the day in the finals, his midway through the third against Lower Moreland’s Blair Sykes.
The Class AA Southeast Regional will take place Friday and Saturday at Wilson (West Lawn), with the top six advancing to the PIAA tournament.
Team Standings
1. Downingtown East 158; 2. Downingtown West 99.5; 3. West Chester East 86; 4. West Chester Rustin 79; 5. Avon Grove 77.5; 6. Coatesville 71; 7. Oxford 66; 8. Plymouth Whitemarsh 51; 9. Upper Moreland 44; 10. West Chester Henderson 42.5; 12. Kennett 28; 14. Octorara 20; 15. Unionville 19
Championship Finals
106- D. Zapf (Downingtown West) dec. Richie (Downingtown East), 5-3
113- Strommer (Downingtown East) dec. Reid (Henderson), 6-4 SV
120- Sheffield (Oxford) dec. Taylor (Unionville), 4-1
126- Cummings (Downingtown East) tech. fall Hankin (WC East), 4:30
132- Medrow (Henderson) dec. Fuentes (Norristown), 9-2
138- Devlin (Upper Dublin) pinned Zimmerman (Downingtown East), 3:56
145- Edwards (Avon Grove) dec. Labus (Rustin), 8-1
152- Stephens (Coatesville) pinned DiBernardo (West Chester East), 1:24
160- Cox (Oxford) maj. dec. A. Horne (Downingtown East), 11-2
170- C. Zapf (Downingtown West) pinned Subach (WC East), 3:49
182- Hatzipavlides (Rustin) maj. dec. Czajkowski (Downingtown East), 11-2
195- Walker (Upper Moreland) dec. Gassenmeyer (West Chester East), 9-7 SV
220- Spriggs (Rustin) dec. Morris (Downingtown East), 5-3
285- V. Walls (Avon Grove) dec. Williams (Plymouth Whitemarsh), 7-3
Consolation Finals
106- Altrogge (Norristown) dec. S. Hoopes (Octorara), 5-2
113- J. Amy (Upper Moreland) maj. dec. Babauta (Octorara), 15-2
120- B. Kaliner (Rustin) pinned Luke (West Chester East), 3:31
126- Massetti (Kennett) dec. Galbraith (Oxford), 8-3
132- Birzes (Downingtown East) dec. Lilley (Downingtown West), 3-2
138- Windle (Coatesville) maj dec. Murta (Downingtown West), 10-1
145- Billings (Plymouth Whitemarsh) dec. C. McBride (Coatesville), 5-2
152- McDowell (Downingtown East) dec. Angelini (Downingtown West), 5-1
160- Cooper (West Chester East) dec. Burridge (Octorara), 9-7
170- DiSisto (Plymouth Whitemarsh) dec, Moran (Avon Grove), 7-2
182- Peck (Avon Grove) dec. S. McBride (Coatesville), 6-4
195- J. Walls (Avon Grove) dec. Wileczek (Downingtown East), 4-1
220- Z. Davis (Oxford) dec. Wise (Coatesville), 8-4
285- Giles (Downingtown West) pinned Caral (Upper Moreland), 1:25
