It’s standing in sharp contrast to how the season started.
Upper Perkiomen came into the 2015-16 campaign dealing with vacancies in its lineup and an 0-5 record in dual matches. One month into the season, the Indians turned that slumping start toward respectability, a winning record (5-4) in the Pioneer Athletic Conference and a near .500 mark (9-10) heading into the post-season tournament phase.
UP kept its fortunes on the upswing this past week, going from a sixth-place team finish in the PAC-10 individual tournament to a fourth at the District 1-AAA West competition. That has the program’s seven district medalists feeling good heading into the Southeast AAA Regional action at Souderton.
“The kids who are going on have been doing it all year,” head coach Sam Walters said. “People didn’t notice because we were forfeiting three or four weights in many matches. If we’d had a full lineup, we could have been competitive in the district.”
Upper Perkiomen’s Mike Felix was second at 160 in the District 1-AAA West tournament to advance to this weekend’s Southeast AAA Regional. (DFM file)
The Indians’ seven advancers — second only to team champion Boyertown’s 13 — amassed enough points to edge out Spring-Ford (85.5-85.0) for fourth place behind the Bears, Owen J. Roberts and Upper Darby. They’re looking to keep the roll going on the last qualifying stop to Hershey and the PIAA Championships.
Tournament action starts 5:30 p.m. Friday with first-round and quarterfinal championship bouts. It resumes 9:30 a.m. Saturday with first-round consolations at 9:30 a.m., followed by championship semifinals, second-round and semifinal consolations at 11:30 a.m.
Medal matches will start at 6 p.m., preceded by the region’s Hall of Fame ceremony at 5:30 p.m. and the parade of champions at 5:45 p.m. The top four wrestlers from each weight class will advance to states.
“The kids who are going on are all pretty good wrestlers,” Walters noted. “They wrestled their butts off.”
The team effort was headed by Jacob Folk (145), Mike Lockhoff (152) and Michael Felix (160), all of whom came away from Spring-Ford with silver medals. Jarek Svanson (113) and Michael Modugno (220) scored thirds while Jared Kuhns (106) and Billy Brower (195).
Felix (27-8) and Modugno (28-11) were previous Southeast qualifiers. The expectation is they will provide guidance for Kuhns (28-9), Svanson (23-11), Folk (29-8), Lockhoff (11-6) and Brower (27-13) in their first experiences wrestling at this level.
“Hopefully, they’ll provide leadership,” Walters said. “We feel the others are competitive.”
Owen J. Roberts had five regional qualifiers, all runners-up in their weight classes at districts: Luke Resnick (106), Daniel Mancini (126), Ryan Resnick (132), Nick Duliakas (182), Xavier Ferrizzi (195). For Mancini (27-9), Ryan Resnick (33-7) and Ferrizzi (9-2) — they all had won PAC championships the previous week — the week’s practices were a time to regroup and join their teammates in getting in a better physical state.
“The farther you go,” head coach Steve DeRafelo said, “the more you need to make sure everyone’s healthy. A number of kids are beat up — this takes a toll on the kids — so we want to be sure they’re healthy and in a good state of mind.
“The thing about the kids who lost, they are things that can be fixed,” he added. “I don’t think it shattered their confidence … it lit a fire under them.”
Luke Resnick (30-7) and Duliakas (18-9) were the Wildcats’ other runners-up at 106 and 182, respectively. While they and Mancini are making their first forays at the regional level, DeRafelo isn’t despairing about their lack of experience.
“We’ve had tough tournaments and matches,” he said. “They’ve been there before … tough battles and tough matches. That can work to our advantage.”
Boyertown has 12 wrestlers in regional, headed by district champions Matt Wilde (106), Jakob Campbell (113), Lucas Miller (126), Garrett Mauger (132), Hunter Vogels (152), Gregg Harvey (182) and Tommy Killoran (285). Silver medalists David Campbell (120), J.T. Cooley (138) and Elijah Jones (170) make up the regional crew alongside third-place Brody O’Connell (195) and fourth-place Chris Berry (145).
Jordan Wood also qualified for the regional, but a rib/cartilage injury sustained at the District 1-AAA West tourney has cut short his season. Wood (42-1) will require four to six weeks of rest to recover. Wood was the region’s and state’s defending 220-pound champion, coming off fourth straight PAC-10 and district titles.
“Obviously, we wanted Jordan to do it for Jordan. It’s a sad day,” head coach Pete Ventresca said after his top wrestler pulled out of the postseason. “He can’t go and earn the title deserves.”
The Bears still have considerable regional-level experience in 2015 championship finalists Killoran (36-7) and Harvey (46-5) — they were champion and runner-up at 285 and 182, respectively — and third-place finishers Jakob Campbell (30-3) and Miller (34-8) at 106 and 126. David Campbell (36-9) and Hunter Vogels (27-7) contributed sixth-place showings at 113 and 145 to Boyertown’s second straight Southeast AAA team championship.
Miller is one win away from joining the area’s exclusive (11 at present) 150-win club. Harvey (46-5) reached that plateau during District 1-AAA Duals tournament, and he is currently sixth all-time with 162 victories.
Hunter Mitch (120) and Steve Rice (170) head the Spring-Ford contingent, coming off district-title performances — Mitch (32-7) also being accorded Outstanding Wrestler honors. Brandon Meredith (106), Matt Krieble (138) and Chase Smith (182) complete the Rams’ five-man regional crew.
Krieble (23-9) is two wins away from 100 for his scholastic career. The Ram senior will become the program’s 16th wrestler to reach triple digits in victories.
Pottstown sends four wrestlers to the regional, headed by district champion Bryant Wise (145). Its other qualifiers are Logan Pennypacker (third at 138), Saddiq Ibn-Mustafah (160) and Isaiah Mayes (170), both of whom placed fourth at districts.
Methacton will be represented by a trio of third-place district finishers: Dylan Henry (132), Bryce Reddington (145) and Brendan Marion (160).
Southeast AA
Nick Yerger and Brendan Rau head Pope John Paul II’s six-man contingent heading to Wilson-West Lawn for the final step before the PIAA Championships at Hershey next weekend.
The juniors were finalists in the District 1-AA tournament at Oxford, Yerger (23-6) becoming a three-time champion by topping the 132-pound weight class while Rau (21-13) was second at 182. A third Golden Panther, freshman Chris Salvo (9-24) was runner-up at 120.
PJP’s other regional qualifiers are sophomores Ryan O’Donnell (6-13) at 106, Nick Boyce (5-13) at 126 and Mike Ronca (12-21) at 195. All placed third in their respective weight classes, helping the Panthers finish fourth in the nine-school field by edging Springfield Township 102.5-101.5.
The action commences 5:15 p.m. Friday with the first championship round, followed by 7:45 championship quarterfinals at 7:45 p.m. and first-round consolations at 9:30 p.m. Saturday’s schedule kicks off at 9:30 a.m. with second-round consolations, championship semifinals and third-round consolations taking place at 11 a.m. Consolation semifinals at 1 p.m. precede the 5 p.m. medal round, with the top six finishers in each weight class advancing to the PIAA Class AA championships.
