PROSPECT PARK — For a guy who intends to play lacrosse in college, Ridley’s Ryan Prum is a pretty good wrestler. And his mat career isn’t over just yet.
The Ridley senior will get to wrestle for another week, and maybe longer, after winning the 152-pound weight class in the District 1 Class 3A South championships at Interboro Saturday.
Prum’s victory highlighted a solid day for the Green Raiders. Ridley finished second in the team competition behind Wissahickon (195-186.5) and had nine wrestlers qualify for next weekend’s South East Regional at Souderton, including 285-pound champ Tommy Bramwell.
Interboro has six wrestlers moving on. Upper Darby and Strath Haven have five each going forward. In all, 34 wrestlers from Delaware County lived to wrestle another week.
Ridley’s Ryan Prum, top, battling West Chester Henderson’s Luke Phayre during District Duals last month, won the 152-pound championship at the District 1 South Championships Saturday. (Nate Heckenberger – For Digital First Media)
Strath Haven All-Delco John Crawford was selected as the Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament by the coaches, but Prum had a strong case for that honor.
Prum was the lowest seeded wrestler to win a title. The Susquehanna-bound senior was seeded sixth but did not let that stop him. He pinned Harriton’s Alonzo Johnson in 59 seconds to start his tournament. Then he scored an 11-2 major decision over third-seeded Samuel Richardson of Lower Merion and pinned second-seeded Andrew Brown of Radnor in 1:31 to advance to the final and secure a spot in the regional tournament.
The only person who stood in his way was top-seeded Simon Bolinger of Strath Haven, someone he had not wrestled before. Prum jumped out to an early lead but began to run out of gas. He had enough left in the tank, though, to hold on for an 8-5 victory.
“I think it was my leg shots that did it for me,” Prum said. “I just kept pounding with those to try to get his legs out from under him so he couldn’t overpower me because he was really strong. Once I got that I just held on to his legs and try to control that.”
Prum finished third at the Central League championships two weeks ago, which drove him to have more success at the district level. And when he saw that Radnor’s Jahmir Rider, the Central League champ at 152, dropped down to 145, Prum liked his chances.
“I thought this would be my tournament,” he said.
Crawford blew through the 160-pound class with three pins to earn the OW award. He pinned Interboro’s Michael Hanna in 2:52, dropped Radnor’s Bobby Hydrisko in 17 seconds in the semifinal and put Wissahickon’s Kevin Salmon on his back in 1:38 to wrap up his first district title.
Crawford looked surprised when he heard his name announced as the OW and had a huge smile on his face after receiving the award. It’s the first time Crawford has won an outstanding wrestler award in a tournament at any level.
“It’s good to get one,” Crawford said.
Crawford wasn’t the only Panther to come home with a title. Teammate Chase Barlow, the OW at the Central League championships, won the title at 126 pounds with a 3-1 win over top-seeded Matt Fritz of Wissahickon. Rider was the only other county wrestler to grace the top step of the medals stand. He defeated Upper Darby’s Kevin Kerwood, 11-2, for the 145-pound title.
Interboro’s Dominic D’Agostino lost a 9-8 decision in the 138-pound final when top-seeded Roberto Lesser of Harriton got a two-point reversal in the last three seconds of overtime.
Liam Gray was one of two wrestlers from Academy Park to move on. The other was Cole Root at 195 pounds.
Gray finished third at 170 pounds with a 4-3 triumph over Radnor’s Damian Falcone, his second over Falcone in the tournament. Gray beat Falcone, 8-3, in the quarterfinals, before falling to second seeded Isaiah Stehman of Cheltenham in the semis. Gray bounced back with two more wins to earn his first trip to regionals.
“It’s like a dream come true,” Gray said. “When I was a freshman, Max Fitzgerald would beat up on me every day, but he taught me that I had to be relentless and go out and wrestle tough every match.”
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NOTES >> Interboro’s Nate Shippey (113) and Shalom Thomas (220), Springfield’s Jake Methlie (120), Haverford’s Shane McAdams (182) and Strath Haven’s Matt Natale (195) all finished second in their weight classes. … Interboro coach Dan Tobin was chosen as the Del Val League Coach of the Year. … No one can ever question the toughness of Interboro’s Victor Quintiliana. The freshman 120-pounder completed his first-round match Friday night after breaking his left arm. Quintiliana lost by technical fall to Haverford’s Baidik Pokharel and had to withdraw from the tournament.
