Wood gets 100th win, leads Boyertown to team title
ROYERSFORD — He won a third district title, got the 100th victory of his scholastic career and handled a previously-unbeaten opponent in dominating fashion.
Asked if there was anything that could have made the weekend even better, Jordan Wood paused for a couple seconds to ponder the question. In that brief interlude, Boyertown teammate Tommy Killoran finished off the District 1-AAA West tournament by edging Spring-Ford heavyweight Zach Dorsey in the 285-pound finale.
“That made it a lot better,’ Wood said with a smile.
Wood and the Boyertown program had a lot to smile about from their visit to Spring-Ford High School. They had five wrestlers secure district championships from the 11 medalists it advanced out of last week’s Pioneer Athletic Conference tourney — 10 of them moving on to the Southeast AAA Regional competition later this week. Those individual performances went a long way toward placing the Bears atop the team standings, effectively lifting themselves past the host Rams’ half-point lead prior to the final round.
Not to be overlooked, either, was Boyertown head coach Pete Ventresca being named the PAC-10’s Coach of the Year.
“We came in knowing it was going to be tough,’ Ventresca said. “It came down to the last round, and we stepped up.’
Boyertown’s medal haul — a second, two thirds, two fourths and a fifth — distanced the PAC’s regular-season champions from a Spring-Ford unit that boasted a team championship at the PAC tourney. The Rams had two individual champs, five runners-up, one third, two fourths and a fifth to their credit … but 16-1/2 points less (167-151.5) than the Bears for the same number of medalists.
“It’s nice to avenge that loss,’ Ventresca said. “We got the upper hand, and we’ll take it.’
Wood (13-0) continued his belated run toward another state medal in fine fashion. He needed just 61 seconds to dispatch Conestoga’s Mike Karas in their semifinal to set up a pairing with another unbeaten grappler: Upper Darby’s Josh Yeboah-Gyasi, who advanced on a technical fall at the six-minute mark.
Their bout featured a lot of footwork in the early going, though Wood got the lead by escaping from a bottom start in the second period. He built a 6-1 lead into the third period before turning Yeboah-Gyasi (27-1) on his back and getting the slap 14 seconds before the end of regulation time.
“He was athletic,’ Wood recalled. “He was a great opponent, a 220 who knows how to wrestle.’
His milestone win gave Wood more than just a line on the area’s career-win chart — and made him the third Boyertown wrestler to reach triple digits this season, following in the footsteps of teammates Gregg Harvey and Lucas Miller.
“This is the first match where I put everything together,’ Wood said. “In the semis, I felt some pressure. But I had to get it out of the way before regionals and states.’
Wood was one of three PAC-10 grapplers to reach the 100-win mark this weekend. Owen J. Roberts’ Dominick Petrucelli started the parade en route to a second straight 145-pound district title, and Upper Perkiomen’s Eric Miller followed suit on the way to third-place finish at 138.
Petrucelli (38-6) scored a takedown with two seconds left to break a tie with Spring-Ford’s Nick Beauchamp and come away with a 5-3 decision. He previously outlasted Boyertown’s Hunter Vogels in the semifinals, 6-4, and posted a 9-7 victory over Garnet Valley’s Robbie Peters during Saturday’s weather-shortened opening session.
“Winning regionals. That’s the next step,’ Petrucelli said. “I thought I could get the (100) win if I got to the district final.’
Miller came into the weekend four wins shy of the century mark, and working out of the pigtail round at 138. He won twice Saturday to set up a semifinal-found bout with OJR’s Demetri D’Orsaneo, the eventual champion dealing him an 8-2 loss.
The UP senior (34-6) responded with a pair of 3-2 decisions good for a third-place medal. The second one came against Spring-Ford’s Matt Krieble, who he faced for third place at PACs and dealt a 5-2 setback.
“It was one of my two goals for the year,’ Miller said. “The other is to make it to states.’
Jakob Campbell started Boyertown’s medal march off with an overtime decision of Haverford’s Vince Tavoni at 106. The Bear sophomore (35-9) wrestled Tavoni to a 1-1 tie in regulation, then took his opponent down with 37 seconds left in the fourth period.
“I hit a shrug,’ Campbell said of his winning move. “I thought it would work earlier.’
Campbell admitted the two-day break from the tourney’s opening rounds was good for what currently ails him.
“I’m sick now,’ he said. “it was nice to get some medicine in me. I have a cough and stuff in my chest. The rest helped me.’
Lucas Miller added to the Boyertown surge with his 6-0 victory over Garnet Valley’s Nick Puliti in the 126-pound final. It came on the heels of the Bear junior’s 2-1 overtime win against Spring-Ford’s Hunter Mitch.
“It was a little better than my semifinal,’ he said. “It was ugly, but it got the job done.’
Harvey (40-6) repeated as a district champion — albeit up two weight classes at 182 — with a 3-2 decision of Penncrest’s Joe Pyfer. The Boyertown junior had a similar outcome in his semifinal with Radnor’s Zak Taylor after opening districts with a 13-4 major decision of Upper Darby’s Brian Kennerly.
UP’s Dustin Steffenino continued his domination of the 113-pound weight class with a 3-0 decision of Boyertown’s David Campbell. Steffenino (32-1) is on track for a repeat visit to states, where he placed eighth in a bracket that included other PAC-10 medalists like Owen J. Roberts’ Derek Gulotta (fourth) and Spring-Ford’s Ryan Hayes (seventh).
“It’s a step in the right direction,’ he said. “I should be good to go with my weight.’
At 120, Ryan Hayes controlled Garnet Valley’s Matthew Marino on the way to a 9-4 decision. The hug Hayes gave Marino at the conclusion of their bout was a testament to the long-standing relationship they have on the mats.
“When I was younger,’ Hayes, an Outstanding Wrestler award recipient a second straight week, said, “I took part in an off-season duals program at Boyertown. “He (Marino) was one of the first kids I ever wrestled. He gave me a good match. I knew I had to have control of him to seal the deal.’
Following Hayes to the top step of the medal stand was teammate Frankie Krauss, who dealt Trevor Weeks a 12-2 loss. It was the second straight week they met in a gold-medal match, Krauss (38-2) handling Weeks by a 12-4 count in their previous go-round.
Owen J’s Demetri D’Orsaneo continued his mastery over Pottstown’s Bryant Wise with a 12-5 decision at 138. The Roberts senior (34-5) successfully defended his 138-pound district championship from 2014.
Xavier Ferrizzi became the Wildcats’ third district champ, taking the 195-pound bracket with a 3-1 win over the Rams’ Brendan Zimmie. It offered Ferrizzi (34-5) a measure of redemption from the PAC tourney’s gold-medal bout, which Zimmie won with a third-period pin.
NOTES — While the top five finishers in each weight class received medals, the top four will move on to the Southeast AAA Regional tourney this weekend at Oxford. … Owen J. Roberts ended up third in the team standings with 93.5 points. Upper Perk finished fourth (63) ahead of fifth-place Upper Darby (54). … PAC-10 wrestlers accounted for all but eight of the 28 championship qualifiers, and 37 of 56 advancing to regionals.
