Methacton’s Reddington punches ticket to Hershey

OXFORD — To say Methacton High’s Bryce Reddington was happy to be at Oxford Area High School Friday night for the start of the PIAA Class AAA Southeast Regional Wrestling Tournament would similar to saying Sylvester the Cat was happy to find himself in Tweety Bird’s cage.

The Warriors sophomore was where he has always wanted to be since he first donned a Methacton High singlet.

But instead of enjoying the view, Reddington got to work. And on the strength of a pair of victories finds himself in Saturday morning’s semifinals, a good way away from securing a berth at the PIAA Championships.

Reddington eased past Chichester’s Tommy Smarkola in the opening round before outlasting Upper Dublin’s long and lean Colin Devlin, 5-4, in the quarters.

Naturally, a wide smile was part of the celebration.

“How much better can it get, being here with the region’s best?’ Reddington asked. “The first match (against Smarkola) wasn’t my greatest, but it was a good first match.’

The strategy changed slightly for Devlin, whose long body requires a foe to get underneath him to score.

“There are certain things I look for when I’m wrestling guys like that,’ Reddington said. “But at the same time I didn’t want to get away from what I normally do.

“So I stuck to what I do best, and it worked out well.’

Reddington will get a look at Pennridge freshman Josh Stillings in the semis, but there’s still some first-round celebrating to do.

“Hey, it’s just so exciting to be here,’ Reddington said.