Rustin pulls upset, DEast rolls in District Duals

WESTTOWN — If West Chester Rustin had to pick a trademark move for its program, it would likely be the cradle.

Thursday, in the first round of the Class AAA District 1 Duals, Rustin got two of the biggest cradles since the Corey McQuiston era.

At home against No. 5 North Penn, the No. 12 Golden Knights used pins via the cradle from Adam Cooper (113 pounds) and Dan Labus (145) to pull the upset, 34-32, and advance to the quarterfinals.

Also at Rustin, third-seeded Downingtown East was a 44-20 winner over No. 14 Quakertown, while No. 13 West Chester East was eliminated by No. 4 Upper Darby, 40-21, and No. 16 Unionville got bounced by No. 1 Boyertown, 67-6.

The Cougars will face No. 6 Pennridge next Friday evening at Upper Dublin High in a tournament that now becomes double elimination with the top four qualifying for the PIAA tournament. Rustin takes on Upper Darby with a full head of steam after becoming the only lower seed to win in the first round.

“We felt a little disrespected, to be honest,” Labus said, referring to their seed. “That’s the only way to describe it. We weren’t upset, but we were a little motivated I guess you could say.”

Rustin and North Penn each won seven bouts, so bonus points were the difference. Rustin built a 10-point lead early thanks to a pin by Isaiah Spriggs (220), but the Knights rallied back to cut their deficit to one heading into Cooper’s match.

Cooper, who was 8-12 on the season entering the night, trailed 2-0 heading into the second period before locking up a cradle from the top position.

“It was huge,” Rustin coach Brad Harkins said. “Absolutely huge. Adam works hard every day in the room and keeps his nose to the grindstone and he’s a kid we yanked from the hallways as a freshman. To come through for his teammates like that, he felt great about it.”

Brett Kaliner (120) followed with a pin to bulge Rustin’s lead to 13, and teammates Tyler Kaliner (126) and Jon Reardon (132) held two of North Penn’s top wrestlers to just one bonus point.

When Labus stepped on the mat, Rustin led by two, and the sophomore was taken down in the first and second periods. He was able to score reversals each time and locked up cradles at the end of the both periods, but ran out of time before he could capitalize. In the third Harkins told him to choose top and 23 seconds later the dual was clinched.

“(Labus) is a determined kid and he’s a fun wrestler to watch when he lets it fly,” Harkins said. “When he has that kind of mindset he’s very dangerous and I knew if we put him on top there was a good chance he’d get the fall.”

Downingtown East had less drama reaching the quarters for the fourth straight season. Brent Czajkowski (182) had a decision over a returning regional qualifier, Noah Wood, Lukas Richie (106) scored a major decision over a 20-win freshman, Josh Stahl, and Alec Horne (170), Wade Cummings (132) and Nik Zimmerman (138) earned falls for East.

“I was pretty pleased with the result,” Cougars’ coach Joe Horvath said. “We won 10 of 14 bouts and wrestled tough against some of their quality kids and kept some to decisions. I think we can do a better job pushing for more bonus points and we’ll work on that next week before the next round.”

The Vikings had Upper Darby on its heels early, winning four of the first seven bouts. Aaron Nelson (182) highlighted the initial surge with a come-from-behind pin. Erick Narvaez-Rivera also won in the last seconds at 220.

But the Royals won six of the final seven, with a Noah Hankin’s decision at 126 the lone East victory.

“It was great to get here and we got a couple key wins early,” Vikings’ coach John Gallo said. “We needed to win all the swing matches and (Upper Darby) won more of them.”

For the second straight year, Unionville took a beating from the top-seeded Bears. Nick Raffety (160) gave the Indians a 3-0 lead with a decision in the opener, but Boyertown won 12 of the next 13, including a 3-1 decision by David Campbell (120) over Jake Taylor.

Boyertown’s Jakob Campbell (113) won his 100th career bout with a pin against Tim Weber. The highlight of the night for Unionville was Mitch Camp’s 6-5 win over Garrett Mauger, the fourth-ranked kid in District 1 at 132 pounds.

West Chester Rustin 34, North Penn 32

160- Shannon (NP) pinned Sullivan, 2:22 (0-6)

170- Kent (WCR) maj. dec. Mignon, 13-4 (4-6)

182- Lamberjack (WCR) dec. Gallagher, 4-2 (7-6)

195- Hatzipavlides (WCR) dec. Verespy, 8-3 (10-6)

220- Spriggs (WCR) pinned Ullman, 2:30 (16-6)

285- Leidy (NP) dec. Cummings, 5-2 (16-9)

106- Gay (NP) pinned Fichter, 1:35 (16-15)

113- Cooper (WCR) pinned E. Laughlin, 3:02 (22-15)

120- B. Kaliner (WCR) pinned Weiss, :59 (28-15)

126- Bensmail (NP) dec. T. Kaliner, 7-1 (28-18)

132- Vulakh (NP) maj. dec. Reardon, 13-2 (28-22)

138- W. Laughlin (NP) maj. dec. Spaniak, 8-0 (28-26)

145- Labus (WCR) pinned O’Neill, 4:23 (34-26)

152- Shannon (NP) pinned Hurley, 1:49 (34-32)

Downingtown East 44, Quakertown 20

160- McDowell (DE) dec. Basile, 5-2 (3-0)

170- A. Horne (DE) pinned Russell, :45 (9-0)

182- Czajkowski (DE) dec. Wood, 7-5 (12-0)

195- Bonomo (QT) pinned Wileczek, 3:00 (12-6)

220- Caroff (QT) dec. Morris, 8-3 (12-9)

285- McGinley (DE) dec. Correa, 5-3 (15-9)

106- Richie (DE) maj. dec. Stahl, 16-3 (19-9)

113- Strommer (DE) maj. dec. Cope, 8-0 (23-9)

120- B. Horne (DE) tech fall Nielsen, 4:40 (28-9)

126- Birzes (DE) maj. dec. Kline, 9-0 (32-9)

132- Cummings (DE) pinned Witman, :43 (38-9)

138- Zimmerman (DE) pinned Hadley, 2:53 (44-9)

145- Seislove (QT) tech. fall Neubaum, 4:55 (44-14)

152- Tulio (QT) pinned Clay, 2:59 (44-20)

Upper Darby 40, West Chester East 21

160- Cooper (WCE) dec. Tarawallie, 3-1 (0-3)

170- Kamanousa (UD) dec. Manieri, 5-1 (3-3)

182- Nelson (WCE) pinned Mosley-Jones, 3:44 (3-9)

195- Kennerly (UD) maj. dec. Gassenmeyer, (7-9)

220- Narvaez-Rivera (WCE) dec. Daniels, 3-1 (7-12)

285- Augustin (UD) won by forfeit (13-12)

106- Celenza (WCE) pinned Brabant, 3:37 (13-18)

113- Mejias (UD) pinned Samuel, 1:17 (19-18)

120- Reif (UD) dec. Luke, 1-0 (22-18)

126- Hankin (WCE) dec. Venuti, (22-21)

132- DePhillipo (UD) pinned Blum, 1:47 (28-21)

138- Cronin (UD) pinned Phillips, 3:09 (34-21)

145- Singh (UD) dec. Fabiani, 4-2 (37-21)

152- Livingston (UD) dec DiBernardo, 4-0 (40-21)

Boyertown 67, Unionville 6

160- Raffety (UV) dec. Reck, 3-2 (0-3)

170- Jones (BT) pinned Stillman, :18 (6-3)

182- Harvey (BT) won by forfeit (12-3)

195- O’Connell (BT) maj. dec. Maguire, 12-1 (16-3)

220- Wood (BT) pinned Lyons, :53 (22-3)

285- Killoran (BT) pinned Baccellieri, :43 (28-3)

106- Wilde (BT) pinned Rogers, 4:33 (34-3)

113- J. Campbell (BT) pinned Weber, 2:59 (40-3)

120- D. Campbell (BT) dec. Taylor, 3-1 (43-3)

126- Miller (BT) pinned Caldwell, 4:28 (49-3)

132- Camp (UV) dec. Mauger, 6-5 (49-6)

138- Cooley (BT) pinned Immediato, 1:37 (55-6)

145- Berry (BT) pinned Larson, 2:28 (61-6)

152- Vogels (BT) pinned Grim, 1:29 (67-6)