Heavy Duty: Upperweight excellence ignites Owen J. Roberts over Spring-Ford
BUCKTOWN >> The “border war” resumed, with its trademark intensity out in force.
The latest installment of the Owen J. Roberts/Spring-Ford wrestling rivalry was renewed Wednesday, with second place in the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s regular-season standings — while not officially decided — nonetheless standing to be impacted by the outcome. And the latest go-round went the Wildcats’ way, 38-25.
Owen J. (5-1 league, 9-3 overall) rode its superior standing at the upper end of the scale to an initial 21-0 lead. After the Rams (7-2, 16-4) closed the gap at the lower end, the ‘Cats swept through three middle weights (132, 138, 145) to secure the team win, clinched by Cole Meredith’s pin at 145.
“Every year, we mark this match on the calendar,” Owen J. head coach Steve DeRafelo said, “and I’m sure they do the same thing, too.”
Roberts can’t officially secure second place in the PAC, behind three-time regular-season champion Boyertown, until it deals with Pottsgrove, Pottstown and Pope John Paul II next week. But getting by the Rams was a big step in that direction.
“The Spring-Ford match … there was a lot of hype coming in,” Meredith said. “We just gave it our all and came away with a big win.”
The Rams were looking to offset OJR’s upperweight strength at the lower end of the scale. But that bid was thwarted by the Wildcats winning two pivotal weights.
At 113, Tyler McCutchen (10-9) handled Dirk Nugent (18-7) in a 6-4 decision where the OJR sophomore built an early lead, then staved off Nugent’s attempts to get a late tying takedown. And at 138, Ryan Resnick (25-5) escaped from a third-period bottom start against Matt Krieble (16-6) en route to a 3-1 decision that put Owen J. up 32-15.
“We knew there were going to be a lot of close matches,” Spring-Ford head coach Tim Seislove said. “We won a couple, and we lost a couple.”
The critical loss was at 145, where Meredith scored a first-period pin on Jonathan Westlake. That put OJR up 38-15 with three weights left to contest — all three of which went the Rams’ way, albeit by a pair of one-point decisions and Steve Rice’s major verdict at 170.
“It was disappointing to lose,” Seislove said. “The kids worked so hard, and when they work hard like that, you like to see them get success.”
Meredith, conversely, was enjoying the success he and his team experienced.
“I came in thinking I could win,” the OJR freshman said. “I kept my head up and had a good match. I wanted to come out with a win.”
OJR steamrolled its way to the early lead, Nick Duliakas (182), Xavier Ferrizzi (195) and Connor Mitchell (220) pinning their ways to victories. Bill Scherfel then followed with a tight 1-0 win over Matt Lepore at 285, the difference his escape from a bottom start in the third period.
Brandon Meredith then got Spring-Ford on the scoreboard at 106, rallying for a 7-5 decision against Luke Resnick. Meredith (25-5) fell five points behind Resnick midway through the second period, then posted a pair of takedowns and an escape to force a 5-5 tie in regulation.
In the overtime period, Meredith dropped Resnick for the sudden-victory outcome.
“We need to be better finishing matches,” DeRafelo said. “At times we were coasting, and that’s not what we’re trained to do.”
After Tyler McCutchen got Roberts back on track at 113, the Rams closed the gap to 24-15 with successive pins by Hunter Mitch at 120 and Jimmy Frank at 126. But Stone Bissland started OJR’s winning surge with a technical fall at 132, followed by the wins from Ryan Resnick and Meredith.
“We had to get the points up high,” DeRafelo said, “because they (Spring-Ford) are solid down there.”
The Rams’ closing run saw Ben D’Arcangelo edge Ricky McCutchen at 152, 8-7 and Brett McGill top Jason Zollers at 160, 3-2. In the 170-pound finale, Rice (27-3) got off to a 6-2 first-period lead on Micky Kohn, then scored escapes and takedowns in each of the last two periods for the bonus-point decision.
“It was a nice win,” DeRafelo said. “Spring-Ford is a tough team. Every year they battle us. Their kids are always in great shape.”
Both teams will be heading to Upper Dublin Friday for resumption of the District 1 Class AAA Duals Tournament. Spring-Ford (eighth seed) will face top seed Boyertown in the quarterfinals while Owen J. (seventh seed) will go against second seed Council Rock South. … Four AAA teams from District 1 will advance to the PIAA Duals Tournament which culminates at Hershey’s Giant Center next weekend. … Spring-Ford has been second in PAC-10’s regular seasons standings every year since 2010-11 campaign. The first two times, the were runners-up to the Wildcats.
