DEast rolls West, wins 5th title
UWCHLAN — A decade ago, Downingtown West was in the midst of a four-year run at the top of the Ches-Mont League and Downingtown East was chasing, trying to mimic the Whippets.
My how times have changed.
Wednesday, in front of a home crowd on Senior Night, East stayed the pacesetter, securing its fifth consecutive Ches-Mont National Division title with a 41-18 victory over the Whippets.
East jumped on West, winning the first six bouts and didn’t give up a takedown the first 33 minutes of actual wrestling time. The Cougars have won the last 26 league dual meets, dating back to 2011.
“Their swagger is the biggest thing,” West coach Brad Breese said of the Cougars. “They have talented kids and we have some talent on our team, but (East) steps on the mat ready to beat you. They come at you and if they’re down a point, it doesn’t rattle them. My guys aren’t seasoned enough and if they get down, they get rattled. (East) has that confidence and swagger, and they think they’ll win no matter what. It doesn’t always happen all the time, but it’s hard to beat a guy who knows he’s gonna win.”
Nine seniors for East (5-0 division, 18-1 overall) were honored before the contest, and that group has won 610 matches, collectively, with 246 losses for a winning percentage of 71.2.
West (3-1, 11-4) came in undefeated in the league, but any chance of an upset was stifled from the get-go.
Josh Wileczek (195 pounds) and Owen Morris (220) earned six for East in almost identical ways, using arm bars to finish their opponents in the second period. Brendan McGinley (285) kept the good-sized crowd roaring by scoring two near-fall points in the tiebreaker period to edge Chad Giles, 3-1.
“Most of our matches start off the opposite way,” East coach Joe Horvath said. “We get ourselves in a hole and have to climb back. It was nice to build a lead and carry it through the last bout.”
With the score 15-0, one of the feature bouts of the night took place at 106. East freshman Lukas Richie scored an escape and a quick takedown in the second and held on to earn a 3-1 decision over sophomore Doug Zapf. With a ton of production graduating in the spring, Richie will be a key cog in the rebuilding process.
“We get really excited when our freshmen perform at a high level,” Horvath said. “(Richie) did a really nice job in a tight match. There was a lot of pressure and a lot of people in the stands and he really stepped up for us.”
West finally got on the board when Joe Rennie (126) held on for a 4-3 decision over Connor Birzes. The Whippets got pins from Gavin Hale (145) and Gio Angelini (152) and in the second feature bout of the night, Cole Zapf scored the lone takedown in a 3-2 win over Alec Horne.
“I think for him, he has that attitude that he wants to win,” Breese said of Zapf. “He comes in and does what he needs to do and he feels every time he walks onto the mat, he’s the better guy out there. He’s got some half-decent technique, but he’s tough. Just tough. If he improved some technique he could take that next step, but he’s just a really tough kid.”
East’s Wade Cummings (132) engineered his 98th career fall, and Brent Czajkowski (182) capped off the night with a major decision. James Strommer (113) tallied a major, while Brett Horne (120), Nik Zimmerman (138) and Jude McDowell (160) scored decisions.
“I’m really proud of the entire team,” East senior captain McDowell said. “There was a lot of skepticism coming into the season with us losing a lot of starters, but we showed the league we’re here to stay.”
Eleven of the Whippets who wrestled Wednesday are underclassmen, so West may have a lot of say in the 2017 division champ. But the past half-decade has belonged to the Cougars, and they couldn’t have clinched it against a better opponent.
“It’s really great that it lined up that way, with both teams undefeated in the league, “McDowell said. “It was fun to wrestle against buddies we’ve been training with since we were little.”
Downingtown East 41, Downingtown West 18
195- Wileczek (DE) pinned Madanat, 3:30 (6-0)
220- Morris (DE) pinned Duplicki, 3:27 (12-0)
285- McGinley (DE) dec. Giles, 3-1 TB (15-0)
106- Richie (DE) dec. D. Zapf, 3-1 (18-0)
113- Strommer (DE) maj. dec. Byers, 10-2 (22-0)
120- B. Horne (DE) dec. Hanak, 5-1 (25-0)
126- Rennie (DW) dec. Birzes, 4-3 (25-3)
132- Cummings (DE) pinned Lilley, 2:33 (31-3)
138- Zimmerman (DE) dec. Murta, 12-6 (34-3)
145- Hale (DW) pinned Neubaum, 2:20 (34-9)
152- Angelini (DW) pinned Clay, 1:44 (34-15)
160- McDowell (DE) dec. Shafer, 8-2 (37-15)
170- C. Zapf (DW) dec. A. Horne, 3-2 (37-18)
182- Czajkowski (DE) maj. dec. Clements, 8-0 (41-18)
