Upper Darby keeps its cool, takes down Garnet Valley

UPPER DARBY >> The energy with which Upper Darby wrestled Garnet Valley Wednesday night belied a trying week that saw the Royals endure physical and emotional strain.

Over the weekend, they claimed fourth in the District One AAA Duals to earn the school’s first trip to the state tournament. They also watched as their coach Bob Martin, in his 35th season with Upper Darby, left Saturday’s match with Pennridge after passing out on the bench. A blowout defeat to state power Central Dauphin followed on Monday with Martin absent.

So one could have expected the Jaguars to jump on a fatigued Royals team. Instead, the hosts won five of the first seven bouts, on their way to a 41-27 victory over Garnet Valley that all but clinched Upper Darby’s 14th Central League title and 11th under Martin.

“Our guys knew what was on the line,” Royals senior captain Pete Augustin said. “We just showed up and did what we had to do.”

That commitment showed in the 152-pound bout after Matt Mortimer (145) pinned Simranjeet Singh to spot the Jags a 6-0 lead. Upper Darby’s Max

Livingston faced Paul Gartman of Garnet Valley with each wrestler sporting an identical 23-9 record. A battle of attrition ensued. Gartman earned the first point by peeling away from Livingston’s control in the second period. That 1-0 lead held until late in the third when Livingston did Gartman one better. He spun out of the junior’s grip and assumed back control to secure two crucial points. Livingston rode out the final seconds and the Royals were on their way.

Coltrane Mosley-Jones (182) and Brian Kennerly (195) produced back-to-back pins. Then, in a theme of the night, Dante Daniels (220) fought off a near-fall from the Jags’ Tommy Mahoney to prevent bonus points in a 4-3 decision. The loss, according to Martin, was really a win.

Augustin followed with yet another dominant performance to push his season record to 31-1.

“I kind of like wrestling on my feet,” Augustin said of his bout with Ryan Rushton. “If I take him down early, I let him up. Then I go for a pin.”

The fight lasted 1:17. Upper Darby held a 24-12 lead. Thomas Reif (120) clinched the match with a pin of Kevin Christie.

“We knew there were a couple swing matches,” Garnet Valley coach Rocco Fantazzi said. “We got the coin toss. We got the match-ups that we wanted. It’s just the couple swing matches we lost by a point. A take down here, an escape there and maybe it’s a little different at the end.”

Matt Marino (126) and Nick Puliti (132), 2015 state qualifiers, each won decisively for the Jaguars (12-10, 7-1). It wasn’t enough for Garnet Valley, which finished on the wrong side of what has become an annual title match. This was the fourth season in a row the two teams wrestled with the league on the line. The Royals are now 3-1 in those occasions.

This year might just be the most impressive. Martin’s health had concerned Upper Darby for the last two weeks. After fighting through a severe cold — and dealing with some medication that he said led to his feeling faint — Martin finally listened to his doctor.

And rested.

But the solid decision did come at the expense of his missing his team’s first state foray as a team. The Royals lost to Central Dauphin 58-11.

“That was tough,” Martin admitted. “My wife (Sue Martin) wouldn’t let me go. And she’s a nurse.

“I don’t know how useful I would have been, and I have full confidence in the guys around me. I tell people all the time. We win number one because I have great kids. And two, because I have great assistants. And I try not to screw it up.”

If anything, Martin’s mere presence against Garnet Valley inspired Upper Darby (22-5, 8-0).

“Him coming back was a big step,” said Colin Cronin, who punctuated the win with a pin over Dave Wood, “because he pumps us up for matches like this.”

There’s still a slim chance the Jaguars could steal the league title. Because the Central was split into large schools, which included both Upper Darby and Garnet Valley, and small schools, no one wrestled a full league schedule. Theoretically, two teams could go undefeated with the Central League Championships providing the tie-breaker. Although that scenario didn’t play out, the Jaguars could overtake the Royals if they finish higher in the team standings next Saturday.

At any rate, such a possibility wasn’t on Upper Darby’s mind.

“We were ready for this match since the beginning of the season, because we knew it was going to come down to beating Garnet Valley,” Cronin said. Then he said something somewhat surprising, given the gauntlet his team endured: nine matches in 14 days with Sun Valley’s Vanguard Invitational mixed in, a coach in and out of the hospital, the challenge of making weight prior to each match.

“It’s been a fun week,” Cronin summarized.

In other Central League matches:

Penncrest 48, Springfield 15 >> A string of four consecutive wins by Steve Nolan (160), Liam Frank (170), Marshall Smith (182) and Derek Kazunas (195) helped the Lions pull away from the Cougars. Frank earned a 16-1 technical fall and Smith scored a pin in 2:43.

Vince DiMichelle (126), Jon Fogel (138), Chris Sciarrino (152) and Brandon Stocku (120) all earned decisions for Springfield. Stocku’s win was a 14-6 major.