Mercury-Area Mat Weekend Recap: With phenomenal senior class departed, Boyertown’s new crop of talent ready to lead
How do you follow a tough act?
That’s a question Boyertown finds itself having to answer this winter. After three years of being at the top of league, district and region standings, the Bears find themselves facing the prospect of continuing on without a key corps of wrestlers who were principal contributors to that run of success.
A half-dozen members of the school’s Class of 2016 — Jordan Wood, Tommy Killoran, Gregg Harvey, Lucas Miller, Brody O’Connell, Garrett Mauger — helped the program finish as Pioneer Athletic Conference regular-season, District 1-AAA West individual and team and Southeast AAA Region champions in that time frame. Five of them qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championships in their time, with Wood a 220-pound titlist in 2015 and Killoran claiming a silver medal at 285 last year.
“You can’t ever replace those guys,” Boyertown head coach Pete Ventresca conceded at the conclusion of Saturday’s Brian Bealer Memorial Bear Duals competition. But he made that observation while clutching the team-championship trophy his program had just claimed with a fourth straight sweep of the 10-school tourney Boyertown uses to kick off its schedule since the 2004-05 season.
Winning streaks at Boyertown haven’t yet departed the community in the tow of Wood, Killoran, Harvey and Company. This year’s team has a stock of returning talent, joined by a number of young and somewhat-seasoned varsity-level competitors intent on keeping the Bears a continuing power in the reconfigured PAC ranks.
The current senior class has Jakob and David Campbell, J.T. Cooley and Matt Wilde — all state-tournament qualifiers last year — leading the way alongside seasoned classmates Chris Berry and Hunter Vogels. A junior, state-qualifying Elijah Jones, further enhances that talent pool.
“Those guys have to step up,” Ventresca said. “And we have young kids who are showing promise.”
One particularly promising newcomer was Chad Stehman, the freshman going 4-1 at 106. Three sophomores, Jacob Miller (182/195), Connor Neiwswender (120) and Brett Breidor (138/145), were a respective 3-2, 2-2 and 2-3 from the day’s action.
At the other end of the age scale, senior Michael Porreca was 4-0 at the 220-pound weight Wood manned well for the program the past four seasons. Classmate Mason Grohoski, filling the 285 spot vacated by Killoran, had a 2-2 showing while Christian Fox (145) went 1-1.
“The young guys were battling for every point,” Ventresca said. “Jacob Miller has been working hard to improve his lot. All the young guys did well.”
The program is continuing the Boyertown coaching staff’s perennial practice of scheduling high-level competition to develop its wrestlers. The Bears will be at Central Mountain’s “King of the Mountain” tournament this weekend, participate in the Cumberland Valley Winter Duals Jan. 7, then hit the “Escape The Rock” tourney at Council Rock South the weekend of Jan. 14-15.
Its next action will be Wednesday when it welcomes PAC newcomer Norristown to the league with their lid-lifting match.
“It’s awesome,” David Campbell said after his 5-0 showing at the Bealer Duals. “We’ve worked hard, and we’re glad the work is paying off. If the guys get on a roll, winning becomes contagious.”
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Going home from the Brian Bealer Memorial Bear Duals with the runner-up team trophy was the finishing touch on Owen J. Roberts’ solid opening day of action.
The Wildcats swept their pool to set up a championship-match duel with Boyertown for the second time in three years. With the match starting at the 145-pound weight class, they took four of the first five weights for an 18-4 lead, Cole Meredith and Daniel Mancini starting the roll with first-period pins at 145 and 152.
Ultimately, the Bears rode their own roll to a 44-23 victory. But that fact didn’t diminish Steve DeRafelo’s positive assessment of his team’s opening-day performance.
“I like the way we competed,” the Roberts head coach said afterward. “In our pool, we were tested a couple times, but the kids stepped up.”
Brothers Ryan and Luke Resnick each went 5-0 to lead the OJR lineup. Ryan was in the running for Outstanding Wrestler honors that eventually went to Bethlehem Liberty’s Luke Werner.
Mancini also posted a 5-0 mark on the day while Meredith and Antonio Petrucelli were 4-1. Steve Zollers, a junior wrestling at the upper end of the scale, went 3-1, and Nick Duliakas and Alejandro Acosta had 3-2 records.
“We had a number of guys step in,” DeRafelo said. “We saw good things from our younger guys.”
Owen J. stays on the tournament road this week, joining Boyertown at Central Mountain for the “King of the Mountain” competition. They will again cross paths prior to their Jan. 25 PAC dual, returning to the “Escape The Rock” tourney at Rock South.
ALUMNI WEEKEND
A Boyertown representative commented about how the program could have put together an alumni team at the Brian Bealer Memorial Bear Duals.
He would have been only half-joking. No less than four members of the program’s graduating Class of 2016 were in attendance for the day’s season-opening competition: Jordan Wood, Tommy Killoran, Brody O’Connell and Garrett Mauger, offering advice and assistance to their former teammates on the way to their fourth straight team championship.
Wood is taking a redshirt freshman season at Lehigh University. The three-time PIAA medalist and 2015 Class AAA 220-pound champion, an arts and engineering major, is listed on the Mountain Hawk roster at 285.
Killoran and O’Connell are at Kutztown University with former Boyertown teammate Lucas Miller. O’Connell recently completed basic and advanced individual training with the United States Army, in preparation for his service in the Army National Guard, and expects to join the Golden Bear mat program in the coming weeks.
SMOOTH RIDE
It’s still early in the 2016-17 season, but Methacton is justified in feeling good about its start.
The Warriors turned in a solid showing at the Rough Rider Tournament, placing first in the team standings at Catasauqua. It was an improvement of three places over their fourth last year.
Methacton came away with six weight-class champions in Corey Morabito (106), Kibwe McNair (120), Dylan Henry (138), Bryce Reddington (152), Brendan Marion (182) and Tonee’ Ellis (285). Will Rebert was runner-up at 126, and Salaam McNair added a third to the locals’ medal drive.
The Warriors remain on the tournament road this week, taking part in the Carlisle Invitational Friday and Saturday. Their first dual, next Wednesday (Dec. 21) against Downingtown West, will be the program’s Alumni Night.
LATE RETURNS
Brandon Meredith was Spring-Ford’s big winner at the Cumberland Valley Kick-Off, one of three Rams to reach the medal round.
The junior 120-pounder, coming off a fourth-place finish at the 2016 PIAA Class AAA championships, went 4-1. After being dropped into wrestlebacks off a semifinal-round loss, Meredith scored a pair of 3-1 sudden-victory decisions over CV’s Jake Barrick and Easton’s Diego Santiago.
Two other Spring-Ford grapplers, Ben D’Arcangelo (152) and Matt Lepore (285), finished sixth at their respective weights.
The Hill School went 1-2 at The Mercersburg Classic Duals, its lone win over St. Albans (41-33) offset by losses to Wyoming Seminary (56-18) and St. James School (45-36).
The Blues’ showing was led by the 3-0 outings of Ted Kennedy, Kyle Gorant and Devin Calhoun. Mike Stevens added a 2-0 run on the day.
MOVING UP
With his solid showing at the Bealer Memorial Duals this past weekend, Owen J’s Ryan Resnick moved closer to joining the area’s career-win fraternity.
The Wildcat senior went 5-0 in bouts he wrestled primarily at 170, lifting his career total to 97. His effort in the championship match with Boyertown was particularly noteworthy, Resnick rallying from a one-point deficit in the closing half-minute of his bout with Hunter Vogels to pull out a 5-4 victory.
Resnick is in position to reach triple-digits in victories this coming weekend when OJR visits Central Mountain for the “King of the Mountain” tournament. He will become the 14th Roberts wrestler in program history to reach that mark.
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Already on the chart, Boyertown’s Jakob Campbell moved up a handful of spots with help from his 4-0 outing at the Bealer Memorial Duals.
The Bear senior is currently tied for 58th place with 121 victories. He scored two pins and a technical fall working mainly out of the 132-pound category.
WELCOME TO THE PAC
Norristown’s inauguration to the Pioneer Athletic Conference figures to be a challenging one.
The Eagles’ first action as a newly-minted member of the league comes Wednesday when they host Boyertown in the circuit’s lid-lifting match. The defending-champion Bears opened the season by winning their Brian Bealer Memorial Bear Duals a fourth straight year, and they bring a 28-match PAC-duals win streak into the night’s lone pairing of league schools.
Norristown ended its affiliation with the Suburban One League on a strong note last winter. The Eagles went 7-0 in the circuit’s American Conference (13-8 overall), and they were second in the Americans’ championship tournament to Plymouth-Whitemarsh (215-209) with two champions and four silver medalists.
