Spring-Ford shakes off the rust, overwhelms Pottsgrove 61-7

LOWER POTTSGROVE >> Dirk Nugent’s assessment was straight to the point.

Just like Spring-Ford’s approach to Wednesday’s match with Pottsgrove. The Rams dominated their first dual of the season, rolling up a 61-7 win on the Falcons in a non-divisional pairing of Pioneer Athletic Conference schools.

And Nugent, who got the roll going at 126, personified the businesslike approach he and his mates are taking this winter.

“We may not be the most talented,” the Ram sophomore said, “but we work hard.”

Spring-Ford’s work ethic was present throughout the lineup. It opened the match with 34 unanswered points through the first seven weights, then won the last five after Pottsgrove (1-3) got back-to-back decisions at 182 and 195.

The tally for the night listed bonus points aplenty for the Rams. At 10 contested weights — Pottsgrove opted to forfeit four bouts — they had four pins and two major decisions. Nugent accounted for one of the majors, racking up a 12-4 verdict with help from a five-point third period.

“I’m trying to get better all-round, working on conditioning,” Nugent said. “The coaches are working with me on stuff, and I trust them.”

The team performance qualified as a significant one for Spring-Ford, which opened the season with a 19th-place showing at the lid-lifting Cumberland Valley Kick-Off. It lost out on the Abington Duals last weekend when the tournament was cancelled by the weather.

“The kids got the rust off a bit,” SF head coach Tim Seislove said afterward. “I didn’t know what to expect. We have some young kids in the lineup.”

Four sophomores and one freshman racked up a combined 18 points for the Rams, Alongside Nugent, Josiah Chapman (138) scored a thrilling overtime win while Quinn Tobin (106) and Shane Reynolds (113) had first-minute pins.

Chapman’s bout with Pottsgrove’s Chase Banyai saw the opponents each get escapes off bottom starts in the second and third periods, forcing overtime. In the one-minute extra period, Chapman scored a double-leg takedown to get the win.

“That was a good win at 32,” Seislove noted. “Chapman found a way to win at the end. It was nice to see him get the win.”

Pottsgrove, coming off last weekend’s outing at West Chester East’s Colley Classic, stemmed Spring-Ford’s early run with Ryan Finn scoring a 10-1 major decision at 182. Zack Van Horn followed with a 10-4 decision at 195, but the Rams got the match clincher one bout later with Tyler LaRocca’s 10-4 decision at 220 staking the visitors to a 37-7 lead with four weights left.

“We’ve got to get better,” Falcon head coach Jeff Madden said following his squad’s home opener. “It’s a good match to learn. They (SF) were smashing us around.

“We’ve got to get tougher, more physical. They got in our heads.”

Pottsgrove sported a lineup even younger than Spring-Ford’s. Outside the experience of Finn (senior) and Banyai (junior), its other eight wrestlers seeing action were comprised of seven freshmen and one sophomore.

“They have to get into these matches as freshmen,” Madden said. “The young people in the lineup have to do that job. Hopefully, the guys who win can take something from it.”

Jake Pajovich (138) and Ben D’Arcangelo (152) had Spring-Ford’s other pins. Jonathan Westlake (145) also had a 16-3 major decision on the night.

“We need to get in shape,” Seislove said. “We’re at a (Manheim Holiday) tournament next week, and after the New Year we have a lot of stuff going on.”
Pottsgrove will also be going the tournament route over the winter holiday break, returning to Hatboro-Horsham’s Ralph Wetzel Holiday Classic Dec. 29 and 30.

“We had two champions there last year,” Madden said. “Hopefully we can build on that.

NOTES >> Michael Gradwell (160), Jack Files (170), Matt Lepore (285) and Brandon Meredith (120) all accepted forfeits. … Nugent comes in off a 22-14 freshman season that saw him, wrestling at 113, place fourth in the PAC tournament and sixth at the District 1-AAA West competition. “I have goals for the end of the season,” he said, “but my focus right now is to get better.”