North Penn claims 6 golds, team title at SOL Continental Championships

BUCKINGHAM >> Behind the efforts of six champions, the North Penn High School wrestling team cruised to a team title at the Suburban One League Continental Conference Championships at Central Bucks East High Saturday.

North Penn crushed the team standings, finishing 20 points ahead of second-place Pennridge.

Leading the way for North Penn were Eddie Galang (106), Erik Laughlin (152), Patrick O’Neill (160), Reid Dentner (170), Owen Verespy (220) and Ryan Cody (285).

“They did a really good job and worked hard,” said North Penn coach Robert Shettsline. “We had a couple nice wins today, so we’re real proud of the boys today.”

“Our goal was to get as many wrestlers as we can to advance to districts,” added Shettsline.

Galang reached the finals after pinning Central Bucks East’s Sean O’Donnell in three minutes. Galang earned the 106-pound title by defeating Central Bucks West’s Chris Cleland by an 8-4 decision.

At 113 pounds, Central Bucks West earned its lone champion with Jake Tosti pinning Connor Crawford in three minutes. The championship final was Tosti’s only match of the day as he had a bye in the semifinals.

At 120 pounds, Central Bucks East got its lone champion with Cole Thiebeau, who had three falls on the day.

At 126 pounds, Souderton got its first of three champions in Sam Beckett, who had the match of the night against William Tennent’s Anthony Colella.

According to PA-wrestling.com, Colella entered the tournament ranked third in District One while Beckett was ranked eighth.

Colella earned a takedown in the first period to go up 2-0 heading into the third period. After increasing the lead to 3-0 going to the third period, Colella started to show signs of being tired, and Beckett took advantage of that.

After getting an escape and being awarded a stalling point, both wrestlers went out of bounds with three seconds left in the third. Trying to get away from Beckett, Colella tripped backwards, which managed Beckett to score a two-point takedown with less than a second left to win the 126-pound title.

Beckett showed all signs of excitement after his championship win.

“I was super excited,” said Beckett. “There were a bunch of emotions going through me like excitement and being proud of myself.”

“I was very surprised at the last second,” added Beckett. “I was hoping for something like that to happen and I took advantage of that.”

William Tennent’s AJ Tamburrino, ranked first in District 1, survived an upset by earning a 3-2 decision to Souderton’s Tyler Williams for the 132-pound title.

Souderton earned its second champion in Harrison Andrade when he scored a 16-1 technical fall over Central Bucks South’s Corey Showaker at 138 pounds.

Pennridge earned its first of two champions at 145 pounds when second ranked Evan Widing scored a 16-7 major decision over Souderton’s Connor Trowbridge.

North Penn took the next three championships in 152, 160, and 170 pounds respectively.

Laughlin scored a fall over Marcus Chernyshev from Central Bucks East before second ranked O’Neill earned a 6-2 decision over third ranked Logan Green from Souderton.

Dentner earned a 13-6 decision over Pennridge’s Christian Perrine at 170 pounds.

Pennridge earned its last champion at 182 pounds when first ranked Joshua Stillings pinned William Tennent’s Kyle Clements in 1:12 for his fourth conference championship.

Stillings pinned Central Bucks East’s Ben Eckley in 48 seconds to advance to the championship final.

“I feel honored,” said Stillings. “It’s exciting to see that all my hard work is paying off.”

Stilling’s fourth conference championship earned him the Most Outstanding Wrestler award. He will be looking for his fourth district championship next week.

The co-match of the night was at 195 pounds between Sounderton’s Bruno Stolfi and William Tennent’s Yusuf Aladinov.

After the match was tied 3-3 heading into the second period, Aladinov came up big to lead 10-4 heading into the final period. After Aladinov was called for stalling twice, Stolfi scored a three-point near fall to earn a thrilling 13-11 decision and the 195-pound title.

North Penn clinched the team championship after third-ranked Verespy and second-ranked Cody won the 220 and 285-pound titles respectively.

Top four wrestlers from the three Suburban One League conference championships now focus on the District 1-AAA East Championships at Quakertown High School on Saturday, Feb. 24.

SOL CONTINENTAL CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Team Standings: 1. North Penn 147; 2. Pennridge 127 points; 3. Souderton 112.5; 4. William Tennent 90; 5. CB East 79; 6. CB West 56; 7. CB South 43.5.
106: Eddie Galang (North Penn) decision Chris Cleland (CB West), 8-4
113: Jake Tosti (CB West) pinned Connor Crawford (Souderton), 3:00
120: Cole Thiebeau (CB East) pinned John Snyder (Pennridge), 5:35
126: Samuel Becket (Souderton) decision Anthony Colella (William Tennent), 4-3
132: AJ Tamburrino (William Tennent) decision Tyler Williams (Souderton), 3-2
138: Harrison Andrade (Souderton) tech fall Corey Showaker (CB South) 16-1
145: Evan Widing (Pennridge) maj. decision Connor Trowbridge (Souderton), 16-7
152: Erik Laughlin (North Penn) pinned Marcus Chernyshev (CB East), 3:19
160: Patrick O’Neill (North Penn) decision Logan Green (Pennridge), 6-2
170: Reid Dentner (North Penn) decision Christian Perrine (Pennridge), 13-6
182: Joshua Stillings (Pennridge) pinned Kyle Clements (William Tennent), 1:12
195: Bruno Stolfi (Souderton) decision Yusuf Aladinov (William Tennent), 13-11
220: Owen Verespy (North Penn) decision Ryan Hieber (CB West), 1-0
285: Ryan Cody (North Penn) decision Harrison Radovich (CB West), 3-0