Downingtown West’s Findora celebrates milestone win in romp of West Chester East
DOWNINGTOWN >> In a blowout of a dual meet, most fans stayed around for the final bout.
The spotlight was literally and figuratively on Downingtown West senior, Dom Findora, in the Whippets’ gym.
Fans watched as the returning fourth-place state medalist put an exclamation point on West’s first dual of the season, while Findora’s artistry was unavoidable for a young Whippet team, no doubt inspired by what it saw.
Prior to the meet, Findora was honored for winning his 100th career match the week before, and he closed things out with a technical fall over West Chester East’s top wrestler, Max Parnis, to give West a 59-11 win in the Ches-Mont National Division contest.
Findora, who has as many wins this year (17) as matches wrestled as a junior, is up to 105 for his career.
“I was happy to be able to get (100 wins),” Findora said. “With the shortened season last year, COVID messed up some of my goals with wins, but I am grateful I was able to get it my senior year.”
The Whippets came off a brutal December, where they competed at the Cumberland Valley, Beast of the East and Trojan Wars tournaments. Only Chase Sigle (106 pounds), Findora (138), Mason Hale (215) and Troy Mack (285) had winning records, entering Wednesday, but the elevated competition paid off against the visiting Vikings.
West (1-0 division, 1-0 overall) had nine pins, eight from underclassmen — Jordan Barry (152), Cameron Pate (160), Hale, Mack, Sigle, Levi Richmond (113), Kevin Bernhard (120) and Sienna Landrum (126). Zach Borkowski (172) added a fall, as a senior.
“They get into battles and they don’t have to battle as hard in the Ches-Mont as they did in the bigger tournaments,” West coach Brad Breese said.
Richmond, a freshman who was 1-6 coming in, had an impressive pin, when he shook off an early deficit and used a chin whip to deck Mus’ab Hussein late in the first period. Landrum followed with a fall in her first varsity match, as a freshman.
“I see a little fire in them,” Findora said of his younger teammates. “They’re all ready to get after it. They all took some lumps along the way at those tough tournaments, but they stay after it and are confident in themselves and they work really hard.”
Findora sets the tone for the Whippets, and Breese praised him for it.
“He is a very nice kid,” Breese said of Findora. “He’s very honorable. Everyone loves Dom. He genuinely cares about everyone else and it was nice to see everyone come out and get him recognized (for his 100th win) in front of the home crowd. He’s been the heart of this program for three years. When I made him captain as a sophomore, it wasn’t as a token thing, but because he was leading the team. He’s the best leader I’ve ever had.”
West Chester East (0-1, 2-2) got a major decision from Jefferson Cooper (145) to open the meet, and then added decisions from Tyler Sbur (189) and Tanner Wolov (132).
“The number of pins we gave up is inexcusable,” East coach John Gallo said. “We were missing a few guys and didn’t do any adjustments to the lineup, but you can’t win any dual meets giving up that many bonus points.”
Downingtown West 59, West Chester East 11
145- Cooper (WCE) maj. dec. Ross, 10-0 (0-4)
152- Barry (DW) pinned Iozzi, 1:39 (6-4)
160- Pate (DW) pinned Inestroza Matamoros, 1:59 (12-4)
172- Borkowski (DW) pinned Mackin (18-4)
189- T. Sbur (WCE) dec. Zhao, 15-9 (18-7)
215- Hale (DW) pinned J. Sbur, 1:30 (24-7)
285- Mack (DW) pinned Arevalo, 1:55 (30-7)
106- Sigle (DW) pinned McFarlane, 1:00 (36-7)
113- Richmond (DW) pinned Hussein, 1:53 (42-7)
120- Bernhard (DW) pinned Whitton, 4:31 (48-7)
126- Landrum (DW) pinned Buddenhagen, 5:18 (54-7)
132- Wolov (WCE) maj. dec. Rentschler, 14-4 (54-11)
138- Findora (DW) tech. fall Parnis, 5:29 (59-11)
