CB West’s DiGiorgio wins 215 gold at PIAA 3A South East Regional

EAST NOTTINGHAM >> It is coming together for Central Bucks West’s Carl DiGiorgio at exactly the right time.

The Bucks senior completed a dominant run through the PIAA 3A South East Regional’s 215-pound bracket in fitting fashion, capturing the weight’s championship by pinning Kennett’s Josh Paro in 3:17 Saturday night at Oxford Area High School.

“I think I’m definitely starting to peak,” DiGiorgio said. “I think things are just starting to come together for me. It’s been a long road. There’s definitely been some ups and downs in it but it seems like everything’s starting to come together for me.”

DiGiorgio was the only The Reporter/Times Herald/Montgomery Media wrestler to claim gold but a total of seven from the area earned top-five finishes to qualify for the PIAA Championships which begin Thursday at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Souderton’s Tyler Geiger (132) and North Penn’s William Morrow (152) both placed second while Abington’s Shane Kibler was third at 145. Souderton’s Erick Dominguez (138) and Abington’s Matthew McCaughey (126) came in fourth while Pennridge’s Cole Coffin took fifth at 113.

Quakertown claimed the regional team title with 123.0 points. Council Rock South was second with 119.5 points with Garnet Valley third with 85.0 points. Downingtown West’s Dominic Findora, who won gold at 138, was named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.

A week after winning his first District 1 title, DiGiorgio acquired his first regional crown which is also the first for Central Bucks West since 2015 when Riley Barth won at 145.

“It feels so awesome,” said DiGiorgio, who posted two technical falls and two pins at Oxford. “I don’t think there’s a better feeling in the world than rolling off two big wins week after week.”

DiGiorgio pinned Pardo in last year’s regional quarterfinals and Saturday after leading 2-0 at the end of the final’s first period, the West senior repeated the result by taking control in the second. Up 10-2, DiGiorgio collected a takedown and shortly after secured the fall.

“He was beating me for a little bit in that match, he had a nice score on me,” said DiGiorgio of his match with Pardo the previous regionals. “But I definitely knew he was going to be good and he was going to come out after me and I wanted to give him a little bit of respect but not too much respect.”

DiGiorgio, who began Saturday with a 17-1 tech fall win over Pottsgrove’s Dominic DeMeno in 2:55, now looks to add a second state medal after taking fifth at 215 in 2021. He heads to Hershey with a 33-2 record, having won his last 12 matches since dropping a 7-4 decision to Central Bucks East’s Quinn Collins – who won the regional title at 189 – on Feb. 2.

 “I had two losses and those definitely stuck with me,” DiGiorgio said. “I took those very personally and I think I really locked myself in in the second half of the year and think I’m just ready to go going into states.”

Morrow was edged in a tight 152 final against Council Rock South’s Bekhruz Sadriddinov, who came up with a takedown in the final seconds of the third period to 3-1 decision.

“I think I did well,” Morrow said. “I thought I was controlling the match decently. I don’t know if I should of went for the headlock with four seconds left but made a mistake and on to next week.”

It was the third match this season between the North Penn senior and Sadriddinov, the South sophomore now winning the last two after besting Morrow 4-2 in the District 1-3A East final.

“Regional title would have been nice – he got that, he’s a sophomore, he’s got that,” Morrow said. “He’s going to be good, you can’t take that away from him. But taking second place here, I’m not done yet. I can’t be done, I can’t end on that note.”

Morrow, who beat Central Bucks East’s Mason Stein by 7-2 decision in the semis, qualified for PIAAs for the third consecutive season – last year taking eighth at 145 – and literally savored the accomplishment by eating a piece of the chocolate bar handed out to medalists on the podium.

“My sophomore year I didn’t know that everybody used to keep them in the wrapper and hold onto them,” he said. But what’s the point of that, right? It’s just going to sit there.”

Geiger was pinned by Quakertown’s Collin Gaj in 1:02 in the 132-pound final but Souderton senior finally earned a spot at states in his third regional appearance.

“That was my goal, make it to Hershey,” Geiger said. “I’m pretty proud of how I ended up. Colin’s a tough guy, he’ll be on the podium this weekend. It wasn’t the match that I wanted. It is what it is.”

Geiger opened the day with a third-period fall in the semis, pinning Oxford’s Austin McMillan at 4:49.

“When I was down I got in my head a little bit and I’ve come back from some tough matches,” Geiger said. “I’ve come back from losses before like North Penn and so I knew I felt that kind of break, that’s when I knew I had to go for it.”

Dominguez made it two Souderton wrestlers set for the state tournament as the senior, who won a Kansas Class 6A title last season at Dodge City High School, placed fourth at 138 after dropping a 3-2 decision to Garnet Valley’s Daniel Husain in the consolation final.

“It felt great, like I said I didn’t expect anything, I wanted to do better and stuff,” Dominguez said. “I’m excited to go to Hershey, I want to do something there – place on the podium one of my goals.”

In the 138 semis, Dominguez lost a 6-4 decision to Perkiomen Valley’s Kelly Kakos in a rematch of last Saturday’s District 1-3A North final Kakos won 10-6. Dominguez, however, bounced back with a 12-3 major decision over West Chester East’s Max Parnis in the consolation semis to clinch a spot at PIAAs.

Kibler lost another close match to CR South’s Shermuhammad Sadriddinov in the 145 semifinals, falling by 3-2 decision. Kibler was edged by the Golden Hawks senior 3-2 in ultimate tiebreak a week prior in the District 1-3A East final.

But Kibler proceeded to beat Christopher Wood of Garnet Valley via 17-5 major decision in the consolation semis then took third with a 6-2 decision over West Chester Henderson’s Palmer Delaney. 

Kibler is making his second PIAA appearance after getting to states as a sophomore in 2020.

Fellow Galloping Ghost McCaughey earned his first trip to Hershey with three wins in the 126 consolation bracket.  

The junior pinned Boyertown’s Shane Stankina in 4:44, bested Council Rock South’s Ben Brillhart by 10-2 major decision then pinned Pennridge’s Sam Kuhns ain2:26 to reach the third-place match where McCaughey lost 9-4 to Spring-Ford’s Quinn Smith.

“It’s great, worked for it my whole life,” McCaughey said. “Fell short freshman year and last year, now I got it.”

Pennridge sophomore Coffin sealed his place at PIAAs by beating Coatesville’s Andrij Szczesniuk 4-3 in the 113 fifth-place match. It was Coffins’ second win over Szczesniuk at regionals, winning 5-1 in the championship quarters Friday.

“I wrestled a little tighter but I had a bunch of nerves like I said,” Coffin said. “I got it done and I’m going to Hershey.”