In a bracket with four Delco wrestlers, Ridley 182-pounder Lawrence Alkins proved to be the best local bunch during the first night of the PIAA Class AAA Southeast Regional at Oxford Area High School.
The senior from Ridley won twice and was the only one of the four to advance to Saturday’s semifinals.
Alkins (27-5) was one of eight Delco wrestlers to advance to Saturday’s semifinals. Also moving on were Garnet Valley’s Matt Marino (120) and Nick Puliti (126), Colin Cronin (132) and Josh Yeboah-Gyasi of Upper Darby, Eric Thomas (138) from Interboro, Sun Valley’s Alex Elliott (160) and Tom Meyers (170) of Radnor.
Alkins beat Peyton MacNeil, 8-5, in the first round and then pulled out a 3-2 decision over Souderton’s Philip Stolfi in the quarterfinals to raise his postseason record to 5-3.
Marino (27-6) won by fall and major decision to reach the semifinals. Puliti (26-11) recorded a pin and a 10-5 decision to remain undefeated in the tournament. Cronin (34-1) recorded a major decision in his only match of the night, while Yeboah-Gyasi scored a 12-1 major decision to stay in the winners portion of the bracket.
Thomas (34-2) continued his stellar season with a 5-0 triumph over Upper Perkiomen’s Eric Miller. Elliott (26-2) pinned Luke Kowal of Pennsbury in his only match of the evening.
Meyers (36-0) remained undefeated with a 7-2 triumph over Joe Doyle from Council Rock South.
Wrestling resumes at 9:30 Saturday morning with the first round of consolations.
