POTTSTOWN >> They’re both trying to solidify lineups at present.
No surprise there, considering the 2015-16 campaign is less than two weeks old and both teams are addressing key issues. But when they lifted the lid to the Pioneer Athletic Conference regular season Wednesday, Spring-Ford showed a bit more established alignment … a key to the Rams’ 45-24 victory at Pottstown High’s Strom Gymnasium.
Working to reload from a 2014-15 season where its roster was headed by a number of talented seniors, Spring-Ford (5-1 overall) was able to put competitors in each weight class on the mats. That made a big difference against the Trojans, who ended up forfeiting the two lightweight divisions in their first on-mat action of the season.
Pottstown’s Bryant Wise, left, puts Michael Gradwell on his back before pinning him to end their bout at 152 pounds Wednesday. (John Strickler – The Mercury)
“We put 14 people out there, and that’s good,” Spring-Ford head coach Tim Seislove said. “We’re replacing a really good senior class — eight or nine kids graduated. But we have good senior leadership this year, with some nice freshmen and sophomores.”
Pottstown was able to keep pace with its guests through the first 10 bouts, forcing a 24-24 tie off James Diamond’s pin at 220. But that ended up the finish to the Trojans’ scoring, Spring-Ford pulling away over the final four weights with a pin and decision bookending Pottstown’s no-shows at 106 and 113.
“Giving up two forfeits against Spring-Ford isn’t good,” Pottstown head coach Brad Bechtel said.
Its inability to win bouts decided by three or less points didn’t fare Pottstown well. The Trojans only had one victory in those duels — Isaiah Mayes’ 5-3 verdict over Brett McGill at 170 — while Spring-Ford took the other three. The most pivotal one was at 285, where Matt Lepore scored two third-period takedowns for a 4-2 decision of Jimmie Zazzi to break the tie for good.
“We needed to win those swing matches,” Bechtel noted. “You could tell this was our first match.”
Spring-Ford seniors fueled the faster start, getting a 4-1 decision from Jimmy Frank at 126 and a first-period pin from Hunter Mitch at 132. Matt Krieble added another first-period pin at 145, after Pottstown’s Logan Pennypacker got the home team on the board with his technical fall at 138, for a 15-5 lead.
Pottstown’s Logan Pennypacker, back, puts Spring-Ford’s Oscar Granese on his back during their bout at 138 pounds Wednesday. (John Strickler – The Mercury)
But Trojan seniors Bryant Wise and Mason Pennypacker erased the deficit at 152 and 160, respectively. Wise scored a first-period pin before Pennypacker posted a 15-5 major decision of Ben DiArcangelo.
The teams went back-and-forth through the next four weights to keep the match even. At 170, Jack Files rallied from a 4-1 first-period deficit against Saddiq Ibn-Mustafah for an 11-8 win, and Steven Rice recorded a second-period fall at 195.
The Trojans countered with Mayes’ decision at 182 and a 37-second pin by Diamond.
“We were flat. The kids don’t have their wrestling legs yet,” Bechtel noted. “But we saw a lot of good stuff.”
The holes at the lower end of Pottstown’s lineup figure to be a challenge to the coaching staff’s attempts to put a finished lineup together.
“We need to wait until after Christmas to get that done,” he said. “We need to get our experience up in January.”
On the other side of the gym, Seislove concurred with the assessment his squad is still a work in progress.
“We have to keep getting better if we’re going to be competitive,” he said.
NOTES >> Shane Reynolds and Brandon Meredith were Spring-Ford’s wrestlers accepting forfeits at 106 and 113, respectively. … The Spring-Ford coaching staff has a “new” old face in its ranks. Tom Hontz, the legendary, longtime boss of the Upper Perkiomen mat program prior to his resignation in 2014, is on board as an assistant. “It’s more fun being an assistant coach,” he said jokingly. … Pottstown’s next action will be Saturday, a non-league match at Downingtown West its last outing before the holiday break. Spring-Ford, in turn, will visit Pottsgrove Dec. 23.
