HOLLAND >> He has a slew of medals and trophies highlighting his stellar wrestling career.
But it’s a safe bet there is nothing as gaudy and impressive as the championship belt Jordan Wood won at the Escape The Rock Tournament this weekend.
Or is there?
“This, and my Super 32 belts,” he said of his trophy collection. “They’re the most unique.”
Also unique, and appropriate, was the opponent Wood bested to claim the belt. He had a rematch with Malvern Prep’s Seth Janney — the former 220-pounder from South Western who he faced in last year’s PIAA Class AAA championship final at Hershey — and Wood handled him in a 5-1 decision.
“He’s a great opponent,” Wood said of Janney, who pinned his way through the lower end of the bracket while Wood was doing the same at the top. “We’ve been friends forever.”
The “friends” tussled through a 0-0 first period, but in the second Wood (26-1) scrambled his way to an escape. He then took Janney down to carry a 3-0 lead into the third period.
Janney got on the board with his escape from a bottom start, but Wood answered with a takedown that sealed the deal.
“I worked to get my shots and ride on top,” he said. “It was a big confidence-booster for me.”
In the process, the win helped Wood exorcise the demon of his lone loss of the year, in the championship final of the Beast of the East tournament prior to the holiday break.
“I’m less afraid to lose a match now,” Wood said. “Last year at states, I was terrified of losing, to be unbeaten and get another silver medal. But coming off that loss, there’s no pressure. I can just keep working.”
Boyertown’s Lucas Miller competes in the 126 final at the Escape the Rock Tournament Sunday. (Nate Heckenberger – For Digital First Media)
Wood’s teammate, Lucas Miller, also had a shot at the 126-pound bracket’s championship belt. But Bethlehem Liberty’s K.J. Fenstermacher had similar designs, and he came on strong in the third period for a 5-3 victory.
Miller (23-5) escaped off a second-period bottom start and carried that 1-0 lead into the third. It didn’t hold up, though, as Fenstermacher escaped before taking Miller down with 1:10 left. Miller escaped again, but Fenstermacher answered with another takedown to seal the deal.
“I just wanted to wrestle my match, and use what worked to get me to the final,” Miller said. “I would have tried to ride out the third with a 1-0 lead, but I didn’t attack enough.”
In prelude to the championship bout, Miller had scored a first-period technical fall on Big Springs’ Ridgely Snyder in the opening round, and a 2-1 decision on Parkland’s Andrew Mastrangelo. That helped fuel his confidence going through the weekend.
“I did pretty well in my first four matches,” he said. “After the fourth, I felt I had a pretty good shot to win the title.”
Tommy Killoran finished third at 285 after being topped in the semifinals by Don Bosco Prep’s Eric Chakonis. Killoran (22-6) came out with a vengeance in his fifth-round consolation bout with John Anderson, pinning the Council Rock South heavyweight in 15 seconds before dealing Anthony Collins of Berlin Brothersvalley a 9-4 decision.
“I went out and kind of went for it,” he said of the quick pin on Anderson. “I was upset with the loss, so I fought back for third.”
Killoran noted the headlock dump he used to set up the Anderson pin is not a move he tries to force on an opponent.
“If it’s there, I’m going to use it,” he said. “But I don’t look for it all the time. I focus more on getting shots.”
Gregg Harvey placed fourth at 182 after getting to the semifinal round. A major-decision loss to eventual champion Michael Beard of Malvern Prep dropped Harvey into wrestlebacks, where he ultimately lost in overtime to Pennridge’s Kyle Gentile.
“The seeds play a large part to where you turn up,” Harvey said. “But at the end of the day, it’s how hard you wrestle.”
Those medal finishes, coupled with a sixth by J.T. Cooley (138) and an eighth by Chris Berry (145), resulted in Boyertown finishing second in the team standings … another plum in the Bears’ overall showing.
“The kids wrestled great, tooth and nail,” Boyertown head coach Pete Ventresca said. “They all wrestled tough. We had six guys place in one tough tournament.
“It’s a big deal, and I’m proud of them.”
Owen J. Roberts, the area’s other Rock participant, came away with eighth-place medals for Nick Duliakas (182) and William Scherfel (285). But in head coach Steve DeRafelo’s overview, the Wildcats’ showing wasn’t defined solely by those performances.
“We had two guys who medalled … neither was seeded in the Top 10, but both placed,” he noted. “We also had six other guys who battled (Sunday). They had to win three straight to keep going.
“We’re making progress, We’re showing signs of getting better. We have some tough matches coming up, and I hope we’re ready.”
NOTES >> Belle Vernon (221.5) won the team title, decisively ahead of the rest of the top 5 Boyertown (156.5), Council Rock South (151.0), Malvern Prep (149.0) and Cumberland Valley (135.5) Boyertown’s Garrett Mauger and Jakob Campbell are both now one win away from the 100 mark for their scholastic careers. Mauger came up shot after going 3-2 at 132, and Campbell was held out of the weekend with an abdominal strain detected earlier in the week. … J.T. Cooley was at the core of a scary moment during Sunday’s session, sustaining what was feared to be a neck injury in his semifinal-round bout with Council Rock South’s Riley Palmer. Cooley was transported by ambulance to St. Mary’s Medical Center, checked out and released. However, he ended up a medical forfeit in subsequent consolation and medal bouts.
