TOWAMENCIN >> From Pat O’Neill getting a victory in his first ever varsity match, to Tyler Leidy coming up with a pin at heavyweight, to Colin Shannon’s match-clinching decision at 170 pounds, North Penn’s monumental effort Wednesday night led to one of its most impressive wins in its storied history.
The Knights battled to a 34-30 victory over defending conference champion Pennridge, in front of a packed house at “Take Down Cancer Night” at North Penn.
“Our guys wrestled with their hearts tonight,” said Knights coach Robert Shettsline.
North Penn, improving to a perfect 5-0 in the Suburban One League Continental Conference, avenged an earlier-season loss to Pennridge at the Council Rock North Invite, taking the lead for good with a win by forfeit at 132 pounds.
North Penn’s Sofiane Bensmail holds on to Pennridge’s Kordell Rush to keep from getting rolled in their 126-pound bout on Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016. (Bob Raines/Digital First Media)
The Rams tightened things to 22-21 when Evan Widing squeezed out a 5-3 decision over Will Laughlin, but then O’Neill came through at 145, winning 9-2 to bolster the Knights’ lead to 25-21.
“We were practicing our butts off, knowing that we’re the underdogs,” O’Neill said. “Everyone seemed to step up. We seemed to wrestle as a team. We just knew what we had to do and came out and did it.
“(Assistant coach Zac Fryling) told me Saturday at our JV tournament to just be ready, that anything could happen this week. It gave me time to mentally prepare and work harder.”
Mikey O’Brien followed up with a pin at 152 pounds, raising the crowd to its feet. The Knights, looking like a far different team than the one that lost to Pennridge at Rock, were in control, up 31-21.
“We put it behind us. We knew we had to wrestle them again,” O’Neill said of the Rock Tourney. “We just stepped it up in the practice room, worked as hard as possible. We knew what we had to do.
“I was nervous when I was warming up, but once I put my foot on the line, I knew what I had to do.”
Josh Stillings’ pin at 160 pounds kept Pennridge alive, bringing the score to 31-27 with two bouts to go, but the Knights’ Colin Shannon, saluting the crowd when his victory was complete, pulled out a 6-1 decision at 170 to make it 34-27 and lock it up for North Penn.
“This is definitely up there,” Shettsline said of the victory, drawing comparisons to a match in North Penn’s 1987 State Title run, when the Knights made seven lineup changes to knock off rival Quakertown.
