FORT WASHINGTON >> In the last test before the individual postseason, the Wissahickon wrestling team crowned six individual champions to earn the team championship at the Cardinal Invitational tournament hosted by Upper Dublin last Saturday.
The Trojans earned six championships after sending seven wrestlers to the championship finals.
Highlighting the tournament for Wissahickon was sophomore Alex Prieston winning the title at 120 pounds.
After getting a fall in the quarterfinals before getting a 2-1 decision victory in the semifinals, Prieston had a huge defensive battle with Jake Tosti from Central Bucks West.
After each of the three periods ending in scoreless tie, Prieston scored the lone takedown with six seconds left in overtime to earn the 120-pound title.
“I felt really tired after the match,” said Prieston. “Tosti is a very good opponent, it has a really good match, and I like hard-fought matches like that.”
Wissahickon also got individual titles from Dexter Adriaanse, Matthew Fritz, Kevin Salmon, Brain Fennell, and Mark Thompson to earn the team championship.
The Trojans finished first in the team standings with 182 points, which was 11 points more than second place West Chester Rustin.
Highlighting the tournament out of all wrestlers was Upper Dublin’s Mason Novak, who got two falls and a close decision victory in the final to win the title at 182 pounds.
Novak got two first-period falls in his first two matches to reach the finals against Wissahickon’s Dan Keller.
After a scoreless period in the championship final, Keller took a 1-0 lead with an escape.
With 28 seconds left in the second period, Novak took a 2-1 lead with a huge takedown.
However, Keller got an escape point 10 seconds later to tie the match at 2-2 with one period left.
After Novak started the third period on bottom of referee’s position, he got the quick escape point in 18 seconds to earn the 3-2 decision victory.
With the win, Novak remains unbeaten as he heads to the individual postseason with a perfect 30-0 season record.
“I really wasn’t nervous heading into the final match,” said Novak. “I was just really anxious because I face Keller a couple times earlier and I just wanted to get the match over with.”
Upper Dublin finished in ninth place in the team standings with 66 points edging out Central Bucks South in the top ten.
Wissahickon head coach Anthony Stagliano was thrilled with his team’s performance despite being a late entry into the Cardinal Invite.
“It was a great performance overall,” and Stagliano. “We weren’t planning on winning this tournament because we got in late after the tournament we were supposed to be in got cancelled, so we really appreciate Upper Dublin allowing us to be here.”
“This gave us a big boost with this being an individual tournament because this prepares us for the postseason coming up,” added Stagliano. “Also those close matches that some of our guys got into will really help them get ready for districts.”
The Wisshahickon Trojans will now set their minds to the start of the individual postseason at the District One AAA South Championships on February 22-23 at Interboro High School.
2019 Cardinal Invite championship results
106: Luke Ricci (Perkiomen Valley) dec Chase Gallo (Interboro), 11-8
113: Dexter Adriaanse (Wissahickon) dec Nate Shippey (Interboro), 3-1
120: Alex Prieston (Wissahickon) dec Jake Tosti (Central Bucks West), 2-0 SV
126: Matthew Fritz (Wissahikcon) dec Jacob Finley (Interboro), 7-6
132: Isaiah Tucker (Norristown) dec Charlie Baldesari (West Chester Rustin), 5-3
138: Sam Beckett (Hill School) dec Dominic Stoughton (Central Bucks South), 7-2
145: Nick Semon (Norristown) pinned Dylan LaJudice (Interboro) 3:36
152: Corey Showaker (Central Bucks South) pinned Austin Rowely (Perkiomen Valley) 3:20
160: Kevin Salmon (Wissahickon) pinned Alex Washington (Phoenixville) 1:26
170: David Polanki (Phoenixville) dec Austin Zubyk (Upper Moreland), 1-0
182: Mason Novak (Upper Dublin) dec Dan Keller (Wissahickon), 3-2
195: Brian Fennell (Wissahickon) pinned Zack Jones (West Chester Rustin) 3:47
220: Ryan Hieber (Central Bucks West) pinned Shalom Thomas (Interboro) 0:49
285: Mark Thompson (Wissahickon) dec Leland Mersky (LaSalle College), 6-3
Team standings
1. Wissahickon – 182
2. West Chester Rustin – 171
3. Interboro – 131
4. Perkiomen Valley – 103
5. Central Bucks West – 88
6. Norristown – 85.5
7. LaSalle College – 77.5
8. Phoenixville – 71
9. Upper Dublin – 66
10. Central Bucks South – 64
