CONCORD — There is an art to winning dual meets, and January is the time to refine it.
Mix as much technique as one knows with as much heart and effort as one can muster, and a team has a shot. Most importantly, though, staying off one’s back is vital.
That’s easier said than done, and Saturday at the Rage in the Cage duals tournament at Garnet Valley High, Downingtown East and West Chester Rustin learned some lessons, both good and bad, as they head into their Ches-Mont League schedules.
The Cougars won two of three, including a first-round matchup with Rustin, and finished in third place. The Golden Knights dropped their first two duals before knocking off Chichester for seventh.
“It’s good for our confidence, knowing we can win dual meets, even against good teams,” East coach Joe Horvath said. “It helps individuals get some good matchups. We have some guys with lofty goals and getting them good matches helps them in the long run.”
Downingtown East’s Zach Aceto works on pinning West Chester Rustin’s Colin Markoski at 285 pounds. (Nate Heckenberger – For MediaNews Group)
East and Rustin met at this tournament the past two years, with each winning one. The Cougars were a point better last year and trailed 27-12 at the halfway point, Saturday.
The Cougars (6-4) won six of the last seven, five by fall, to pull away.
“It was a good eye-opener for the kids in terms of learning how to wrestle to win and not just wrestling not to lose,” Rustin coach Tony Finding said.
Late in the dual, East junior Ray Wileczek trailed Rustin’s Anthony Meadows, 5-1, before throwing him to his back and pinning him with 43 seconds left.
In the third place match, Wileczek trailed Interboro’s Jon Phillips, 6-1, in the third before hitting a five-point move to set up overtime, where he won with a takedown.
Wileczek is 13-7 on the season with 10 pins, and while he may not do things by the book, his ability to erase deficits is key to East’s success as a team.
“I thing we preach is you’re never out of a match,” Horvath said. “Ray finds himself down quite a bit, but he’s never out of it. He’s come up with some big wins for us.”
Downingtown East’s Ray Wileczek picks up back points against Carlisle. (Nate Heckenberger – For MediaNews Group)
Rustin (4-2) wrestled Wilson (West Lawn) in the first consolation round and tallied 15 bonus points. But the contest swung at 160, where a comfortable lead was washed away by a pin, leading to a 37-33 defeat to the Bulldogs.
“I’m never satisfied with guys getting pinned,” Finding said. “We had guys getting pinned that shouldn’t be. We have to learn that, if you lose, OK, but you can’t get pinned.”
The Knights closed out the day with a 74-6 stomping of Chichester, thanks to seven falls. On the day, Charlie Baldesari (132) and Josh Viarengo (138) finished 3-0, Ryan Corp (145) went 2-0 and Jimmy King (120) was 2-1. They will start their league schedule at Unionville, Wednesday.
“We gotta keep the momentum and work hard in the room,” Viarengo said. “We came back from two tough losses and rallied and we’re only going to get better.”
West Chester Rustin’s Josh Viarengo pins Wilson (West Lawn’s) Josh Hartranft at 138 pounds. (Nate Heckenberger – For MediaNews Group)
Keanu Manuel (113), Spencer Uggla (170), Matt Romanelli (182) and Zach Aceto (285) earned three wins, while Bill Dyer (195) was 2-0 and Ryan Loraw (106) and Wileczek won two of three.
Against Interboro, who is ranked No. 8 in District 1 on pa-wrestling.com, the No. 10 Cougars scored the final 33 points in a seven-bout run, highlighted by Loraw’s third-period pin over Victor Quintiliana.
East hosts Avon Grove, Wednesday, before traveling to West Chester Henderson, January 15, for a huge National Division showdown.
“Beating (Interboro) was great,” Aceto said. “They were ranked higher than us, so to take them down was pretty cool. … It gives us momentum going forward into the regular season. It cements the team together and makes everyone stronger.”
Downingtown East’s Ryan Loraw takes down Interboro’s Victor Quintiliana at 106 pounds. (Nate Heckenberger – For MediaNews Group)
Garnet Valley went 2-1 and finished fifth, defeating Chichester and Wilson (West Lawn), after a 36-35 loss to Interboro in the opening round.
Going 3-0 for the Jaguars were Griffin Hollingsworth (126), Daniel Hussain (132), Chris Wood (138) and Dillon Conlon (170).
