HAVERFORD — Wrestling coach Joe Jones had a quick response when asked to describe his 106-pounder, Haverford’s Cole McFarland.
“Freshman sensation is what comes to mind,” said Jones, a two-time PIAA qualifier who is in his third season as the Fords’ head coach. “We normally have some good kids coming up through the middle school, but we haven’t had someone with Cole’s talent in a long time.”
McFarland is the first freshmen in Haverford High history to make it to what is considered to be the equivalent of the state tournament. Confused? Don’t be.
Because of COVID-19, the PIAA added two Super Regionals, East and West, in Class 3A and Class 2A. This was done to limit the number of wrestlers at each step of the postseason in an effort to mitigate spread of coronavirus.
McFarland is one of 10 Delaware County wrestlers who have qualified for Saturday’s Class 3A East Super Regional at Quakertown High School, which will be conducted in two sessions. Weight classes 106-138 will start wrestling at 9 a.m. and go right through the finals and consolation. The gym will be cleared and weight classes 145-285 will start at 2 p.m. The top four wrestlers advance to next week’s PIAA championships at the Giant Center in Hershey.
While technically not the PIAA championships, wrestlers who qualified for the Super Regionals are being considered as state qualifiers for the purpose of prestige points, which is part of the formula used for seeding purposes in the postseason.
At least from that perspective, then, McFarland is the first freshman state qualifier in program history, which is pretty impressive for a program that has produced two state champions, four runners-up and 33 state qualifiers.
“I think it’s pretty cool, but I would like to do better,” McFarland said. “I would like to be the first freshman state champ.”
McFarland (14-4) has his work cut out for him. He opens up against Northampton’s Carson Wagner, who is ranked No. 1 in the state at 106 and finished sixth at the PIAA championships at that weight a year ago. Wagner (8-0) is one of three state qualifiers in McFarland’s half of the eight-person bracket. Tony Burke of Council Rock North and Josh Jasionowicz of Stroudsburg are the other two.
“Every match you have to expect anything,” McFarland said. “You have to be open for anything. You have to have a good mindset and go in thinking you’re going to win the match.”
McFarland isn’t afraid of a challenge. After winning his first 10 matches, six by pin, five in the first 36 seconds, another by technical fall and one by major decision, Haverford assistant coaches Luke Bilyeu and Jim Knapp approached Jones about having McFarland move up in weight to see how he would respond to stiffer competition.
Jones asked McFarland’s father if he was OK with the move, which he was. The younger McFarland was up for it, too, so he bumped up two weight classes to take on Garnet Valley 120-pounder and Super Regional qualifier Matt Ricci.
Even though McFarland lost that match, 6-2, he showed he could wrestle with the area’s best and used that as a springboard to win a Central League title, finish second at District 1 South and fourth at the South East Regional.
“He doesn’t shy away from competition, he embraces it,” Jones said. “He’s an awesome kid in the room. Toward the end of the year he’s become more and more vocal, which is good, because you need leaders in the room and he’s been looking up to veteran guys that we have like Jon Harwood and Stephen Lozano and those guys and he’s definitely following in their footsteps.”
McFarland’s success is not a surprise. He made the Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling state championships last year. He did not place, but that gave him the incentive to do what he has accomplished this season. If McFarland gets to the real state tournament he would be an automatic state medalist, Haverford’s first since Mike Jones, Joe’s older brother, took fourth at 112 in 2005.
“It has been a weird year because of COVID but I still feel I got the work in that I needed,” McFarland said. “Nothing has messed up my schedule since COVID started. I think if I go out there this weekend and put everything I have into it I’ll get the result I want.”
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Ricci (120) and Jaguars teammate Sam DiTrolio (189), Interboro’s Nate Shippey (126) and Dom D’Agostino (152), Strath Haven’s Kelton Brunner (132) and Chase Barlow (152), Sun Valley’s Ryan Catka (215), Upper Darby’s Julien Laventure (285) and Radnor’s Daetrel Jerome (285) are the other Delco wrestlers in the tournament.
Catka is a returning state medalist. He was third at 195 last season. D’Agostino, Barlow and Laventure made it to Hershey last year, too. Catka (13-0) and Laventure (11-0) are among the 23 undefeated wrestlers in the Super Regional.
