OXFORD >> It would be no surprise to find out Matt Englehardt and Dillon Bechtold are experiencing a bit of acrophobia.
The two Owen J. Roberts wrestlers have reached heights in the sport previously-unexperienced by either of them. And they’re eager to go even higher in the next 1-1/2 weeks.
After neither one advanced out of the first level of the high-school post-season previously in their careers, the Wildcat grapplers came out of the past weekend with gold medals from the District 1-AAA North tournament. They’re at the front of a six-man contingent heading to the South East AAA Regional action this weekend at Oxford, with hopes for getting to Hershey for state-level competition.
Englehardt, a senior, took the 132-pound title at the north tournament while Bechtold, a sophomore, was champion at 172 pounds.
“They’re great students of the sport,” OJR head coach Steve DeRafelo said. “They read reports and view videos. We might give them advice, but they do a lot of it on their own.”
They’ve also persevered in the face of injuries that cropped up last year and this year. It’s been a matter of moving on from ones deemed cured, and dealing with others that haven’t fully healed.
Englehardt injured a meniscus and fibula last year. He tweaked it during the second match of the winter, but decided to go on with the season. It resulted in a 7-5 campaign and a 1-2 run at the District 1-3A South competition.
“I just cleared my mind and put it aside,” he said. “I’m stretching a lot … moving my feet, getting in a rhythm, loosening my legs.”
Englehardt has compiled a 22-5 record at 132 thus far, with a championship from the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s individual tournament in late January to his credit.
“I put in lot of work in the off-season,” he said “I came in ready to wrestle.”
“I expected to come in and win it all. I set the pace and battled them.”
Bechtold’s medical issue was a tear of the ulterior cruciate ligament in his elbow early last season. He ended up undergoing surgery and had a minimal (4-0) regular season running Jan. 28 to Feb. 9 and didn’t make the cut for districts.
“I got it repaired with an internal brace,” he said in describing the surgery.
Owen J. Roberts’ Dillon Bechtold stands atop the podium after winning the 170-pound title at the District 1-3A North tournament at Perkiomen Valley on Feb. 26. (Austin Hertzog – MediaNews Group)
He came back for a sophomore season in which he currently stands at 30-6. Bechtold’s pinned nine of his last 10 opponents, including a sweep of the 132-pound bracket at districts.
“I’m confident in what the doctors did,” Bechtold said, pronouncing himself at 100 percent. “I’m doing a lot of exercises and therapy.”
The injury, though, has prompted him to adjust his on-mat style.
“I used to do underhooks,” he said, “but I stay out of them a little. I can still do them. I try to keep a good motion and do hand-fighting.”
Bechtold pinning his way through the 172-pound bracket at the PAC tournament on Jan. 22.
“That helped boost my confidence,” he said. “I did better than I thought I previously would.”
Bechtold was especially encouraged by his third-place showing in the MyHouse Trojan Wars hosted by Chambersburg over the winter holiday break.
“I beat a couple higher seeds,” he noted. “The kid I wrestled in the third round (Tyler Meisenzahl of Washington, W. Va.) was ranked fourth in his state, and in the medal match (Logan Hoffman of Belle Vernon) was ranked 10th.”
He bested both, scoring an 8-2 decision on Meisenzahl and a 5-1 verdict on Hoffman.
“One thing about both kids that makes them special,” DeRafelo noted, “is controlling the controllables and understanding that. Their lifting, off-season workouts and diet … they do a great job of that. They take care of those things.”
The remainder of Owen J’s regional-bound contingent consists of Sam Gautreau, Quinn Carr, Francis McCoy and Blake Fisher. Gautreau was a silver medalist at 145, Carr (106) and McCoy (215) scored bronzes and Fisher was fourth at 285.
It’s a considerable upgrade from 2021, when the Wildcats had no advancers out of districts. Last weekend’s showing was capped by Roberts placing third in the team standings behind champion Spring-Ford and runner-up Boyertown.
“The big difference this year is, we’re going a lot harder as a team,” Englehardt said. “We’re trying to get in as many reps as possible, and putting in the time.”
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It’s not quite as impressive as the five straight district-level team championships Spring-Ford has compiled. But the Rams are looking to extend their current run of Top 3 team finishes they have going at the regional level.
Spring-Ford will be defending its 2021 South East AAA Regional championship this weekend. It’s been a steady climb in the ranks through the years, the Rams third in 2019 and runner-up in 2020.
The Rams have four district champions among their eight regional qualifiers: Brothers Gus and Quinn Smith at 106 and 126, respectively; Cole Smith at 113; and Anthony Attilio at 152. They also got a runner-up finish from Dominic Ortlip at 120 as their 210.5 team points put them well ahead of runner-up Boyertown (179), which was led by champs Gavin Sheridan (120) and Chance Babb (145) and a trio of silver medalists: Luke Heimbach (113), Beck Babb (132) and Ryder Gehris (152).
“We talked in practice about advancing to regionals,” Spring-Ford head coach Tim Seislove said. “Once you get there, if things go your way, you can head off to Hershey.
“It was good for us to have kids come in and wrestle well.”
Behind third-place Owen J. and its six regional qualifiers, Perkiomen Valley had two district champs in Kelly Kakos at 138 – the north tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler – and Cole Euker at 285. Kakos was a South East runner-up at 132 one year ago, then went 3-1 in the East AAA Super Regional and scored an eighth-place medal at states.
Pottsgrove’s Dominic DeMeno, champion at 215, rounds out the list of PAC grapplers with district gold medals.
South East AA Regional
Alan Alexander made an eventful, albeit solo, run through the South East Regional last winter.
This year, he will have company on the trip.
Alexander will be one of three Pope John Paul II grapplers heading to Bethlehem Freedom this weekend. The Golden Panther senior will be joined by Brady Pires and Gabe Zambrano in his bid to return to Hershey to secure another Class AA state medal.
The Boyertown transfer was 3-1 in the South East last winter, finishing third en route to going 2-2 in the East AA Super Regional at Pottsville. He then scored a sixth-place medal at the Giant Center, becoming PJP’s first state medalist since Ryan Vulakh won a 152 gold medal in 2019.
This year, Alexander is up to 160, where he’s compiled a 21-6 record and a PAC individual championship this winter. He ended up second at Archbishop Ryan last weekend, forfeiting the title bout to Faith Christian Academy’s Luke Sugalski.
Pires (18-14) placed second at 106 in districts to secure a first-time trip to regionals, The sophomore’s bid for gold was thwarted by Faith Christian Academy’s Sam Hunter.
Zambrano (6-6) erased a sub. 500 record from the regular season with a 4-1 run at 189 in the district tournament. He finished third in dramatic fashion, outlasting Archbishop Ryan’s Max McKinstry in their medal bout, 5-4 TB2; like Pires, he is a first-time qualifier for regionals.
NOTES >> First-day action at the AAA regional consists of championship round matches at 5 p.m., followed by the championship quarterfinals at 8 p.m. The action will resume Saturday with consolation round 1 at 9:30 a.m., preceding semifinals and second-round consis at 11 a.m.
