EAST NOTTINGHAM >> It’s a variation on the concept of employing weights in physical training.
And it’s serving Dominic DeMeno quite well.
DeMeno undertakes what he describes as “crazy workouts” in his conditioning with the Pottsgrove wrestling team. One unique aspect is his donning a “weighted vest” while engaging in such drills as “suicides” and other hard running.
“It helps a lot with the legs, back and a stronger stance,” he said. “I’ve gone in from that with squats and calf raises.”
It’s all been key to DeMeno’s breakout junior season of wrestling competition. He’s built a 28-3 record this winter, his first full one with the Falcon mat program, and is going into a first-time exposure in the South East AAA Regional tournament as a District 1-AAA North champion.
He’s Pottsgrove’s first district champion since the 2020 season, when the program had successful upper weights like Avery Shivak (215) and Zachary Van Horn (285). As seniors, they helped DeMeno transition back to scholastic wrestling after being away from the sport during his middle-school years.
“We moved to Florida, where my mom has family,” Dominic noted. “When we came back to Pennsylvania, I wanted to get back into it.
“Having them on the team, they showed me a lot,” he added. “I learned from them, particularly Avery.”
“They helped mature him in the (wrestling) room,” Pottsgrove head coach Jeff Madden added. “They’re all good athletes, but different.”
Boyertown’s Gavin Sheridan uses a dump for a takedown against Kennett’s Kane Lengel in an 8-2 win in the 120-pound quarterfinals. (Nate Heckenberger – For MediaNews Group)
The upgrade in his success, after going 4-4 in limited competition as a sophomore, will be tested this weekend at Oxford High School. The hope is DeMeno’s postseason will continue to Hershey next weekend, for the PIAA Class AAA tournament again being staged at the Giant Center.
He currently has a 14-match win streak dating back to Jan. 8. Among them are eight pins, two major decisions, one injury default and a pair of forfeits, contributing to his previous gold-medal performances at the Gov. Mifflin Holiday Tournament over the winter holiday season and the Pioneer Athletic Conference’s individual tournament in late January.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” he said of the Mifflin competition, which he won in a 4-3 decision of Dalton Deevey from Cape Henlopen, N.J. “It was tough, but I wrestled to the end.”
The PAC’s 215-pound title bout had DeMeno in a rematch with Perkiomen Valley’s Grant Euker, who scored a 2-1 win in a pre-holiday divisional crossover bout. The second go-round went Dominic’s way, though in an unexpected scenario of Euker sustaining a season-ending injury 38 seconds in.
“I had beat him last year,” DeMeno recalled. “I looked at it as us being 1-1, but I didn’t want it to happen like it did.”
Boyertown’s Chance Babb pins Spring-Ford’s Ryan Lepore in the 145-pound quarterfinals. (Nate Heckenberger – For MediaNews Group)
The North tournament saw him open with first-period pins in the quarterfinals and semifinals. That put Dominic in the title bout against Methacton’s Joshua Cancro, on whom he posted a major decision in their second bout of the winter.
“This is definitely what I hoped for,” he said of district gold. “I worked hard in the off-season. From my freshman year to now, I kept working.”
DeMeno’s hopes, and his quest to qualify for states, both got big boosts from the opening rounds of the South East AAA Regional. He worked his way into Saturday’s 2152-pound semifinal round, first with a 5-0 decision of Chichester’s Montana Raymond, then a 4:45 pin of Downingtown West’s Mason Hale.
DeMeno was one of 10 wrestlers from Pioneer Athletic Conference teams to go 2-0 in Friday night’s sessions. He was joined by Upper Perkiomen’s Brandan Rozanski (113), Spring-Ford’s Cole Smith (113) and Dominic Ortlip (120), Boyertown’s Gavin Sheridan (120) and Chance Babb (145), Perkiomen Valley’s Kelly Kakos (138) and Cole Euker (285), Owen J. Roberts’ Dillon Bechtold (172) and Phoenixville’s Owen Koch (189).
Kakos (36-3), the Outstanding Wrestler from last weekend’s District 1-AAA North tournament, advanced with a 1:56 pin of Sun Valley’s David Voghel and a 9-1 major decision of Council Rock South’s Gavin Cole. Babb (37-6), whose championship-round win at districts also was the 100th of his scholastic career, had a tech-fall of Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Ty Borkowski before dropping Spring-Ford rival Ryan Lepore in 4:28. Euker (29-6) had a 2:16 pin of Cheltenham’s David Cappel, then had to go overtime before scoring a 3-1 sudden victory over Central Bucks East’s Joe Collins.
They will be back on the mats at 11 a.m. for the semifinal round, preceded by first-round consolations at 9:30 a.m. Three other rounds of consis at 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. will set the stage for the 6 p.m. medal round, with an awards ceremony featuring selections to the region’s Hall of Fame at 5:30 p.m.
Perkiomen Valley’s Kelly Kakos scores near-fall points en route to a 9-1 win over Council Rock South’s Gavin Cole in the 138-pound quarterfinals. (Nate Heckenberger – For MediaNews Group)
South East AA Regional
Alan Alexander stayed in the gold-medal hunt through Friday’s early rounds of regional tournament action at Bethlehem Freedom.
Alexander went 2-0 in the 160-pound bracket, advancing to Saturday’s semifinal round. The Pope John Paul II senior (23-6) started his bid for a return trip to states by pinning Susquenita’s Joshua Kauffman in 3:41, then rolled up a 12-0 major decision on Northern Lebanon’s Cooper Gill.
Alexander was a District 1/12 champion, a regional bronze medalist and a sixth-place finisher at states during 2021’s pandemic-impacted post-season. He came to the regional off a runner-up finish at districts.
Another PJP grappler, Gabe Zambrano, stayed alive in wrestlebacks at 189. The sophomore (7-7) lost his opening bout to Boiling Springs’ Collin Neal, then received a bye in his first-round consi.
A third Golden Panther, sophomore Brady Pires, bowed out of the tournament after two losses.
