RIDLEY TWP. — Cole McFarland looked down at the Outstanding Wrestler award he just won at the Central League championships Saturday and smiled.
It was just the latest honor in a stellar career for the Haverford junior two-time All-Delco.
“This means a lot to me,” McFarland said. “I’ve been trying to get this for the past two years.”
McFarland earned the award by winning his third straight league title with two pins and a decision. He pinned Conestoga’s Parker Warkentine in the quarterfinals in 2:15, decked Radnor’s Jayden Lee in 1:03 in the semis and claimed his third gold medal with a hard-fought 10-6 decision over Ridley’s Curtis Nelson in the 114-pound final.
The championship match was a showdown between two of the top 114-pounders in District 1. McFarland came in ranked second, according to pa-wrestling.com, with Nelson fifth. Nelson, a sophomore who won the 106-pound crown at Centrals last year, entered with a 19-1 record. His only loss was a 7-1 setback to Spring-Ford’s Cole Smith.
“I think Curtis was a pretty good matchup for me,” McFarland said. “It was a pretty crazy match. I did make some mistakes, but I did end up on top. There were some other good matches in the final but I thought the match between me, and Curtis was one of the best.”
The two really went after each other for six minutes. Nelson made a late surge before McFarland held on for the victory.
“I expected a hard match from Curtis,” McFarland said. “I wrestled him twice last year and I know that he was getting better. I knew that it was going to be a battle.”
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Strath Haven freshman Michael Spielman certainly made a case for the outstanding wrestler award. He was the lowest seed to win a title, seeded fifth at 152 pounds but walking away with the league crown with a 4-1 triumph over Garnet Valley’s Matt Mesaros.
“I just tried to stay aggressive the whole time,” Spielman said. “I wanted to stay in every match. I didn’t want to get behind.
Spielman pinned fourth-seeded Rory Peterson of Marple Newtown in the quarterfinals in 1:41 and then stunned top-seeded Rocco Hartfuss of Ridley, 5-2, in the semis. Hartfuss was vying for his third league title.
“It feels great,” Spielman said of his title. “All the work I’ve been putting in is worth it. It’s all coming together.”
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Like a lot of those in attendance, Strath Haven teammates Ben Milligan, Sam Milligan and Anthony Crawford were eager to get out of Ridley High School in time for the Eagles-Giants playoff game.
Only the Milligan brothers and Crawford weren’t going home to watch the contest. They had tickets to the game.
“We’re going to shower here and go right down to the game,” Sam Milligan said. “First, I’m going to watch Ben (Farabaugh in the 285-pound final) and then get a shower and go.”
The trio got a break when the tournament ran ahead of schedule. The finals were schedule to start at 4:30 but got underway at 3:45.
“It ran very fast,” Sam Milligan said. “The people running the tournament did a very good job. This is one of the fastest tournaments we’ve been in.
Sam Milligan knocked off top-seeded Jake Allred, 9-4, in the 189-pound final to claim his second straight league crown. Milligan was seeded second. Crawford also was the second seed and pinned top-seeded Bryce Beltrante of Conestoga in 3:18 to claim the 215-pound crown.
“The last two years I came up short in the semifinals so this means a lot,” Crawford said.
Farabaugh completed the sweep of the top three weight classes for the Panthers with a 3-0 victory over Garnet Valley’s Dylan Bledsoe in the 285-pound final.
But that wasn’t enough to give Strath Haven the team title. Conestoga claimed that honor with 190 points to 187.5 for the Panthers. Strath Haven can still win a share of the overall league title by going undefeated in dual meet action.
“We’re going to focus on that,” Crawford said. “We’re going to try to keep on winning. I think we’re hitting our stride right about now. We were a little bumpy at the start, but we’re feeling good now.”
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Conestoga had 10 wrestlers finish in the top six to claim its second Central meet title since 2020.
Steven Wiechecki (121), Miles Walkentine (127) and Hayden McLellan (172) won individual championships. Matt Boye (160), Allred (189) and Beltrante (215) were second, while Ryan Kramer (107) and Parker Warkentine (114) finished fourth.
“We’re trying to get to district duals and hopefully this will help us get there,” said McLellan, who score a 17-4 major decision over Haverford’s Luca Romasco to capture the 172-pound crown. “We’re also trying to set the standard for the next generation of Conestoga wrestlers.
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Host Ridley came away with two champions. Chris Nesbitt beat Garnet Valley’s Paxton Hunt, 14-3, to win the 139-pound title. David Rainey topped Boye, 6-2, for the 160-pound honors.
Radnor’s Akahi Heywood (107), Harriton’s Nadav Nafshi (133) and Dylan DeJong of Penncrest (145) were the other individual champions. Heywood and DeJong both won by fall.
