UPPER DUBLIN — A few wrestlers hung their heads, some looked up at the ceiling and others stared into space, as Sun Valley coach Tom Ellis gathered the Vanguards for a post-match talk in the hallway behind the gym at Upper Dublin High School Saturday afternoon.
The look of disappointment was everywhere after the Vanguards were eliminated from the District 1 Class 3A duals tournament in a 33-27 loss to top-seeded Council Rock South in the consolation round.
Sun Valley came to the meet with the goal of reaching the PIAA team tournament for the first time in program history and the Vanguards had good reason for such lofty aspirations.
They’ve put together one of the finest seasons in program history. They had just one loss in dual-meet competition coming into the tournament, went undefeated in Ches-Mont League play and were seeded second in districts. Sun Valley also won the Ches-Mont League championship meet, the Governor Mifflin Holiday Tournament, the Rage in the Cage at Garnet Valley, the C.B. East and Mike Miluski Duals and took second at the Travis Manion ’99 Memorial Duals.
But for all those wins, they fell short of their goal of making the state tournament following losses to third-seeded Pennridge in the semifinals (39-18) and the six-point setback to the Hawks in the consolation round. Only the top four teams advance to the state tournament.
“It was definitely frustrating,” said senior Alex Gamble-Williams, who won his final two matches after suffering a 3-1 loss in overtime to Perkiomen Valley’s Gavin Pascoe in his opener. “We fought hard. Our guys fought in every match.”
The Vanguards jumped out to a 31-0 lead on seventh-seeded Perkiomen Valley in the quarterfinals and came away with a 43-19 victory. Sun Valley was tied with Pennridge after nine matches in the semifinals, 18-18, but couldn’t close it out. The Rams won final four bouts, three by fall, to advance to the final, where it knocked off fourth-seeded Spring-Ford, 36-22, to win the team title for the first time in program history.
Sun Valley against put itself in position in the consolation round, leading C.R. South, 21-20, with four matches to go. But the Hawks took three of the final four bouts to advance to the third-place match, where they beat No. 6 Quakertown, 40-21.
“If they just went by seeds, they wouldn’t wrestle the matches,” Ellis said. “The district has a lot of parity. Spring-Ford is in the final and we beat them by 13 points this year. A lot of teams would concede to Council Rock South. We don’t. It was a great battle.”
There were quite a number of bright spots for the Vanguards. Sophomore Brandon Carr went 3-0, once at 145 and twice at 152, to raise his season record to 31-0. He’s ranked third in District 1 at 152 pounds by pa-wrestling.com. He won three tough decisions, beating fourth-ranked Kelly Kakos of Perkiomen Valley, 9-6, then scoring a 10-8 decision over Gio Iadonici of Pennridge and topping Andrew Lindros of C.R. South, 9-5.
Senior Chase Thompson also went 3-0. He won once at 215 and twice at 285. After earning a forfeit win against Perk Valley, Thompson defeated Riley Cullen of Pennridge, 4-0, and pinned James St. Thomas of C.R. South in 4:44 to give the Vanguards that one point lead. Thompson is ranked sixth in the district at 285.
Sophomore Brecken Strickland was 2-0 at 133 and 139. Strickland, who is ranked second in the district at 133, scored 12-1 major decision over Ajay Bhatt of C.R. South. Gamble-Williams overcame an injury to his left shoulder in his opening match to go 2-1 on the day, winning once at 152 and once at 160. Junior Dalton Pedrick also went 2-1.
“We’re still a top team,” Gamble-Williams said. “We just have to keep wrestling. We’re built for that. This doesn’t take anything away from what we’ve done. We’re going to be right back at it Monday, going even harder. This should motive us more.”
The focus now shifts to the individual portion of the season, which begins with the District 1 Class 3A West sectional at Oxford on Feb. 25. From there it’s the South East Regional and then the PIAA championships.
“We just have to get back at it Monday,” Thompson said. “It’s in the past. There’s nothing we can do to change it. We have to take this hurt from losing today and put that into our workout on Monday and moving forward. We still have a lot of potential left in our season. Now we turn it up to our individual season and see who can make it to the state level and hopefully medal at that level.”
Still, the disappointment of the day was clearly evident as the Vanguards gathered for the bus ride home.
“We’re at the point where we don’t care if we’re good for Delaware County,” Ellis said. “We don’t care if we’re good for the Ches-Mont and we don’t care if we’re good for District 1 South anymore. We’re looking to be good for District 1 as a whole, a team that is here every year. That’s what we’re working for. We kind of accomplished that, but we still have a lot more work to do. We’ll be back at it. Thankfully, we still have the individual postseason.”
