One Last Stand
Campbell’s 4th leads five locals on Pennsylvania title podium
HERSHEY >> The swan song to his storied high-school career didn’t play out the way Jakob Campbell had envisioned.
But it couldn’t overshadow how the last four winters went for the Boyertown senior.
Campbell went into Saturday evening’s Class AAA medal round of the PIAA Championships in position to place third for the second time in three visits to the Giant Center for the state’s individual competition. The quest ended with a 5-2 loss to Bethlehem Catholic’s Ryan Anderson, yet still with the highest medal of the five area wrestlers who qualified for the medal round.
“It’s a nice accomplishment,” Campbell said. “There are a lot of people for whom I’m happy about this”
Campbell (39-6) had a number of “fourpeats” to accompany his program-first four state qualifications. He won four Pioneer Athletic and District 1-AAA West titles, scored four South East AAA Regional medals — highlighted by his championship finish this year — and 154 career wins, tying him for ninth place on the Mercury coverage area’s all-time chart.
“My dream to get here ... that was it,” Campbell said. “Getting to three states before this, I couldn’t have imagined it.”
Anderson got the upper hand on Campbell with a
first-period takedown. Jakob managed a second-period escape from a bottom start, but Anderson decided the outcome with an escape and takedown in the third period.
“I knew he was tough. He beat me last year,” Campbell recalled. “He wrestled a better match.
“I knew what he did. I just didn’t execute. Now I have to go back to the drawing board.”
Teammate Matt Wilde pulled off a unique double play in the 113-pound bracket’s fifth-place bout. His 6-4 decision of Stroudsburg’s Cameron Enriquez netted the Bear senior both his first state-level medal, and the 100th victory of his scholastic career in his high-school finale.
“Getting 100 is awesome,” Wilde said. “Now I’m going to sit back and watch my teammates. Right now, I’m going to hang out.”
Wilde (47-5) opened with a first-period takedown, then escaped from a bottom start in the second period before scoring another takedown en route to a 5-1 lead. Enriquez turned a similar trick to start the third, but Wilde got loose for insurance in the decision.
I think the takedown with 30 seconds left was big,” he recalled. “I just grabbed and held on to his wrist.”
Ryan Resnick found his fifth-place medal at 160 a satisfying cap to his scholastic career. His 4-2 decision of Chambersburg’s Luke Nichter left the Owen J. Robert senior with a happy finish to his second individual state-tournament visit, one that saw him get as far as the semifinal round before a pair of losses — the second to North Allegheny’s Eric Hong, who he upended in their previous go-round Thursday — earlier in the day.
“It’s a bittersweet moment,” Resnick (43-5) said. “A lot of blood, sweat and tears over the last couple years.
“It was nice to finally make the trip my senior year. Now I start a new chapter at TennesseeChattoonga ... looking to make strides, become an All-American.”
Elijah Jones rounded out Boyertown’s medalround contingent by claiming the fifth-place medal at 182. He did it in dramatic fashion, wrestling Penn Trafford’s Matt McGillick 1-1 in regulation before deciding the matter emphatically with a pin 54 seconds into the overtime frame.
“It would have been nice to not go overtime,” the Bear junior (47-8) said. “It definitely makes my season. I’m hoping for great things next year ... to keep going, wrestle my match.”
Jones’ win owed itself to his response to McGillick’s attempted shot of an inside single.
“I got a let over him,” he recalled. “He tried to jump me, but I was able to get the cradle on him.”
Nick Duliakas, an OJR senior, settled for sixth place at 195 after reaching the semifinals.
*** It will undoubtably qualify as one the greatest state-championship bouts in PIAA wrestling history.
Austin DeSanto was determined to drop down to the 126-pound weight class for the postseason, with the object of getting a rematch with Spencer Lee. The titanic Franklin Regional senior, unbeaten for his high-school career and winner of three state titles, had spoiled DeSanto’s dreams of a state gold medal in last year’s 120-pound clash.
This time around, it was DeSanto’s turn to spoil a gold-medal dream. He did it on the center mat of the Giant Center, edging Lee by a 6-5 count in a rollicking bout whose outcome was greeted by a raucous response from the crowd.
It definitely ended any second-guessing of the Exeter senior’s decision to come down from the 132-pound weight class he dominated during the regular season.
“A lot of people did that,” DeSanto recalled. “My coaches wanted me to stay at 132.”
“That’s where we wanted him,” head coach Jon Rugg confirmed. “But we wanted it to be his decision. We told him he’s 18 years old, he can make the decision.”
Following a scoreless first period, Lee (35-1) pulled in front with a second-period takedown. He then went ahead 3-0 by escaping off a bottom start in the third period.
DeSanto’s response was to get three takedowns while yielding Lee just two releases. The clincher came as time ran out in the bout, the referees’ call affirmed at the end.
“I tried to not be too wild,” DeSanto (said in reference to their 2016 duel, which saw Lee get the early stop 3:43 in. “Last year I was too aggressive.”
“Last year wasn’t an indication,” Rugg added. “You can’t open up on the bottom against Lee.”
Lee’s high-school record included four sectional and Southwest AAA Regional titles. DeSanto, for his part, had four sectional and South Central AAA Regional championships to his credit, as well as state medals his sophomore and junior seasons.
Tyler Bagoly, Exeter’s other medal qualifier, scored a fourth at 170. He came out on the short end of a 5-1 score with Albert Gallatin’s Tim Wallace.