OJR, Pottsgrove poised for first PAC championship dual
High school wrestling’s postseason has taken over the spotlight from the regular season.
It will offer high-octane, highcaliber, high-performance action over a month’s time, whittling a field of more than a thousand hopefuls down to a handful of champions. This year, however, it will offer a different look.
The new look will be on display Thursday, with the inaugural Pioneer Athletic Conference Championship taking the place of the sectional/league individual tourneys of past years. The regular-season division champions — Owen J. Roberts from the Liberty Division, Pottsgrove from the Frontier — will face off at Boyertown in a 6:30 p.m. duel to declare the PAC’s overall titlist.
The Wildcats went 5-0 in divisional action, 6-0 against PAC teams in regular-season duals and 19-5 overall. They are coming off a run in the PIAA’s Team Duals tournament, going 1-2 after placing third in District 1’s competition.
Owen J. Roberts’ middleweights have been the backbone of the lineup, proving to be a solid alignment. From Antonio Petrucelli at 138, through Cole Meredith (145), Connor Quinn (152/160) and Daniel Mancini (152/160) to Ricky McCutchen (170), Owen J. has been particularly stalwart in those weight classes.
Individually, Meredith joined the area’s 100-win ranks during the state duals’ portion at Hershey’s Giant Center. Petrucelli (97-35) is closing on the mark, and Quinn (90-21) is in position to duplicate that feat yet this winter.
Mancini, in the meantime, continues a steady climb up the area’s leaders. The senior’s current win total of 133 has him 36th all-time, and fifth in the OJR program’s annals.
Pottsgrove was outright champion of the PAC’s Frontier Division after being neck-in-neck with teams like Pottstown and Upper Perkiomen in recent years. The Falcons were 6-1 against PAC
opponents in the regular season and 15-6 overall, going 7-1 in matches prior to Wednesday’s with Wilson.
“That was our No. 1 goal at the beginning of the season,” Zachary Van Horn said after the Falcons’ clinching win against Phoenixville on Jan. 30. “We’re happy, and excited.”
Van Horn, Stephen Hennelly and Josh Cerrito have been among Pottsgrove’s top performers this season. Van Horn has gone 23-3 wrestling at the upper end of the scale (195, 220) while Hennelly (17-5) and Cerrito (17-6) have been solid in the middle weights. DISTRICT 1 AAA » A reconfiguration within Pennsylvania’s District 1 will see the replacement of the PAC’s individual tournament with the championship dual. And where there were three tourneys for Class AAA programs (East, Central, West) in past years, there are now four.
The various District 1 tourneys (North, South, East, West) will number 15 or 16 schools in each. They will advance four wrestlers from each weight class to the Southeast AAA Regional, which returns to Souderton the weekend of March 1-2.
The District 1-AAA North Tournament, being hosted by Pottstown Feb. 22-23, will be principally comprised of PAC schools. Boyertown, Methacton, Norristown, Owen J. Roberts, Perkiomen Valley, Phoenixville, Pottsgrove, the host Trojans, Spring-Ford, Upper Merion and Upper Perkiomen will be joined by Conestoga, Great Valley and Souderton.
Owen J. Roberts coach Steve DeRafelo, for one, likes the change.
“I support the realignment of the district tournaments,” he said. “It was a grind battling the teams in the PAC week after week, seeing the same teams in the District Duals, then hitting them for three straight weeks in the postseason.
“I would have preferred to shift everything up a week and have a full week and a half to rest up for states. Whatever the alignment is going to be, it is my job to prepare the kids for the opportunity to be at their best.”
But Tim Seislove, whose Spring-Ford program found itself wrestling Owen J. three times in a recent 2½ week period, offered a different viewpoint.
“I’m very against getting rid of the PAC tournament,” he said. “I thought it was good.”
The other District 1 tournament lineups:
South: Academy Park, Cheltenham, Harriton, Haverford High, Interboro (host), Lower Merion, Marple Newtown, Penn Wood, Plymouth Whitemarsh, Radnor, Ridley, SpringfieldDelco, Strath Haven, Upper Darby, Upper Dublin, Wissahickon.
East: Abington, Bensalem, Central Bucks East, Central Bucks South, Central Bucks West, Council Rock North, Council Rock South, Harry S. Truman, Hatboro Horsham, Neshaminy, North Penn, Pennridge, Pennsbury, Quakertown (host), Upper Moreland, William Tennent.
West: Avon Grove, Chichester, Coatesville, Downingtown East, Downingtown West, Garnet Valley, Glen Mills, Kennett, Oxford Area, Penncrest, Sun Valley, Unionville, West Chester East, West Chester Henderson, West Chester Rustin (host). DISTRICT 1-AA » Pope John Paul II was originally listed among the school in the District 1-AAA North field. But a reclassification as a Class AA program will have the Golden Panthers breaking away from their PAC brethren this post-season and taking a different course to Hershey.
PJP will venture to Church Farm School for the Feb. 23 District 1/12-AA Tournament. Its high-finishing wrestlers will then be in the field for the Southeast AA Regional Tournament returning to WilsonWest Lawn March 1-2.
The Panthers had two AAA-level state medalists in brothers Ryan and Matt Vulakh last winter.
Ryan, third at 152 his junior year, is currently unbeaten (25-0) and three wins away from the century mark for his scholastic career. Matt (18-7) was eighth at 106 as a freshman.
A third PJP wrestlers, Jack Files, is in position to make a strong run in the post-season. The senior upperweight (18-7) fell short of qualifying for states last year, going 2-2 in the Southeast AAA Regional tournament at Oxford. INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS » The private school post-season will kick into gear this weekend at Malvern Prep, host for the Pa. Independent Schools tournament Feb. 15-16. The top finishers will then head to Lehigh University for National Preps the weekend of Feb. 22-23.
The Hill School has a number of wrestlers who have had solid 2018-19 seasons to date. Sam Beckett, a freshman wrestling in the 138-145 pound range, is 234; another freshman, Jacob Craig (106-113) is 22-2; and a sophomore, Derek Schmaeling, is 19-10 competing at 195 and 220.