Final hurdle before states
For wrestlers looking to return to the PIAA Championships or others just trying to make their first appearance in Hershey, the final hurdle to do so begins Friday night at the South East Class AAA Regionals at Oxford Area High School.
The two-day tournament — with the top five finishers in each weight advancing to states — begins 5:30 p.m. Friday with first round and quarterfinals of the championship brackets. Saturday’s action begins with consolation pigtails at 9:30 a.m. with fifth, third and five-place matches set to go at 6 p.m.
Suburban One League Continental Conference rivals North Penn and Pennridge each have six wrestlers competing at Oxford after strong showings from both at District 1-3A East last Saturday. The Rams took second behind Council Rock South while the Continental champ Knights came in third.
Josh Stillings picked up Pennridge’s lone gold last week but
for the senior the title was his fourth at districts as he was the meet’s Most Outstanding Wrestler after winning at 182 pounds with a pair of pins then a 16-1 tech fall over Upper Moreland’s Harry Green in the final, improving his season record to 24-1.
Looking to claim a third consecutive regional championships, Stillings starts with a bye before facing either Upper Darby’s Dezhan Peterson or Sun Valley’s Nicholas Bailey.
Both junior Evan Widing (145) and sophomore Logan Green (160) took district silver for the Rams. Widing (29-8) opens against Jett Lucas-Murphy of Downigntown East while Green (227) began against Strath Haven’s John Crawford.
For North Penn, both junior Patrick O’Neill and senior Ryan Cody have firstround byes are winning district titles at 160 and 285, respectively. O’Neill (29-7) just missed out on a trip to states last season, falling in the regional fifth-place match at 160. Owen Verespy was on the opposite side of that fifth-place match, winning his at 220 to join Cody — who took fourth at 285 — at the Giant Center in 2017.
Verespy (32-4), who dropped a 2-0 decision to Hatboro-Horsham’s Nick Chapman in the 220 district final, starts regionals against Tyler LaRocca of Spring-Ford.
Souderton had four wrestlers qualify for regionals but its a solid quartet for the Indians with a pair of district champs in Tyler Williams at 132 and Bruno Stolfi at 195 while Harrison Andrade took second at 138.
Methacton brings seven to Oxford after the Warriors took third at the District 1-AAA Central Championships behind first place Owen J. Roberts and Boyertown. Sophomore Kibwe McNair earned a first-round bye at 132 after earning Most Outstanding Wrestler at Central with pinfall wins in the final two matches and enters regionals at 32-2.
Fellow PAC side Pope John Paul has three regional qualifiers with all three reaching the championship final at District 1-3A Central and freshman Matt Vulakh (106) and junior Ryan Vulakh (145) claiming gold.
Three Norristown wrestler made it regionals — seniors Rick Bregenzer (138) and Rich Maggio (195) and junior Nick Semon (152) all taking fourth at District 1-3A Central. Plymouth Whitemarsh has a pair looking to reach states — Zach Fisher (160 and Paolo DiSanto (285) both finished third at districts. Upper Dublin junior Mason Novak picked up district bronze at 170.