Berks Catholic wins district title
The Saints defeat West Perry 31-25 in the District 3 Class 2A final
Even though he was wrestling in just the third bout, Brody Kline knew how important his match would be for Berks Catholic.
Kline scored a first-period fall that helped the Saints get out to a big lead Saturday and Berks Catholic held on to defeat West Perry 31-25 to win the District 3 Wrestling Class 2A team championship at Cumberland Valley.
“I knew I had to go out there and do my job,” Kline said. “I had to get the six and Owen (Reber) came out and got six.”
Kline at 215 pounds and Reber at 285 scored back-to-back falls that got Berks Catholic out to a 15-3 lead. The top-seeded Saints (22-0) held on to win their first District 3 title in the program’s three-year history despite second-seeded West Perry (15-2) winning seven of 13 bouts.
“It’s cool,” said Berks Catholic coach Derek Sola. “It’s definitely a fun feeling.
Things you do as a team are always a lot of fun.”
The Saints got major contributions from their winners and losers from the start. Gabe Davis in the opening bout overcame a three-point deficit to earn a 6-5 decision at 172. Even though West Perry tied it with an overtime win in the next bout, Kline was inspired when he went on the mat.
“Gabe got me excited; he got the rest of my team excited,” said Kline, the Saints’ captain.
Kline needed just 1 minute, 25 seconds to score a fall and Reber followed with a pin in 33 seconds to get the Saints out to the 15-3 lead.
The domination continued when Christopher Smith scored a technical fall at 107.
West Perry tried to climb back into the match with decisions in the next two bouts. But a technical fall by Gunnar Maciejewski at 127 followed by a firstperiod fall by Marvin Armistead gave Berks Catholic a nearly insurmountable 31-9 lead with four bouts left.
West Perry still had the heart of its lineup to come but needed bonus points in every bout. The Mustangs swept the final four bouts with just one fall and a major decision.
“We had a lot of bonus points and our guys that lost didn’t give up a lot of bonus points,” Sola said. “They did a good job of keeping it close and battling.”
Kline said he expects the Saints will keep battling when they open the PIAA Team Wrestling Championships Thursday in the Giant Center against District 4 runner-up Canton.
But he and his teammates were taking Saturday night to celebrate the district championship eight days after the Saints won their first Berks County title.
“Going into this match we knew that they had some heavy hitters and we have some heavy hitters too,” Kline said. “We did what we had to do. I’m proud of all my guys.”