Pennsbury upset by Council Rock North

For BucksLocalSports

Matches don’t get much closer than Council Rock North’s 3328 win over Pennsbury last Thursday night.

But in as much as it was wrestling, and not horse shoes or hand grenades, close was of little consequence for Pennsbury.

The Falcons had a chance to move into the driver’s seat in the race for the Suburban One National title, but after last week’s disappointing loss Jan. 31 in Newtown, the race has been thrown wide open. After VuIIHrLnJ LWV firVW ORVV Ln WKH conference, they now have only two league matches remaining, against Bensalem and Neshaminy.

Pennsbury, which had been missing several wrestlers from its lineup over the course of the season, was finDOOy EDFN DW IuOO VWrHnJWK but it wasn’t enough to hold off the host Indians. That was mainly because Council Rock was able to limit the point production of some of the Falcons’ best wrestlers and was also able to add wins in a pair of key matchups. One of those two wins turned out to be the deciding bout of the night.

After Pennsbury’s Josh aiSanto had made short work of his opponent at 126 pounds with a 50-second pin to put the Falcons up 28-24 with only two bouts remaining, the Indians bumped Tim Ambacher up to 132 to face the Falcons’ Anthony aiEmidio.

With Council Rock counting on an almost certain win from John autrow in the nLJKW’V finDO ERuW, WKDW SuW all the pressure on aiEmidio and Ambacher. Neither wrestler gave an inch.

AIWHr D VFRrHOHVV firVW SHriod, Ambacher was able to ride aiEmidio out for the entire second period. That left aiEmidio no choice but to give Ambacher an uncontested escape and spend WwR PLnuWHV fiJKWLnJ IRr D takedown. It was a takedown that never came as Ambacher eluded aiEmidio’s assault to walk away with a 1-0 win which set up autrow’s match winning pin.

The other key Council Rock win came at 170. The Indians’ Mike Rodemacher WrDLOHd Ey fivH SRLnWV Ln WKH firVW SHrLRd DIWHr EHLnJ turned for three points by Pennsbury’s Ryan Healy. He would storm from behind in the third period to win 14-10.

Rodemacher had cut the dHfiFLW WR WwR SRLnWV Ey WKH end of the second period and then won the bout with a pair of near falls and two takedowns in the third period.

In all, there were four bouts decided by only a single point. The two teams split those wins with Ambacher and Raj Patel, who won 3-2 at 160, winning for Council Rock. Luke Kowal, who won 1-0 at 152, and Mike O’Brien, who won 5-4 at 195, won for Pennsbury.

With Council Rock holding a 24-12 lead after the heavyweight bout, Pennsbury still seemed in pretty good shape heading into the lightweights, which are the team’s strength. However, even though the Falcons picked up four straight wins, they could get only four bonus points. Three came from aiSanto’s pin and another coming on Connor Joyce’s 13-0 major decision at 113.

“We knew they were goLnJ WR fiJKW uV KDrd,” 3HnnVbury coach Phil Kealy said after the disappointing loss. “We’re not there yet. There’s always room for improvement. This gives us D ORW RI WKLnJV WR fix uS.”

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