Methacton beats Pottstown in Devil Duals final
other. Then – in a preview of their upcoming Pioneer Athletic Conference battle in 10 days – Methacton earned the first-place trophy with a 35-22 win.
Joe Staley, Mike Baccaro, Tahar Ferradji, and Tracey Green each went a perfect 5-0 on the day for the Warriors (9-3), who also defeated Malvern Prep (53-21), West Chester Henderson (42-21), Glen Mills (60-16), and Monsignor Bonner (58-16) along the way.
Patrick Bohn and Jasheel Brown were both 5-0 for the Trojans (12-3), who knocked off Oxford (76-6), Avon Grove (599), Bensalem (43-19), and Notre Dame (45-28) to reach the final.
“We all knew that we shamed ourselves on Thursday (in a 49-12 PAC-10 loss at home to Boyertown),” said junior 132-pounder Staley, who got the championship match started with a pin in 41 seconds. “We knew we had to come in and show we can wrestle.”
“The effort wasn’t there (on Thursday),” said Warrior coach A.J. Maida. “The effort was there (on Saturday). I would argue we’re not a very good team right now. Our goal is to be a good wrestling team by the time February and March come around. Maybe this was a step in the right direction.”
After the quick pin by Staley, Pottstown came back to take its only lead of the match at 9-6 on an 11-6 win by Bohn and a pair of 5-0 decisions by Brown and Darien Hain. Then the Warriors ran off six wins in a row – topped off by a 42-second pin by heavyweight Tracey Green – for a 31-9 advantage. Even then, Pottstown stayed alive right down to the second to the last bout with a major decision by Logan Pennypacker and a forfeit. But Eric Straup, who only needed to avoid being pinned, wrapped things up for the Warriors with a 16-7 win at 120 pounds.
“Everyone knew they had to step it up,” said Staley. “There were a couple times I think we could have gotten more points. We had something to prove today.”
Trojan coach Brad Bechtel was not only happy with his wrestlers who have gotten off to good starts this season and continued to do well on Saturday, but also with those with lesser records coming in who contributed to the team’s success.
“All in all, a good day,” said the Trojan first-year coach. “Third up in Jim Thorpe and second here … the guys are improving every week. There were a couple matches where we could have gotten guys on their backs. But there were a lot of good individual matches, some really good challenging matches. Some guys who didn’t have that good a record did well.
How can you not be proud … 4-1? My focus is to get into district duals.”
Maida said he was given the option, after winning the pool, to wrestle somebody other than a team from his own league in the final. But he wanted his team to take on the best possible opponent, and that was Pottstown.
“You always like to see somebody different,” said Maida. “But, very honestly, Pottstown is a better team than we are, and we put the challenge to the kids. We wanted to see a better team. They have some outstanding wrestlers. They have good young kids and outstanding senior leadership and Brad is doing a fantastic job. Hats off to those guys. They have a pretty good thing going.”
“This is good to tell us how we’re going to do in a couple weeks (on January 16) against them,” Staley added. “The lineups will be different, but it tells us how hard we need to work.”
Staley upped his season record to a team-best 18-2, with Green right behind at 17-2.
“I worked hard in the summer,” said Staley. “I work with Dan Damato. He’s a good practice partner. I watch my matches a lot to see if I can improve on my mistakes.”
NOTES
Logan Pennypacker, Mason Pennypacker, Bryant Wise, Sebastian Shiffler, Hain, Jordan Ekstrom, and Alex Humma all compiled 4-1 records for the Trojans, as did Sayer Campbell Damato, and Devin Bradley for the Warriors. … Humma, who lost only a tough 3-2 decision to Methacton’s steven Stanjnrajh on a late reversal in the 195-pound bout, had no wins coming in. … “He came in today and he really wrestled well,” said Bechtel. “We asked him what he ate for breakfast this morning.” … Bohn remained undefeated for the season at 15-0 while Hain and Wise each suffered their first loss. … Bensalem senior Mike Pritchard earned his 100th career win and was named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler.