STAYING ALIVE
Stillings, Vulakh and Williams all fighting for state medals
HERSHEY » There might be a time in the future that Pennridge senior Josh Stillings will be able to appreciate and enjoy the fact that he made a little school history with his state semifinal win Saturday morning. The Drexelbound Stillings picked up career win number 150 to pass Scott Parker for second all-time, trailing only Kyle Gentile’s mark of 162.
But ever since settling for a runner-up finish at last year’s PIAA tourney, Stillings has calmly, cooly put laser-sharp focus on one goal— reaching the top of the podium. Stillings earned the chance with a workmanlike 7-2 win over Josh Krieger of Shikellamy.
“It’s nice to know I put myself back in position to win it all,” said Stillings. “It’s a little tough wrestling early in the morning and I felt a little tired, but I got the win and am wrestling tonight. That’s what matters.”
The outcome was never in doubt, as Stillings scored from all three positions, and otherwise held Krieger at bay. The Ram 182-pounder reached into his bag of Greco-Roman tricks for the opening takedown, scoring with a keylock throw.
He added a second period escape, and worked a tilt for two near fall to round out his scor-
ing, though Krieger picked up a reversal with time running out and the match out of reach.
“Josh has more composure than anyone I’ve ever coached,” said Rams’ coach RP Norley. “Even in matches where he’s down, he just sort of makes eye contact with us and lets us know he knows what he needs to do and gets it done. I think that comes from all the time he puts in all year round. He’s seen the situations and has the confidence to know he can do what he has to to get the win.”
Two area wrestlers came up short in their semifinal bouts, Souderton’s Tyler Williams and Pope John Paul II’s Ryan Vulakh.
Williams squared off against Franklin Regional’s Colton Camacho in the 132-pound semifinals. After Camacho grabbed the early lead with a takedown, Williams quickly tied it with a reversal. While the two twice traded escapes, Camacho converted two more takedowns to pick up the 8-4 victory, dropping Williams into consolations.
Williams will wrestle for fifth place after losing by fall to Devon Britton in the consolation semifinals.
Vulakh ran into a buzzsaw in the 145 pound semis in Nazareth’s defending state champ, Sammy Sasso, who had previously finished as runner-up as a sophomore and third as a freshman. Sasso jumped out to a 4-0 lead after a period, and cruised to an 11-1 win.
Vulakh rebounded with a win in the consolation semi-finals. Scoreless after a period against Jobe Chisko of Penn Trafford, Vulakh rode Chisko out through the second period, the managed an escape in the third to eke out a 1-0 win and a slot in the third-place match.
“I was trying to score and extend the lead in the third period,” said Vulakh. “I wanted to see if I could take some re-shots or set something up, but he wasn’t really committing to his shots and did a pretty good job defending.”
It’s never easy to come so close to your goal of a state title, only to suffer a defeat in semifinals. To come back such a short time later to wrestle in consolations can be very difficult.
“This round can be as tough as any round in the tournament,” said PJPII coach Tom Hontz. “You have one kid coming off a tough loss in semis and have to wrestle a kid who is coming off a win. But Ryan did a good job getting his focus back. He wasn’t overly offensive, but he did what he needed to do to get the win.
Joining Williams in the fifth place bouts is LaSalle’s 285-pounder, Garrett Zobel. Zobel kicked off his day with a fourth round consolation win, defeating Roman Catholic’s Michael Leyland 5-4, but then fell to Central York’s Michael Wolfgram by a score of 8-5 in the consolation semifinals.
Wrestling for seventh place following losses in the fourth round consolations are North Penn’s Patrick O’Neill (160) and Ryan Cody (285), along with William Tennent’s Yusuf Aladinov (195). Championship semifinals 132--Colton Camacho (Franklin Regional) dec Tyler Williams (Souderton) 8-4 145--Sammy Sasso (Nazereth) maj dec Ryan Vulakh (PJPII) 11-1 182--Josh Stillings (Pennridge) dec Josh Krieger (Shikellamy) 7-2 Consolation Rd 4 106--Tai-Reese Fleming (Bethlehem Liberty) dec. Matt Vulakh (PJPII) 7-0 160--Jacob Burguette (Scranton) maj. dec. Patrick O’Neill (North Penn) 12-3 195--Elijah Jones (Boyertown) pinned Yusuf Aladinov (William Tennant) 2:04 285--Gerald Brown (West Mifflin) maj dec Ryan Cody (North Penn) 9-1; Garrett Zobel (LaSalle) dec Mike Leyland (Roman Catholic) 5-4 Consolation semifinals 132--Devon Britton (Northampton) pinned Tyler Williams (Souderton) 3:23 145--Ryan Vulakh (PJPII) dec Jobe Chisko (Penn Trafford) 1-0 285--Michael Wolfgram (Central York) dec Garrett Zobel (LaSalle) 8-5