December 18, 2008 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

Champs from GFS, PC and host CHA at annual wrestling tourney
by TOM UTESCHER

CHA Sophomore Dan Gallagher in his first match of the tournament vs. Cardinal O’Hara’s Matt Rooney. Gallagher, who won by pin in the second period, was the 160 lb. champion and was named most putstanding wrestler of the tourney.  For more photos visit chlocalphotos.com. (Photos by Jimmy J. Pack Jr.)

Host CHA, Germantown Friends School, and Penn Charter each produced an individual champion last Saturday at the 2008 Chestnut Hill Academy Invitational Wrestling Tournament, but the team title went to Westtown School, the defending champions in GFS’ own Friends School League.

Last year, Westtown was a close second to Delaware’s Sanford School at the CHA tourney, but this time around the Chester County club took top honors, with one gold, four silver, and five bronze medalists helping haul in 203 team points. Second, with 120 points, was Cardinal O’Hara from the Philadelphia Catholic League, and third with 101.5 points was Boston’s Buckingham, Browne & Nichols School, where the assistant wrestling coach is Adam Holland, a member of CHA’s Class of 1990 along with current Chestnut Hill head coach Charlie Neely.

Philadelphia’s own Father Judge High School (95.5 points) and Frankfort High School (91.5) were next, followed closely by sixth-place GFS, which had sophomore Nathaniel Rabin win the 119 lb. weight class and saw junior Nick Marini come in second at 145.

Seventh place CHA (84.5) and number eight Penn Charter (75) each had two finalists as well. CHA sophomore Dan Gallagher was the champion at 160 lbs. and junior Brendan Spearing was runner-up at 189 lbs. For the Quakers, freshman Evan Botwin (103 lbs.) struck gold and senior Ben Fries (140 lbs.) earned a silver medal. In a vote of all the team coaches, CHA’s Gallagher was named the outstanding wrestler of the tournament.

Rounding out the tourney field were New Hope Solebury High School (64 points), Church Farm School (50.5), Cardinal Dougherty (39.5), George School (38), Central High School (25) and Valley Forge Military Academy (five points).

Several years ago the Philadelphia Public League became an official participant in the PA Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) and the Philadelphia Catholic League followed suit last fall. In some weight classes, PIAA rules had an influence even at this event sponsored by non-affiliated CHA.

The state association only permits wrestlers to compete in five matches in the course of a single day, and in several cases ties were declared at Saturday’s tourney because an athlete in a well-populated weight class had already wrestled five times before his final bout of the day came up on the schedule.

The tourney followed a double-elimination format, and participants who lost in the main draw went into a consolation wrestleback bracket where, if they were successful, they could finish as high as third place overall.

Of the 11 entries for GFS, two lost in each of their first two matches and were done for the day. Two other Tigers finished 1-2. Andrew Reed (103 lbs.) recorded a first-period pin in a consolation-round bout, and Shimpei Kurokawa (103 lbs.) won a 21-7 major decision in his opening match.

James Hall went 1-1 in the main draw at 152 lbs., and won a 5-3 decision in his first consolation match. After that, the sophomore suffered a second-period pin at the hands of PC’s Joey Woodruff. Another 10th-grade Tiger, Mike Pinover, went 2-1 with two pins to reach the consolation final, a match he lost to wind up fourth overall. A fourth-place finish also went to sophomore Anthony Clark (189 lbs.), who booked a pin and a 3-1 decision to win two of his first three outings before falling in the third/fourth match.

The aforementioned five-match rule came into play for GFS’  Jesse Furukawa (125 lbs.) and Colin Schaefer (171 lbs.). Furukawa, a tenth-grader, went 1-1 in the main draw and then accepted a forfeit in his first consolation match. His next opponent was Cardinal Dougherty’s Steve Lugas, who had already been in five contests, so the two shared third place.

Buckingham, Browne & Nichols is also subject to similar guidelines up in Massachusetts, and by the time he got to a third-fourth bout against Schaefer, the Knights’ Matt Leahy had already reached his limit. Scheafer, a senior, started his day with a pin, dropped a close decision (6-4), and then won two matches by pin and one by decision in the wrestle-backs.

At 119 lbs., Germantown’s Rabin went through to the finals with a 17-0 technical fall and a 3-1 decision, and at 145 lbs. Marini made the championship match with a second-period pin and a win by forfeit.

Neither GFS, CHA, nor Penn Charter had participated in more than a few dual meets before last weekend’s tourney. Under new head coach Kazem Gholami (a former Iranian champion who coached CHA for several years in the 1990’s), GFS started out 3-0 in duals this season, defeating CHA, Church Farm, and the Perkiomen School. CHA had balanced the GFS loss with a win over George School, while Penn Charter had also beaten George School before losing to Conwell-Egan from the Catholic League.

Like GFS, Penn Charter brought a total of 11 men to the tourney. In a sparse field at 103 lbs., Chestnut Hill native Botwin got to the semifinals with a bye and then moved on with a second-period pin. The Quakers’ Fries stamped his ticket to the finals with a first-period pin and a 12-2 major decision.

Two other Quakers exited early, losing their first two matches of the day. Brent Gagne (135 lbs.) opened up by winning a 4-1 decision and was 1-2 for the day, and the same record belonged to Tharail Singleton (171 lbs.), whose victory took the form of a second-period pin in his initial match of the tourney. Nash Robinson (145 lbs.) left the main draw when he lost a 2-1 decision, but he then drew a pair of forfeits in the wrestle-backs. He finished fourth overall after dropping another close decision, 6-5.

PC’s David Zager (freshman, 125), Jared Wenger (sophomore, 130), Joey Woodruff (freshman, 152), and Nick Cassizzi (senior, 189), all reached the semifinals of the wrestlebacks, one round short of the third/fourth match. Zager won and lost by pin in the main draw, picked up another pin and a win by disqualification in the consolations, and then forfeited his next contest due to injury. Wenger lost his first bout of the day, then booked a pair of second-period pins in the wrestle-backs before losing in the same fashion in his last match.

In the main draw Woodruff won and lost by pins, then stuck two more opponents in the consolations before losing to CHA’s Matt Rubin, 8-6. After losing his tourney debut, Cassizzi pinned his next rival in the first period and the one after that in the second round. His run ended when he was pinned in the semifinals of the wrestlebacks.

Chestnut Hill Academy came into its own tourney with a 10-man crew. The Devils’ top wrestler, two-time tourney champ and senior co-captain Justin Heller, was missing due to personal reasons. Heller wrestled at either 112 or 119 lbs. last season, and at this year’s CHA tournament the Devils filled those two classes with freshmen, Matt Kaluder and Rob Ortelere. At 119 lbs., Ortelere had the misfortune of opening up against the GFS gold medalist, Rabin. He lost by technical fall, 17-0, and suffered a setback in his next contest as well. CHA’s Connor Small (130 lbs.) and Ethan Wang (171 lbs.) were also sidelined early, losing their first two matches. Klauder, meanwhile, lost his main draw match but then picked up a pin in wrestle-backs before winding up with a loss by decision, 11-9.

CHA’s Steve Dandridge (145 lbs.) saw the upside and downside of pins as he went 1-1 in the main draw, and he forfeited in the consolation round. Junior Will Emery (285 lbs.) started out in an identical manner in the main draw, but he fared much better in the wrestle-backs, pinning his next two opponents in the second period to finish third overall in the tournament. At 152 lbs., junior Matt Rubin also made it to the third-fourth match, but did not have a successful outcome. En route to his fourth-place finish, he secured a second-period pin and lost an 8-4 decision in the main draw, and then won 8-6 in the consolation semifinals.

A 15-1 major decision and a 51-second pin in the main draw got CHA’s Spearing through to the championship match at 189 lbs., while at 160 lbs. Gallagher reached the final round with a pair of second-period pins.

In the 103 lb. match at the start of the tourney finals, it was clear that PC’s Botwin was at a height and weight disadvantage against Westtown’s Will Cauffman. However, Botwin has been wrestling since the age of five and has over 600 career victories, and although he couldn’t turn the stronger Cauffman, he put his experience to work in calmly grinding out a 3-0 victory. Westtown also fell short in the 112 lb. final as Alex Becker lost a 9-0 major decision to fellow sophomore Joe Jones, of Cardinal O’Hara.

In the next match, GFS’ Rabin (119 lbs.) took a businesslike approach similar to that of PC’s Botwin. Recording a takedown in each period, he won the title in a 6-3 decision over New Hope Solebury senior Ethan Bravo. The point total soared in the next contest, as Frankfort senior Chris Mullins allowed multiple escapes in order to score numerous takedowns against Westtown junior Ian Yamaguchi. Mullins finally notched three back points to complete a 24-7 technical fall.

At 130 lbs., BBN junior Greg Fallon rallied from a 4-2 deficit at the start of the third period, tying the match at 6-6 and then winning 7-6 thanks to a stalling point on senior Luke Westby of Cardinal O’Hara. O’Hara won at 135 lbs., though, with senior Chris Alexander outpointing George School junior Ben Gutierrez, 8-2.

This brought up PC’s Fries in his 140 lb. final against Frankfort junior Anthony White. Falling behind on a first-period takedown, Fries started the second round in the superior position, but White reversed him and the rest of the match consisted of takedowns by the Frankfort man and escapes by Fries. White won, 13-4.

After seven matches without a pin, each of the next three bouts was won by fall in the first period. It took O’Hara senior Jim Jones (Joe’s brother) 54 seconds to mat Germantown’s Marini at 145 lbs., and at 152 lbs. Father Judge’s Tim Walker required 67 ticks to pin fellow senior Logan Cawley of New Hope Solebury. CHA’s Gallgher was next in the 160 lb. final, and he secured a pin just 57 seconds into his encounter with Frankfort senior Terrell Belcher.

In a meeting of seniors at 171 lbs., four takedowns helped Westtown’s Michael Williams post an 11-1 major decision over O’Hara’s Matt Slesicki. CHA’s Spearing suffered a heartbreaking loss in his 189 lb. final against Chris Tranchitella, a senior from Father Judge. Following a 0-0 opening period, Tranchitella repeatedly tried to stage a stand-up escape to get on the board in the second stanza, but Spearing hauled him back down each time to keep it 0-0 going into round three. Starting on the bottom, Spearing scored a reversal, then the Judge man escaped to make it 2-1. The CHA junior reinforced his lead by using an arm drag to set up a takedown with 30 seconds to go. Spearing now led 4-1, but in the final seconds Tranchitella scored a takedown (two points) and three-back points to pull out a 6-4 victory.

BBN junior Derek Papagianopoulos (215 lbs.) took a 21-7 major decision over Church Farm senior Lucas Lyons.  Tshe tournament concluded with a victory at 285 lbs. for Frankfort’s Elvis Diaz, who pinned rival junior Trevor Lohrey of Westtown with 26 seconds remaining in the first period.