Less than 45 minutes after last Friday's wrestling meet at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy got underway in the Vare Field House, the host Blue Devils were rolling up the mats and stowing them away.

In the Inter-Ac League dual meet opener pitting SCH against visiting Germantown Academy, there were forfeits in half of the 14 weight classes. In two weight categories, neither team had an entry, while GA won three other bouts by forfeit and SCH claimed two.

In the seven classes where actual wrestling occurred, no matches went the distance, with the GA Patriots notching pins in all of them. Germantown departed with a 60-12 victory to start off the 2024 league campaign.

Over the holiday break, SCH and two other Inter-Ac teams competed at the annual Ralph Wetzel Classic at Hatboro Horsham High School. They were clumped close together in the final team standings, as Penn Charter placed 13th with 58 points, Episcopal Academy was 14th with 57, and Springside Chestnut Hill was 15th with 55 points.

Germantown Academy came into last Friday's league opener after participating in the Powerade® tournament at Canon-McMillan High School in western Pennsylvania. At this gathering, which included schools from as far away as Florida, the Patriots placed 19th out of 34 teams with 58.5 points, while defending Inter-Ac champion Malvern Prep finished fourth with 174 points.

The Patriots have returned most of their top wrestlers from the 2023-24 campaign, with the exception of freshman lightweight sensation Justin Farnsworth, who transferred to Malvern Prep for his sophomore season. Last winter, he was the only grappler not from Malvern to be selected for All-Inter-Ac First Team honors.

For last Friday's league opener, some seasoned wrestlers were not competing for medical reasons. Two of them were All-Inter-Ac Second Team picks a year ago, current junior Jack Baron of GA (113 lbs.) and SCH senior Sean Brett (138). Farther up the weight scale, the Blue Devils were also missing experienced senior Nasir Yard.

As the meet got underway, no team points were awarded for the 106 lb. class, since neither school sent out a lightweight. Germantown went ahead 12-0 as SCH forfeited to freshman Max Berman at 114 lbs. and to sophomore Aidan Lee at 120.

At 126, Patriots sophomore Shai Sabag quickly executed a takedown and then pinned Blue Devils freshman Talan Ferraro 35 seconds into the contest. Another GA 10th-grader, Adam Seidman, built up a large lead in points with a takedown and three near-falls early in the 132 lb. bout. He would pin junior Shawn Quinn of the host team with 51 seconds remaining in the first period.

Senior Robert Leeds, the 138 lb. entry for the visitors, ended his match in 39 seconds as he matted SCH sophomore Shane Keefe. When Springside Chestnut Hill forfeited to Patriots junior Gavri Sabag in the 144 lb. class, the Patriots led the meet by a score of 36-0.

Two freshmen faced off at 150 lbs., where the Blue Devils' Alex Strock became the only SCH grappler to extend his match into a second period. Germantown's Miles Chapman piled up a 10-0 lead in points in the opening round before sticking Strock 46 seconds into the second stanza.

GA, now ahead 42-0, had clinched the team victory at this stage since SCH could score no more than a total of 36 points in the half-dozen bouts that remained on the docket.

The 42-0 tally stayed up on the board as both teams forfeited at 157 lbs., then the visitors' total began rising again with a win at 165. Here, visitor Nadav Nafski pinned fellow junior John Pieczunski with 46 seconds left in the opening period.

Once again, a pair of 11th-graders were featured as they stepped into the ring at 175 lbs. It took 65 seconds for the Patriots' Jack Breeme to secure a pin against Tristan Ferraro of the Blue Devils.

At 190 lbs., GA senior Luke Sugalski quickly scored a takedown and turned over SCH junior Copeland Brown, but Brown was able to fight off a pin for some time. Finally, with just seven seconds left in the opening period, the ref thumped the mat to signal a pin.

Now up 60-0, the visitors would score no more points that afternoon. The Devils were able to wipe the zero off their side of the scoreboard as GA forfeited to sophomore Nolan Delaney at 215 lbs., and to junior Amari Fallen at 285.