It's admittedly a tough act for any high-school wrestling team to follow.
Nine individual champions among 13 advancing through the Pioneer Athletic Conference's post-season tournament. Five District 1-West titlists, two Southeast AAA Regional champs and two medalists at the PIAA Class AAA individual championship.
Team-wise, a 25-2 dual-match record - featuring a 9-0 PAC-10 run - alongside league, district and regional team titles and a District 1-AAA Duals Tournament crown.
So what do you do for an encore to that stellar showing? If you're the Boyertown Bears, you go back to work the next season looking ahead to what needs to be done and not dwelling on what you accomplished.
"Each year is different,' head coach Pete Ventresca said during a break at Saturday's Brian Bealer Memorial Bear Duals. "When we wrestle, we put all the past matches in the rearview mirror. We focus on one match at a time, then worry about the next time when it's over.'
The current pack of Bears is built for a long run of success, returning a corps of underclassmen seasoned by last year's extensive competition against quality opponents and bolstered by their bounty of awards and accomplishments.
Heading the junior class is Jordan Wood, a two-time PIAA silver medalist at 220 who is closing in on the 100-win mark for his scholastic career. Classmates Gregg Harvey (195), Garrett Mauger (126), Lucas Miller (120) and Brody O'Connell (285) also made names for themselves during their sophomore seasons.
"We have a talented group of guys,' Ventresca said, "but we're paper-thin behind them. We can't afford injuries, but we'll continue to work with what we have. We have some really good sophomores and juniors, tough seniors and some good freshmen coming in.'
Boyertown started this season the same way it did the previous one: rolling through the field at the Bealer Duals to finish as champions. It dominated Dallas (62-6), Council Rock North (51-13), Interboro (69-9) and Bethlehem Liberty (49-12) before topping PAC-10 rival Owen J. Roberts in the title match, 34-25.
"It was a hell of a day,' Ventresca said. "The kids came out and battled through adversity. I'm proud of the guys.'
Expanding on its perennial policy of scheduling the best competition available, Boyertown is beefing up its 2014-15 schedule by entering the prestigious "Escape The Rock' Tournament hosted by Council Rock South. The Bears will be lining up alongside area schools like OJR and The Hill School for the 10th installment of a tourney that draws top public and mat programs from Pennsylvania and the surrounding states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia.
Boyertown's visit to the "Rock' the weekend of Jan. 17-18 will come after participation in such top-flight tournaments as the King of the Mountain this coming weekend, and the Beast of the East at the University of Delaware Dec. 20-21.
"We don't wrestle cupcakes,' Ventresca said. "We go for the toughest schedule we can put together. We want to be pushed in our matches.'
In between the King of the Mountain and Beast of the East tournaments, the Bears will open PAC-10 action by visiting Methacton Wednesday, Dec. 17. Their next home match will be Saturday, Dec. 27, against Cumberland Valley.
The 2014-15 season will be the 50th for Boyertown wrestling. To mark that anniversary, the program will be staging a number of special observances in conjunction with its early-season matches.
The observances will start with the Bears' Dec. 27 non-leaguer against Cumberland Valley, honors going to the program's first district duals championship team (2001) and first sectional championship team (1993). For the Jan. 3 PAC-10 match with Upper Perkiomen, Boyertown's state-tournament qualifiers and medalists will be recognized.
On Jan. 10 (Perk Valley match), Boyertown team captains will be honored. Other recognition will take place during matches Wednesday, Jan. 14 with Pope John Paul II (youth wrestlers, past and current youth coaches), Jan. 21 with Pottsgrove (Most Valuable Wrestlers, first Boyertown High wrestling team 1965-66) and Jan. 28 with Pottstown (Senior Night, all past and current high-school and junior-high coaches).
In the course of the season, the Boyertown Wrestling Hall of Fame will vote on new members to enshrine. The ballot lists such Bear mat alumni as Jason Bonney (Class of 1987), Joel Brower (Class of 2001), Jim Davidheiser (Class of '˜73), Brandon Foose (Class of '˜02), Zach Brower (Class of '˜04), Tim Feroe (Class of '˜09), Nick Hyatt (Class of '˜06), David Jones (Class of '˜07), Josh White (Class of '˜06) and Troy Eagle (Class of '˜09).
LATE RETURNS
Daniel Boone opened its season Saturday with a 2-2 showing at the Ephrata Duals; wins came against host Ephrata (39-33) and Lebanon (48-24), losses to Garden Spot (48-24) and Downingtown East (59-12). Shayne Bookwalter (182) and Brenden Valverde (195) each went 4-0 to lead the Blazers.
Gage Gelband headed Methacton's contingent at the Nazareth Invitational this past weekend, placing second at 138 after being nipped by the hosts' Brock Wilson in the gold-medal match, 3-2. Dylan Henry (132) was third in his weight class, Patrick Maloney (195) and Shuaib Nuredini (220) placed fourth, and Michael Gradwell (152) was fifth.
Alex Michener claimed gold for Perkiomen Valley at Catasauqua's Rough Rider Tournament, going 5-0 at 285. The Vikings, in their first action under new head coach Jared Dubbs, had a trio of silver medalists in Aaron Sturm (170), Alec Delladonna (195) and Matt Kenney (220); Sturm and DellaDonna each going 4-1 while Kenney was 3-2.
Pottsgrove went 3-1 at the Wissahickon Duals, topping Strath Haven (45-28), Archbishop Carroll (54-24) and the host Trojans (47-18) but falling to West Chester Henderson (48-29). Ryan Finn (152), Evan Weneck (170), Chris Quintrell (182) and Chris DeFrancesco (195,220) each went 4-0.
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
There will be a new look to The Mercury's wrestling statistics package. One change will be cosmetic, The other will be an attempt to expand on the package content.
The individual and team leaders will now be referred to in the masthead as "Leaders' instead of "Rankings.' This change is to achieve uniformity in terminology with the boys' and girls' basketball stat packages, plus eliminate any misconceptions the position of individuals and teams is based more on opinion and less on performance on the mats.
Head-to-head competition between individuals and teams will be a tie-breaking factor, in the instance two individuals or teams have identical win-loss records.
The other change will be the addition of a chart listing pin leaders among the area's wrestlers. This chart will run periodically during the season, with the plan to see how such an addition will be received.
POLICY STATEMENT
Maintaining and publishing accurate statistics on our area high-school wrestling teams has always been a point of emphasis with our sports department. In order to again achieve this standard, we need support and consideration from various factions with the community.
1. Coaches and statisticians: We want to stress the importance of getting results from ALL the varsity-level dual matches and tournaments in which your teams compete during the season. One or more bouts not figured into wrestlers' records may leave them with an incorrect standing among the area's leaders, and possibly not being accorded proper recognition for their achievements.
We understand there may be instances between late starting times for matches and tournament rounds, and our department's daily copy deadlines, where getting results is not feasible. In those circumstances, though, it would be helpful to send up the bout information at your earliest convenience ... either by phone (610-970-4464 or 4465), fax (610-323-0682) or e-mail (sports@pottsmerc.com).
2. Wrestlers, parents and fans: If you feel the statistics we have on a certain individual are incorrect, the best course of action is to raise the matter with the coach or statistician of the wrestler's team. To maintain the integrity and accuracy of our statistical packages, our department's policy is to NOT change the information unless the issue is brought to our attention by the coaches.
The statistics we run are based on results reported to us - often by the home team (holder of the official scorebook), on occasion by a local team if it is competing on the road against an opponent from outside The Mercury's coverage area. Making changes on the word of somebody other than a coach or statistician can have an adverse effect on the accuracy of the overall package.
With everyone's understanding and cooperation, we at The Mercury sports department can continue to maintain fairness, consistency and accuracy in the statistical package this season.
