Boyertown wrestlers didn't do anything all that spectacular in Wednesday night's highly anticipated Pioneer Athletic Conference match at Owen J. Roberts. But the Bears did perform solidly from one end of the lineup to the other in a 41-16 win.
J.T. Cooley got Boyertown (3-0, 9-0) started with a decision at 132 pounds and Chris Berry followed with a pin as the defending champion Bears led all the way in their second win of the season over the Wildcats (1-1, 5-2).
"We were keeping it going on our feet and kept the pressure on them," said Cooley, a sophomore, who jumped to a 4-0 lead in the opening minute and went on to a 7-1 win. "We all just put it together and wrestled well. It was our match to win or lose. We were pretty hyped up for this match. We wrestled as a team."
Cooley recorded a quick takedown and a two-point near fall, which relieved a bit of the pressure that goes with leading off an important match.
"It was a little nerve-wracking in this big of a match," he added. "I was up for the challenge. It was a little more pressure. But pressure's not a bad thing. That eased the nerves a little bit."
Berry's pin in 4:42 gave the visitors a 9-0 lead and they steadily pulled away, with the help of a pin by heavyweight Tommy Killoran, followed by an 18-4 match-clinching decision by Jakob Campbell.
"We see these guys a lot," said Boyertown coach Pete Ventresca. "It's always a hard-nosed match whenever we wrestle these guys. They have a lot of guys who are banged up and injured."
The Wildcats were missing some key wrestlers and lost another one when Drew Gerber - who was tied at 2-2 against Elijah Jones late in the 152-pound match - lost by default due to an injury.
"You can't wrestle a team like that without all your horses," said OJR coach Stephen DeRafelo. "They have tough kids at every weight."
But the Wildcats coach did not want to use the injuries as an excuse.
"That's not the reason we lost," he said. "Tonight, we just weren't ready. They won on the edge of the mat and scored points at the end of periods. They did what good teams do. We lost tonight because they outwrestled us."
Ventresca was not only pleased with his winning wrestlers, but also with several others who put up good fights in defeat against strong opponents.
"I thought Jones wrestled a great match," he said. "Gerber got hurt, unfortunately. He's a tough kid. David Campbell wrestled a great match (a 2-1 loss to Ryan Resnick). I thought Hunter Vogels wrestled a great match (in a 10-1 loss to state medalist Demetri D'Orsaneo). Garrett Mauger wrestled right down to the end (in an 8-5 loss to state medalist Derek Gulotta). That's what I like about our kids."
And that all started with Cooley, who handled the pressure to get his team off to a good start.
"When you're in the first match or the last match, it's always tough," Ventresca added.
Contact Dennis Weller: 610-371-5061 or dweller@readingeagle.com
