ROYERSFORD -- It made a compelling argument for not putting too much stock in individual records.
Garrett Mauger didn't. Neither did a number of his Boyertown teammates, who didn't allow themselves to be swayed by the gaudy numbers of the Spring-Ford wrestlers they faced Thursday. They instead focused on the business at hand - namely, doing what was necessary to become the Pioneer Athletic Conference's last unbeaten team.
The Bears did it in a big way, rolling up a 43-11 victory on the Rams to take sole possession of the circuit's top spot in the standings. And in doing so, the defending league champions looked past a Spring-Ford lineup that boasted six 20-win records and a number of others close to that significant mark.
"This was something we needed against a good team,' Mauger, one of the Boyertown stalwarts facing a 20-win adversary in Ryan Hayes, said. "It was something to have our morale up.'
Mauger (13-6) came into his match with Hayes (22-2) riding the crest of a 9-0 lead in the match after three hard-fought bouts. The Ram senior, with a state-medal finish on his personal record, built an initial 4-1 lead on the strength of takedowns in each of the first two periods.
Mauger reversed the tide in the third with five back points, only to see Hayes force a 6-6 tie in regulation with a late reversal. And following the 0-0 result in the one-minute OT frame, Hayes got two points in the second to put Mauger in a tight spot.
But Boyertown's junior 120-pounder pulled out the bout at the end by getting three back points. That helped the Bears (6-0 PAC-10, 12-0 overall) to score 22 points at the start before Spring-Ford (5-1, 15-1) was able to get on the scoreboard at the match's midway point.
"It was tough,' Mauger said of his bout. "I knew I needed to come up big. Pulling out the win turned the tide.'
And the tide would become a pounding wave before the night was over. The Bears picked up successive wins at 145 and 152, then racked up 15 in the final three weights headed by Will Scholl's clincher at 182.
"That was nip and tuck,' Boyertown head coach Pete Ventresca said about Mauger's bout. "Hayes is a tough kid. I was pleased Garrett was able to pull it out.'
Prior to Mauger's heroics, the Bears saw Tommy Killoran (18-7) edge Zach Dorsey (21-2) in the 285-pound opener and Jakob Campbell come on strong at the end of the 106-pound bout to blank Brandon Meredith, 4-0. David Campbell kept the roll going at 113 with his 4-3 decision of the Rams' Jimmy Frank.
Lucas Miller (19-4) continued the visitors' early domination at 126 with an 8-0 shutout of Hunter Mitch, as did J.T. Cooley with a first-period pin of Jonathan Westlake at 132.
"There were gutsy wins and performances out there,' Ventresca said. "I'm proud of the guys, the way they showed heart.'
Matt Krieble's 5-2 decision of Chris Berry at 138 got the Rams their first points. But except for the later wins - Frankie Krauss' technical fall of Reuben Maldonado at 160, Steven Rice's 11-5 decision of Dylan Wertz at 170 - the home team found itself otherwise unable to make a run at Boyertown.
"I was disappointed for the kids,' Spring-Ford head coach Tim Seislove said. "Tonight, Boyertown came out and wrestled better.'
Continuing the Bears' attack on the individual records was Hunter Vogels (11-6), who came on strong in the third period at 145 to post a 6-1 decision on Nick Beauchamp (21-3). At 152, Elijah Jones added a 5-2 verdict on Jon Cooper to make it a 28-3 match.
The clincher was provided by Scholl, whose second-period pin of Ryan Yanulevich gave Boyertown a 34-11 advantage with two weights left to contest. Gregg Harvey (20-5) followed by outlasting Brendan Zimmie at 195, 11-8, and Brody O'Connell capped things with his third-period drop of Tim Rudderow at 220.
"It was a huge match, probably the toughest we had all year,' Ventresca said. "I'm proud of the kids.'
The loss extended Spring-Ford's recent slid against Boyertown. It fell to the Bears twice last year, in another regular-season PAC title match and the finals of the District 1-AAA Duals tournament.
"I told the kids to go out and be excited,' Seislove said of the pre-match instructions to his team. "Boyertown is a good team ... they've been around for a while. I told the kids to compete and wrestle hard.'
The possibility of Jordan Wood making his 2015 debut in the Boyertown lineup was raised with his introduction at 220 during the pre-match ceremonies. Instead, O'Connell got the call to close out the match.
"It was kind of a statement the kids were able to win without Jordan,' Ventresca said. "It was nice to see the other kids on the team step up.
"The momentum built, and it kept going. That's the way it goes sometimes.'
NOTES
Boyertown will take the rush of Thursday's victory to Council Rock South this weekend for the high-profile "Escape the Rock' Tournament. "This is a nice boost going in there,' Ventresca said. "It will be good for the kids to go through' ... A total of five stalling warnings were called through the first three weights.
