It's always a favorite, whether the venue is one's dining room or a high-school gymnasium. The Spring-Ford wrestling team has enjoyed it around this time of year in the past, and it will enjoy being back on its home floor for the District 1-AAA West Tournament this weekend.
The Rams will be out in force to host the top grapplers from the Pioneer Athletic Conference and Central League Saturday. They advanced 13 of their own from a PAC-10 tourney at which they wrested the team championship from Boyertown, in addition to seeing 120-pounder Ryan Hayes named the Outstanding Wrestler.
"I think with 13 moving on ... those kids are going to be excited about wrestling in their own gym,' head coach Tim Seislove said.
"There should be a lot of excitement around the school. Our girls basketball team has a big game in districts, and any time you have a district event going on, there's going to be excitement.'
The busy day of mat action will get started at 9 a.m. with pigtail bouts in prelude to championship quarterfinal, semifinal and consolation rounds leading to the 6 p.m. medal competition for first, third and fifth places. The top four wrestlers from each weight class will move on to the Southeast AAA Regional tourney at Oxford the following weekend, with states at Hershey the ultimate destination.
"We preach at this time of year, the key is to move on,' Seislove said. "Whether its first, fourth or fifth place ... take care of your own business.'
The lead in the Rams' corps of advancers is assumed by Hayes (120), Jon Cooper (152), Frankie Krauss (160), Steve Rice (170), Brendan Zimmie (195) and Zachary Dorsey (285), all of whom won their respective weight classes at the PAC-10 Championships. Brandon Meredith (106), Nick Beauchamp (145) and Ryan Yanulevich (182) all had silver-medal outings while Hunter Mitch (126) added a third.
Hayes (35-3), whose OW showing at the PAC-10s was capped by a decision of longtime Owen J. Roberts rival Derek Gulotta in the finals, relishes having one more opportunity to compete in his home gym this season.
"I'm excited,' he said. "We can focus more on getting ready, having it at home.'
Boyertown didn't quite duplicate its dominant PAC tourney performance from last year: A team title and nine individual champions from a stable of 13 district qualifiers. But the Bears return to districts with a formidable force of 12.
"Getting 12 to districts ... I'm not disappointed,' head coach Pete Ventresca said at the conclusion of the PAC-10 tourney. "We did what we could. Next week, we'll try to do as much as we can.'
Wood, who is three wins away from the 100 mark for his scholastic career, and Harvey (37-6) are returning district champions - Harvey up from the 160-pound weight class he impacted as a sophomore, adding a Southeast AAA Region silver medal in the process.
Wood is one of two wrestlers in his weight class coming to districts with unbeaten records. Upper Darby senior Josh Yeboah-Gyasi brings a 25-0 record to the area, sitting at the opposite end of the chart from Wood.
"No more taking it easy,' Wood (10-0) said after pinning his way to a third straight PAC gold medal at 220. "I want to make that a trend ... get it done as quick as possible, and dominate.'
Like the Bears, Owen J. Roberts brings its own dozen district qualifiers across the Schuylkill River to Spring-Ford. They come off a third-place team showing at the PACs, led by individual champions Demetri D'Orsaneo (138) and Dominick Petrucelli (145).
Gulotta, whose two-point loss to Hayes in the 120 final deprived him of a fourth league/section championship, heads a quartet of silver-medal Wildcats rounded out by Stone Bissland (126), Xavier Ferrizzi (195) and Will Dawson (220). Ryan Resnick (113) and Connor Mitchell (182) added third-place showings.
"I was very impressed,' head coach Steve DeRafelo said in regard to his team's third-place outing. "You can't hope for any better. Overall, I was extremely happy and excited.'
D'Orsaneo (31-5) and Petrucelli (35-6) are back defending their 2014 district titles in the same weight classes they've manned this year. Petrucelli needs two more victories to join the area's 100-win club, a fraternity D'Orsaneo (124) made earlier this season and Gulotta (138) reached in 2014.
"We wrestled such a tough schedule this season,' DeRafelo said. "We had some hard-fought battles, and they paid off.'
District 1-AA
After dealing with Class AAA-size schools in the Pioneer Athletic Conference this winter, Pope John Paul II will be facing other teams its size in the District 1 Class AA Tournament at Church Farm School.
The Golden Panthers, fresh from last weekend's participation in the PAC-10's individual tourney, have 11 wrestlers in the AA competition. It kicks off 9 a.m. Saturday with pigtail matches preceding championship and consolation-round bouts. The top three wrestlers from each weight class of the nine-school district field will advance to the Southeast AA Regional next week - again hosted by Wilson-West Lawn.
Nick Yerger (126), Michael Collins (182) and Luke Genetti (220) sit atop their respective brackets. Yerger and Genetti are coming off podium performances at the PAC-10s: Yerger with a fourth, Genetti with a fifth.
Yerger (23-7) will get a bye into the semifinal round, where he faces the winner between Phil-Mont Christian's Jeremiah Hooks (5-7) and Church Farm's Eric Velazco (7-7). Collins (23-1) opens with Phil-Mont's Lars Kang (1-6) while Genetti (24-5) - like Yerger, the recipient of a quarterfinal-round bye - takes on either Springfield-Montco's Keegan Luce (4-14) or Delaware County Christian's Kouadio Toukou (6-14).
Joining PJP's top trio are Nick Boyce (10-17) at 106, Nate Aldinger (9-14) at 113, Dylan Mintzer (8-16) at 132, Dave Mattiola (7-13) at 138, William Heid (3-5) at 145, Vinnie Togno (4-10) at 170 and Brendan Rau (10-16) at 195.
Yerger was a 113-pound champion in last year's 1/12 tourney, which saw the Panthers place fifth among the 15 participating schools. Togno was a runner-up at 145, Genetti third at 195 and Rau fourth at 220.
South Central AAA
A quartet of Daniel Boone wrestlers will be at Hersheypark Arena this weekend for the South Central AAA Regional Tournament.
Joe Yohn, Christian Fernandez, Brendan Valverde and Jesse Enck will be looking to advance through the two days of action to the PIAA Class AAA Tournament in two weeks. They all qualified for the regional after placing third in their respective weight classes at the District 1 AAA (Section 4) tourney held last weekend at Gov. Mifflin Intermediate School.
Yohn, a junior who has compiled a 29-10 record thus far, will be in the 138-pound bracket. He will open against Central Dauphin senior Zach Elvin (41-1), the Section 2 champion.
Fernandez, the lone senior in the Boone crew, takes a 29-8 record into the 160-pound field. His opening opponent will be J.P. McCaskey's Michael Davis III (18-11), runner-up in Section 2.
Valverde, a junior, has compiled a 33-3 record to date. He will open at 182 against Hempfield's Jordan Ortiz (34-1), the district's Section 3 champ.
At 220, Enck will face Cumberland Valley's Brad Drabenstadt in the opening round at 220. The Blazer sophomore (29-8) goes against a CV senior (9-2) who is coming off a championship finish in the Section 1 tourney.
PAISWT
Coming off a successful regular season in the Mid-Atlantic Prep League and around the region, The Hill School will now flex its muscle against Pennsylvania's top prep-school grapplers at the Pa. Independent Schools tournament this weekend at Mercersburg Academy.
The action starts 4 p.m. Friday with championship and consolation rounds. It continues Saturday at 9:15 a.m. with more championship and consolation rounds leading to consolation finals (third, fifth, seventh) at 12:30 p.m. and the championship finals at 2:30 p.m.
Dymir Davis-Carruth (21-5) and Kostya Golobokov (32-3) head the Hill's contingent with their respective second seeds at 220 and 285. Golobokov, who will be heading to the University of Michigan to wrestle for its Division I program, was a second-place 285-pound medalist at the 2014 PAISWT tournament.
Kyle Gorant (126, 27-8), Zach Sheehan (132, 25-9) and Hakim Coles (182, 31-5) scored third seeds, with Xavier Friel (138, 20-17) and Kirk Cherneskie (170, 14-7) getting fourths.
Completing the Blues' top-eight seeds are Cameron Dewey (24-10), seventh at 195; and Ted Kennedy (15-15), eighth at 106. They also have Nolan Butcher (16-14) at 152 and Connor Loughnane (11-14) at 160.
West-Mont Christian Academy will have three wrestlers in the state-prep field: Ninth-seeded Wyatt Sizemore (8-7) at 113, Owen Berger (3-6) at 132 and eighth-seeded Austin Hallman (12-5) at 145.
