CR NORTH:Indians king of the mountain

By Steve Sherman; Sports Editor

Council Rock North seemed like the king of Rock wrestling this year, outdueling South on two occasions. The Indians outpaced the Golden Hawks, 29-26, the first time the sides battled for the Unity Cup Dec. 10 at CR North then came back in District One AAA Duals and downed their sister rival 31-28 Jan. 31 at CR South.
Of the two wins, the latter victory enabled North to punch its ticket to states and capture third place in the district.
If you recall however, last year, South defeated North in the district title tilt. While both sides earned a trip to states just by making it to that bout, the Indians were left smarting a little from the D-1 title match with the Hawks.
Not this year.
“The last few years, they’ve had our number a little bit,” said Head Coach Tom Vivacqua. “It’s a friendly rivalry until we’re lined up and ready to go.
“Then, it’s a war--and that’s the way it should be.”
At states, North posted a win over Hazelton before falling to Connellsville, thus ending their dual meet season.
Last Saturday morning at Abington High School started a whole new season for all of lower Bucks varsity grapplers as they took to the mat trying to capture individual championships.
After earning 100 wins this year as a junior, 189-pounder Jamie Callender--with his 32-5 record, led Rock North into battle. Seeded No. 2 behind Pennsbury’s Matt Johnson, Callender posted a major decision over the Falcon grappler to not only take the section trophy, but also to put his team in position to win the team championship. (Callender pinned Johnson in the Indians last regular season battle.)
When John Kashak outpaced Neshaminy 215-pounder Tyler Stabilito, 6-0, the Indians had outpaced CR South once more, this time, 155 1/2 to 155 in the Section One--South Class AAA championship.
CR North senior Zac Haynes contributed to North’s team win with an 8-7 come-from-behind win over Upper Moreland’s Tim Santry in the 119-pound final. Haynes went in seeded No. 2 with a record of 26-9 on the season.
While the Indians will send nine grapplers to this weekend’s district tournament at North, including three section runnerups, South captured five section titles.
Matt Rappo and Matt Martoccio started collecting championship trophies for South with their title wins at 125 and 130 pounds, respectively.
And Jim Vollrath (152), Ed Shupe (160) and Bobby Lavelle (171) dominated the middleweight division for the Golden Hawks.
“The entire goal of our year is to peak during the postseason when it counts most,” said CR South Head Coach Brad Silimperi. “To send seven into the finals is a tribute to their hard work and the way they responded to some temporary setbacks during the year.”
The other South wrestlers who qualified for districts include Tim Riley, a runnerup at 135, and Marc Helfrich, who also earned a trip to the section finale, taking second place in the 145 pound division.
CR North junior Greg Lanctot went into the tourney as a top seed at 140 pounds. He came away with a runnerup trophy after being outpaced by Neshaminy’s John Lindquist.
The other Indian grapplers headed to districts include Adam Siezak, a runnerup at 103, Shane Longstreth, second place at 112, Sean Doerr (5th at 135), David Giannaula (5th at 145), and Tom Clarke (6th at 171).
Pennsbury will send seven mat men to districts including Johnson, Jeff Lieb at 112, Matt Funk at 125, Brian Kahil at 130, Conlan Cornman at 152, Kevin Bree at 215 and Josh Mitchell at heavyweight.
Neshaminy also had seven qualify for district including Stabilito (215), Lindquist (140), Colby Lederer at 103, Nick Russell at 119, Tom Burke at 152, Stephen Stemme at 160, and Garret Simpson at 189.
Truman’s Tigers had two sectional champions including HST senior James Bak also captured the top prize in the 103-pound division. And Truman sophomore Sean Edmondson outdueled CR North 112-pounder Shane Longstreth, who entered the tourney with a 20-13 mark and seeded third in sectionals.
The Tigers have a total of six grapplers who have qualified for districts including Matt Marks, who claimed a runnerup trophy at 125 pounds. No surprise there; he along with Edmonson and Bak have been anchoring the Truman team all season long.
The Tigers also had three wrestlers who captured sixth place trophies including Brandon Ryan at 130 pounds, Shane Marchesani at 160 and Tom Bremme at heavyweight.
***
SECTION ONE CHAMPIONSHIPS
(Feb. 14 at Abington HS)

Championship Finals
103: James Bak, HST, pinned Adam Slezak, CRN, 1:23
112: Sean Edmondson, HST, dec. Shane Longstreth, CRN, 4-3
119: Zac Haynes, CRN, dec. Tim Santry, UM, 8-7 (ultimate tiebreaker)
125: Matt Rappo, CRS, maj. dec. Matthew Marks, HST, 16-6
130: Matt Martoccio, CRS, dec. Will Dill, UM, 10-5
135: Zac Bush, WT, tech. fall Tim Riley, CRS, 4:00
140: John Lindquist, NSH, dec. Greg Lanctot, CRN, 4-2
145: Cody Carrigan, AB, dec. Marc Helfrich, CRS, 3-0
152: Jimmy Vollrath, CRS, dec. Max Barsky, AB, 10-4
160: Ed Shupe, CRS, pinned John Bolich, UM, 4:47
171: Bobby Lavelle, CRS, dec. Andrew Scholer, WT, 6-4
189: Jamie Callender, CRN, maj. dec. Matthew Johnson, PN, 17-5
215: John Kaschak, CRN, dec. Tyler Stabillito, NSH, 6-0
285: David Osei, AB, pinned Ricky Dracup, WT, 1:35
***
Consolation Finals
103: Colby Lederer, NSH, pinned Patrick Tully, BN, 1:51
112: Jake Ellis, UM, pinned Jeffrey Lieb, PN, 0:35
119: John Lee, AB, dec. Nick Russell, NSH, 10-5
125: Frank Lippincott, BN, dec. Matthew Funk, PN, 6-4
130: Brian Kahil, PN, maj. dec. Brandon Ryan, HST, 8-0
135: Sean Doerr, CRN, dec. Brandon Brickner, BN, 3-0
140: Max Agasar, UM, dec. Matt Lancaster, AB, 5-2
145: David Giannaula, CRN, dec. Mark Poderis, UM, 9-5
152: Thomas Burke, NSH, pinned Conlan Cornman, PN, 3:32
160: Stephen Stemme, NSH, dec. Shane Marchesani, HST, 6-5
171: Ryan Rozniakowski, AB dec. Tom Clark, CRN, 7-5
189: James Nicholson, UM, maj. dec. Garrett Simpson, NSH, 20-8
215: Kevin Bree, PN, dec. Dan Clemenson, WT, 8-2
285: Joshua Mitchell, PN, dec. Tom Bremme, HST, 3-1
***
Outstanding Wrestler: David Osei, AB
***
Team scores:
1. Council Rock North 155 1/2
2. Council Rock South 150
3. Neshaminy 106
4. Harry S Truman 97 1/2
4. (tie) Abington 97 1/2
6. Upper Moreland 95 1/2
7. William Tennent 81
8. Pennsbury 79
9. Bensalem 30