4 Ridley Wrestlers Qualify for District 1 Competition!!!
Congratulations and continued “Good Luck!” is in order for 4 Green Raider wrestlers who are continuing their seasons at this weekend’s District 1 meet. The just completed Section V meet at Havertown resulted in a PIAA season “wrap” for 10 Ridley wrestlers while our Fantastic 4 survived to grapple for at least another week. Each year, the Section meet results in a bittersweet conclusion to a hard-fought campaign to excel. Only 3 contestants from each weight division move on to the District meet that brings together top wrestlers from Section 1V, V and V1. Invariably, this results in disappointment for many fine wrestlers especially if they were knocked out in the bout for the 3rd and final place. But, let’s dwell on the good news!
In the 103-pound division, sophomore Eddie Hall finished in 3rd place despite a very difficult 4th seed position. That meant that after winning his initial bout against a tough #5 seed (Sean Nash from powerhouse Upper Darby), Eddie’s “reward” was a bout with the #1 seed, Haverford’s Andrew Jones. Hall wrestled well but couldn’t overcome his nemesis from the traditionally talented Jones family. In the wrestle-backs, Eddie beat Springfield’s Chris McCusker to set up the scary rematch with Sean Nash, his 1st round opponent. Despite falling behind early in the match, Eddie kept his composure and took charge in the 2nd and 3rd periods for a 6-4 victory and the right to advance to Districts.
Senior 130-pounder Ed Papp took advantage of an opportune #2 seeding to capture 2nd place in his division. An opening round victory over Haverford’s Kyle Ramplin propelled him into the final where he would face Upper Darby’s Mike Mowbray, the last of a long string of outstanding Mowbray family wrestlers. Despite falling victim to a pin, Papp is seeded as a #2 wrestler in this weekend’s District action. It’s always gratifying to see a senior wrestler exceed expectations to keep his career going. Congratulations Ed!!
171-pounder Kevin Scola has been ranked #1 by the Delaware County Daily Times all year long so it was no surprise that he was the #1 seed for the Section V meet. Kevin pinned his opponent from Springfield in the 1st round and battered Sun Valley Senior Kevin Mozzom in the semi’s . As expected, he final pitted Scola against the #2 seeded wrestler, Barry Lee of Chichester. Despite aggravating a previous hyper-extended elbow injury, Kevin controlled the action to come away with a hard-earned 6-4 victory. As a reward, Kevin will enter next week’s competition against a 3rd seeded opponent from either Section 1V or Section V1 or could receive a bye into the semi-final round.
Junior 275-pounder Mike Steven entered the competition with the #1 seed position of the 10 wrestlers in the heavyweight division. He knew if all went as expected, he’d be matched up with Glen Mill’s strong man Calahan Bright in the championship final. True to form, Michael beat Interboro senior Sean Durgan 7-2 before pinning JD Simon of Chichester while Bright pinned both his opponents. The championship match was highly anticipated by both wrestlers since their dual meet bout just a week earlier had ended in a 3-2 decision with Bright barely fighting off a late Steven take-down attempt. However, this match ended early as Bright caught Steven in a lateral drop and used his considerable strength to earn a quick pin.
Two Ridley underclassmen wrestlers acquitted themselves well by winning twice but finishing fourth , just missing out in qualifying for the District meet. Junior 140-pounder Corey Brown was seeded fifth and lost 2 heart-breaking matches. In the 1st round, he wrestled 4th seeded Upper Darby junior Pete Servano into overtime before losing a 7-5 decision. He then pinned Chichester’s Dave Fannelli and beat the #3 seed from Sun Valley Bob Schwarting 3-0. In the 3rd place bout, he battled #1 seed John McCabe to the end before losing a 1-0 decision. It should be noted that Servano won the division after barely getting by Brown in the opening round. Meanwhile, talented freshman Phil Rayer found himself seeded #6 to start the action. He was beaten by Upper Darby #3 seed Ken Ongsueng in the 1st round but recovered to beat Interboro’s Andrew Knight and Sun Valley’s Scott Simon. In the 3rd place bout, he again had to face Ongsueng and lost a hard-fought 3-1 match. Close but maddeningly, no cigar for both Brown and Rayer.
Ridley senior wrestlers Craig Ferrigno (senior 112) and Dan Goldey closed out their high school wrestling careers with fine efforts against highly seeded grapplers. Matt Ziegler (sophomore 119), Dave Schaub (sophomore 125), Jesse Mariana (freshman 135), Steve Sweeney (sophomore 160), John Thomas (junior 189) and Mark Fritz (sophomore 215) can all look forward to reaching Districts next year or even further down the road.
Keep tuned for results of next week’s district action and remember, this year’s team banquet will be held on April 28th
Thanks for all your support and continued success to all!!