Five first-place finishes give Spring-Ford team title at Pioneer Athletic Conference Wrestling Championships

Jan. 21—LOWER POTTSGROVE — In the overall scheme of things, being the first-place team in the Pioneer Athletic Conference Championship tournament doesn’t carry the same prestige as in other multi-school competitions.

No trophy is awarded, and the achievement doesn’t impact which school will ultimately hoist the league’s championship hardware. For the most part, it serves as a source of individual pride in competition against the circuit’s other mat programs.

In that regard, Spring-Ford was quite happy to embrace the distinction Saturday at Pottsgrove. The Rams were the class of the 12-school tourney, albeit by a handful of points over second-place Boyertown. Their 235.5 points — 12 more than the Bears (223.5) and considerably more than third-place Perkiomen Valley (179.5) — were the sum of a team effort marked by five champions among its eight title finalists.

They had four other wrestlers place in the top six of their weights — noteworthy on a season that shows them with an 8-6 overall record and no team firsts in two other tourneys.

“We’re having a pretty good tournament,” Gus Smith, the first of Spring-Ford’s gold-medal performers, said after topping the 114-pound bracket with an 8-1 decision of Upper Perk’s Gabriel Tulone. “We’re looking forward to a team win.”

Teammates Jamie Silva (145), Drew Dotterer (152), Mason Richards (189) and Danny Borzillo (215) followed Smith (22-8) to the top level of the medal podium. One step lower were Brady Seislove (107), Brennan McGrann (133) and Connor Hudak (285).

Boyertown, UP and Owen J. Roberts each had two weight-class champions while PV and Methacton mustered single titlists. Those champions included Brody Coleman (121) and Gavin Sheridan (133) for the Bears, Sam Gautreau (172) and Dean Bechtold (285) for the Wildcats, Sean Murray (127) and Branden Rozanski (139) for the Indians, plus the VIkings’ Max Tancini (107) and Warriors’ Matty Shumaker (160).

“The kids wrestled great today,” Spring-Ford head coach Tim Seislove said. “We avenged losses to several teams. The team as a whole wrestled hard. They were cheering each other on.”

A sizeable amount of cheering from the Ram faithful went in Dotterer’s direction. Sitting in the middle of the 152-pound bracket with an 8-7 record, the senior capped his sweep with a 10-1 major decision of Owen J’s Michael Godri.

“I found a new gear,” he noted. “I go out trying my hardest to win. That’s all I can do. I try to stay active, keep my feet moving and react to my opponent.”

A particularly memorable tournament was realized by Upper Perk’s Rozanski, who picked up the 100th victory of his scholastic career along with gold at 139. The senior, coming into the weekend with 98 victories, followed a bye with a 15-5 major decision of Owen J. Roberts’ Blaine Schmoyer to face Boyertown’s Beck Babb in the semifinals.

Babb and Rozanski shared escapes through the first two periods, Babb getting out of a bottom start at 1:22 in the second before Rozanski did the same in the third. Rozanski then executed a slide-by takedown at 1:01 in the third before riding Babb out the rest of the way to repeat as a PAC champion, having won at 127 in 2023.

“I usually push the pace on my feet,” Branden recalled, “but he kept coming in hard. So I did the slide-by.”

Rozanski (21-3, 101-21) joined a legion of approximately 25 UP grapplers who preceded him in achieving 100-win fame. That includes his uncle, Brad Rozanski (Class of 1990, 134), and his brother, Zach (Class of 2020, 106).

He admitted seeing those names on the wall, and advice from his wrestling relatives, fueled his drive for achieving similar success.

“I wasn’t necessarily focusing on it,” he said. “My father told me if I put in the work and grinded every day, that would come.”

Two other PAC competitors successfully defended their championships from last year: PV’s Tancini at 107 and the Bears’ Sheridan at 133. Tancini scored a first-period pin on the Rams’ Brady Seislove while Sheridan dispatched SF’s Brennan McGrann in the third period.

“I’ve really changed my mindset,” Sheridan (29-2) noted. “I go out to compete and master the mental game. I try to set a good example for the team, to be a leader.”

A third PAC competitor, Dean Bechtold, followed his gold-medal effort at 189 last year by pinning Spring-Ford’s Connor Hudak at 285. His move up the ladder put sophomore Dean (26-3) past older brother Dillon (24-0), a 215-pound senior who was out of the lineup Saturday due to illness.

“I like heavyweight. It’s more fun,” Bechtold said. “I’m still small for a heavyweight — I’m 60 pounds lighter, so there definitely are a lot of kids bigger. But they don’t train the same as me, which gives me the edge.”

Among Spring-Ford’s other champions, Silva (20-7) had a pin of Boyertown’s Shane Stankina, Richards (19-6) held off PV’s Carter Euker at 189, 8-6; and Borzillo (14-5) pinned Methacton’s Dylan Pachik in the second period at 215.

Brody Coleman (24-6) was Boyertown’s other champ, the junior pinning Upper Perk’s Ben Godshall in the second period of the 121 final. Sean Murray (26-4) scored gold for the Indians with his 5-1 decision of Methacton’s Ryan Hayes at 127. Gautreau (28-3), moving up to 152 for his senior season, had a tech-fall of Boyertown’s Joshua Larrimore at 172 to become another PAC title repeater.

Rounding out the list of titlists is Methacton’s Matty Shumaker (160). Shumaker (22-2) scored a major decision on the Bears’ J.D. Heiser.

Like Rozanski this winter, Shumaker is within range of reaching the 100-win plateau his junior season. He stands at 83-19 with three Liberty Division matches, an invitational and duals on the Warriors’ schedule prior to the post-season grind.

“It’s something I know I have to work for,” he said.

NOTES: The top three wrestlers in each weight class were presented medals. … PAC dual matches resume this week with Pottsgrove and Upper Perk sharing the Frontier Division lead at 3-0. Boyertown heads the Liberty Division at 3-0, followed by Owen J. Roberts at 2-0.

PAC Championships

At Pottsgrove

Fifth Place

107 -Mason Pacitto (Phoenixville) dec. Tyler Maack (Owen J. Roberts), 6-2

114 -Gabe Costanzo (Pottsgrove) won by forfeit

121 -Gavin Maguire (Spring-Ford) dec. Vincent Taylor (Perkiomen Valley), 2-1

127 -Jonathan Chapman (Spring-Ford) pinned Kieran Lamey (Upper Merion), 3:19

133 -Anthony Rossi (Perkiomen Valley) pinned Noah Robinson (Phoenixville), 1:44

139 -Nathan Gillin (Pottsgrove) pinned Jack Hayes (Methacton), 2:13

145 -Brady Quinn (Owen J. Roberts) pinned Matteo Ferri (Phoenixville), 4:00

152 -Jared Noriega (Norristown) pinned Bobby Goliash (Methacton), 2:58

160 -Logan Brower (Owen J. Roberts) pinned Dom Wolfe (Upper Perkiomen), 0:32

172 — Gavin Rose (Methacton) pinned Ali Fakira (Upper Merion), 3:23

189 — Collin O’Neill (Methacton) dec. Mike Kelleher (Boyertown), 4-2

215 — Alex Vasquez (Pottsgrove) pinned Jake Batchelder (Perkiomen Valley), 2:58

285 — Damien Poloway (Pottsgrove) pinned J.T. Grohowski (Phoenixville), 1:18

Third Place

107 — Brandon Quinton (Upper Perkiomen) dec. Boden Waite (Boyertown), 5-2

114 — Cole Fogle (Boyertown) dec. Quinn Carr (Owen J. Roberts), 5-4

121 — Nikito Hansell (Upper Merion) dec. Brady Pires (Pope John Paul II), 5-4

127 — Andrew Myslinski (Boyertown) dec. Joey Capaldo (Perkiomen Valley), 2-0

133 — Alex Brandt (Owen J. Roberts) pinned Brandon Godshall (Upper Perkiomen), 0:45

139 — Beck Babb (Boyertown) dec. Nikosh Marston (Norristown), 8-6

145 — Gabe Sanfelice (Upper Perkiomen) dec. Patrick Lamirande (Perkiomen Valley), 8-1

152 — Owen Dykie (Boyertown) pinned Declan Ryan (Upper Merion), 2:17

160 — Jowell Jones (Upper Merion) dec. James McGill (Spring-Ford), TB-1 3-2

172 — Paul Popplewell (Perkiomen Valley) pinned Evan Smith (Pottstown), 2:27

189 — Dysen Neil (Owen J. Roberts) dec. Jake Palladino (Pottsgrove), TB-1 2-1

215 — Kaleb Dumin (Boyertown) dec. Colton Sinkbeil (Pope John Paul II), 4-1

285 — Cole Euker (Perkiomen Valley) pinned Gabe Franks (Methacton), 2:53

Championship Finals

107 — Max Tancini (Perkiomen Valley) pinned Brady Seislove (Spring-Ford), 1:09

114 — Gus Smith (Spring-Ford) dec. Gabriel Tulone (Upper Perkiomen), 8-1

121 — Brody Coleman (Boyertown) pinned Ben Godshall (Upper Perkiomen), 3:50

127 — Sean Murray (Upper Perkiomen) dec. Ryan Hayes (Methacton), 5-1

133 — Gavin Sheridan (Boyertown) won by tech. fall over Brennan McGrann (Spring-Ford), 4:45 (16-1)

139 — Branden Rozanski (Upper Perkiomen) dec. Luke Knox (Perkiomen Valley), 2-1

145 — Jamie Silva (Spring-Ford) pinned Shane Stankina (Boyertown), 6:20

152 — Drew Dotterer (Spring-Ford) maj. dec. Michael Godri (Owen J. Roberts), 10-1

160 — Matty Shumaker (Methacton) maj. dec. J.D. Heiser (Boyertown), 13-0

172 — Sam Gautreau (Owen J. Roberts) won by tech. fall over Joshua Larrimore (Boyertown), 2:53 (20-5)

189 — Mason Richards (Spring-Ford) dec. Carter Euker (Perkiomen Valley), 8-6

215 — Daniel Borzillo (Spring-Ford) pinned Dylan Pachik (Methacton), 4:39

285 — Dean Bechtold (Owen J. Roberts) pinned Connor Hudak (Spring-Ford), 0:39

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