Upper Perk pins down North Penn

by Jake Hallman, Special to The Pottstown Mercury

Posted on December 12, 2008

RED HILL — All of the resources are there, it's just going to take some time to see how well the younger members of the team respond.

That was Upper Perkiomen head man Tom Hontz's message after Thursday night's non-league 57-21 romp over District 1 rival North Penn.

"It's going to be an interesting year, we just need to keep looking for steady improvement," Hontz said. "After tonight, we just need to clean up some of our mistakes; we were pretty sloppy tonight. But it's expected with a youthful and inexperienced team."

That inexperience showed against the Knights (1-1).

While the Tribe (2-0) did win by 36 points, the visitors did hand over 18 of those via forfeit. North Penn was also without two of its biggest weapons in middleweight and returning state medallist Matt Prestifilippo, as well as regional qualifier Tony Lozzi (285), both of whom were out with injuries.

Upper Perk also aided the Trojans' cause a bit after giving up a defensive pin and a medical default as Indian junior Nick Edmonson injured his ankle in the second period.

But the Indians did muster six wins in the nine contested bouts, including first-period pins from Martin McStravick (119), Dave Cannon (130) and Nick Hale (189).

Dalton Fleming (135) and Joe Houck (152) also won by fall as Garrett Fellman (125) posted a major decision and Mike McStravick (140) notched a technical fall to round out the Indians'  scoring.

The 2008-09 version of the Tribe features just three seniors, four underclassmen and seven juniors. And while Hontz sees plenty of raw talent, he also understands it will simply take time and tough competition before the dividends pay off.

"It's not hard, but it's not easy keeping control of the young guys," said Mike McStravick, a senior. "Sometimes they can get out of hand, and they get excited easily. We may not be the greatest now, but we will be solid once we get in the swing of things. They just need to get used to all of the hard work."

Though a freshman, Fleming showed he's already up to the hard work. Trailing 7-5 against North Penn's Joe Grunklee, Fleming hit a reversal with a minute left, then slapped on a cradle to earn the fall with 29 ticks left in regulation.

"I expect a lot of hard matches this year and really good competition," Fleming said. "I just need to keep working harder in practice; I have a lot of people to look up to in the practice room. But being one of the young guys makes me work harder. In the match, I knew I had what it took to beat him. I knew he was getting gassed and tired."

The Knights held an 18-15 advantage after taking the first three of five bouts from 145-189. But three forfeits in the next four matches didn't help their cause, and the Tribe took the momentum by sweeping the final six bouts from 119-140.

The finale started with Martin McStravick's 56-second drop at 119 by cradle, and picked up steam with Fellman's 11-1 major over Drew Daubert at 125. Cannon also used a cradle to earn six points as he tied Hale for the fastest pin of the night in 52 seconds. Fleming's dramatic come-from-behind pin put the Tribe ahead, 46-21, at 135 before Mike McStravick put on a clinic at 140 for the technical fall.

"We will take our lumps at the Quakertown Duals, in Reno (Tournament of Champions) and in Virginia (Battlefield Duals), but hopefully that will make us better and help us prepare for January and February," Hontz said. "We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores in the lineup, they all have the ability, but they can't do sloppy things if they want to succeed."

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