CR North holds off Upper Perk

by Don Seeley, Pottstown Mercury Sports Editor

Posted on February 1, 2009

HOLLAND — Tom Hontz chose to chat about where his Upper Perkiomen wrestling team came from rather than where they ended up Saturday afternoon.

And for good reason.

Hontz had a practice room full of young and inexperienced, untested if you will, little Indians when the season opened up back in November. There were, perhaps, a handful of big Indians, but nowhere near the number to convince him or anyone else that any win would be that easy, or that they'd come too often.

So moments before the Indians had even stepped onto the mat Saturday for the District 1-Class AAA Team Duals consolation semifinals, and shortly after the 37-30 setback to Council Rock North ended their bid for a top-three finish and yet another appearance in the state tournament, Hontz was still managing a smile.

"We kind of braced for things to be pretty tough this year," Hontz explained. "We knew we had a core group of guys who were strong, but we had so many other guys who were young. But those guys worked hard, and they improved through the year, and that's all you can ask.

"You certainly want to be in that elite group, in the semifinal round. But then I think I knew what we had. We kind of slid under the radar all year and, at least to me, had a pretty good season."

Not bad at all, really.

The Indians (17-9) were seeded seventh, but were among the top six remaining when wrestling resumed Saturday. And while they may not have quite measured up to Upper Perkiomen teams in the recent past, they did manage to extend the program's run of Top Six district dual finishes to an unmatched 12 straight years.

And they nearly extended that streak against Council Rock North, which went on to pin down third place by defeating neighboring Council Rock South, 31-28, in the consolation final.

The Indians were behind 18-15 at the halfway point and were trailing by just four with one bout remaining. However, Council Rock North's Adam Slezak's first-period takedown and flawless ride through both the second and third periods denied the final comeback attempt.

"It's a little disappointing right now," said Upper Perkiomen's Mike McStravick, one of the few seniors in the lineup who came up with a second-period pin despite battling pneumonia earlier in the week. "We gave it a good shot. We knew it would be tough, but we thought (a win was) possible."

"This was definitely a winnable match," Hontz added. "But again, we just don't have the horses, just don't have that star power. We have hard-working kids, but young hard-working kids who still make mistakes."

McStravick's younger brother, Marty, got the Indians on the board with a decision at 119 — the second bout of the match. Council Rock North would run off three straight wins to go in front 18-3 before Mike McStravick and Cody Ambrose pinned at 140 and 145 and got the Indians to within three at the halfway mark.

Greg Lanctot would make that a seven-point deficit with a major at 152, but Upper Perkiomen would actually go on top when Britt Kerr posted a 6-2 decision at 160 and Nick Edmonson followed with a pin at 171. Council Rock North quickly got out of that hole and went on top 34-24 with back-to-back pins. Still, Upper Perkiomen heavyweight Jared Bennett gave his team one last shot with his pin ... before Slezak ended it for good with his 2-0 shutout.

"The bottom line is that everyone has to work a little harder," Mike McStravick said. "Next year, we should have a pretty solid team, but (being a senior) I was more concerned about this year."

NOTES

Upper Perkiomen owns the District 1 records for the most consecutive appearances in the state duals tournament (four) and most overall appearances in the state duals tournament (six). The program also owns the mark for the most wins (12). ... The Indians wrap up their dual-meet season Wednesday night at Pioneer Athletic Conference rival Spring-Ford.

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