Wildcats pull off monumental win by taking down Tribe

by Dennis Weller, Special to the Pottstown Mercury

Posted on January 24, 2010

BUCKTOWN -- If any of the current Owen J. Roberts wrestlers had even been born the last time their school defeated Upper Perkiomen on the mat, they were certainly too young to remember or care about the result.

But the young Wildcats will most likely remember the outcome of Saturday afternoon's Pioneer Athletic Conference match for quite awhile after knocking off the visiting Indians for the first time in a long, long time, 39-25.

The Wildcats (4-1, 8-6 overall) pulled out some close bouts early on to build a 19-point margin after six matches, took a commanding lead with a pin at heavyweight with three bouts to go, and finished up the day with a pin to earn their first win over the Indians in well over a decade.

"It was a good day," said OJR coach Steve DeRafelo. "It's been a long time since we beat them. I don't even know if any of our kids were born. It might be 15 or 16 years. I don't think these kids fully get it. I think it's more important for the program."

The Wildcats began the day with an 8-0 decision by Andrew Kinney at 125 pounds, followed by a forfeit win. Then after Ray Young recorded the first win for the Indians (4-2, 9-6), three of the youthful Wildcats racked up key verdicts.

Sophomore 140-pounder Michael Lenge fell behind by a point in the second overtime, but pulled off a reversal in the third extra session for a 3-2 win. Freshman Gordon Bolig followed with a pin, and sophomore Paul Minninger managed to avoid being turned on his back in the final seconds of the 152-pound bout and hung on for a 2-1 win.

That made the score 22-3, and the hosts survived a decision by Upper Perk's Dalton Fleming and pins by Cody Ambrose and Nick Hale that closed the gap to 22-18. Then the Wildcats took their second forfeit of the day and heavyweight Sam Funk recorded a near fall in the final second for a 15-0 technical fall and a 33-18 lead.

Freshman 103-pounder Dylan Steffenino kept the Indians alive with an 11-1 major and Wolfgang McStravick edged Jonathan Dempsey by a 2-0 score in overtime. But even those Upper Perk wins left the margin at an insurmountable eight points with one bout to go ... and OJR freshman Kyle Shronk applied the finishing touches with a pin in 15 seconds.

"We talked about just having a top-to-bottom team effort," said DeRafelo. "We've had some trouble with consistency. They're getting the hang of it. They're getting used to how physical high school wrestling is."

The OJR coach was happy to see the close wins and the bonus points being added as the day went along.

"They're things that, with a young team, they don't always get how important it is," he explained. "A point here, a point there ... we're starting to get those points."

Upper Perk coach Tom Hontz said his young squad also discussed the importance of winning the tight bouts after dropping its second match of the week.

"That's what we just talked about," he said. "Two young teams going at it ... they won the narrow decisions and got the bonus points. We can't feel sorry for ourselves."

The Wildcats will now wait to see if they will be invited to the District 1-AAA Team Duals Tournament. The seeding meeting is being held today at Spring-Ford High School.

"We're only a little over .500, but our losses have been to tough teams," said DeRafelo. "We've done a good job of getting the kids ready."

Upper Perkiomen, on the other hand, will not try for a spot in the dual tournament.

"We're just too banged up," said Hontz. "We'd have to throw a couple forfeits out there. I think it just serves us better to go back to the practice room and go from there."

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