This column was originally published in the Nov. 13 Mercury.

Wrestling practice doesn’t begin, officially that is, until Monday. And the season, when everyone actually gets out on the mat to strut their stuff against the opposition, doesn’t get under way until next month.

But 19 wrestlers from District 1 headed south last week for the grueling Super 32 Challenge in Greensboro, N.C. … and some more than warmed up for next week’s first day in the room.

Four entries, led by Oxford standout Nick Ruggear and Octorara’s Josh Smith third and fourth at 189 pounds, made their way to the awards podium by the end of the tournament, which drew some of the nation’s premier individual talents. Council Rock South’s Josh Dziewa was fourth at 135, while Council Rock South’s Jimmy Vollrath was seventh at 152, and Upper Moreland’s James Nicholson was the district’s third medalist at 189 after taking eighth.

Ruggear went 1-2 at states last spring, then went on to capture his weight class in the National High School Coaches Association’s Sophomore Nationals. In the Super 32, he overwhelmed Alabama state-medalist Michael Kennedy (18-1) and Virginia state-medalist Colin Lenhardt (19-6) in the first two rounds, then edged Northampton’s Joey Piro – who was seventh at the PIAA Championships – by a 9-6 margin. He dropped a 3-1 semifinal decision to Ohio’s Nicholas Mills, but came back with a 3-2 win over Florida’s Caylor Williams to set up the bout with Smith – a fourth-place finish in the state’s Class AA bracket last spring – which he won in a 2-1 thriller for the bronze medal.

Four other District 1 wrestlers – Truman’s James Bak (103), Garnet Valley’s Joe Marino (140), Octorara’s Dan Miller (145) and Sun Valley’s Josh Marquard (171) – all came within one win of getting into the medal rounds.

Pennsylvania had four individual champions at the Super 32 Challenge – Central Mountain’s Andrew Alton (140), Central Dauphin’s Marshall Peppelman (152), Warwick’s Anthony Giorgio (215), and Canon-McMillan’s Sam Brownlee (third straight title at 285).

C.D. Mock, a former PIAA and NCAA champion from Council Rock who is now the head coach at the University of North Carolina, watched his son, Corey, finish fourth at 130 pounds.

LOCK HAVEN FALL CLASSIC: Boyertown senior Ryan Kemmerer was one of four wrestlers from District 1 who pinned down gold medals at Lock Haven University’s Annual Fall Classic. Kemmerer, a two-time state medalist at Upper Perkiomen before competing for Spring-Ford last year, dominated at 145 pounds. Other champions were Springfield-Delco’s Dan Dortone (112), Council Rock South’s Ed Shupe (180) and Springfield-Delco’s Andre Petroski (190).

COMMITMENTS: Two national publications have noted that three district wrestlers have committed to Division I-A programs. Great Valley seniors Carl Buchholz and Justin Schellenger have reportedly give verbal commitments to Rutgers and Cal State-Fullerton, respectively, while Radnor’s John Meyers will be attending Duke.

HALL OF FAME: After being blanked on last year’s ballot, District 1 will be represented by John McHugh in this season’s class to be inducted into the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame. McHugh, who had an outstanding career at Cheltenham (1953 state champion) and then the University of Maryland (two-time AAC champion), also coached the Terrapins for 32 years and compiled a 256-143-8 career mark.

COLLEGE NOTES

RANK AND FILE: Three area graduates – Bloomsburg’s Matt Moley (Spring-Ford) and Delaware Valley teammates Chris Sheetz (Upper Perkiomen) and Brandon Clemmer (Upper Perkiomen) – are among six former District 1 standouts who were listed on InterMat’s preseason national rankings.

Moley, an NCAA All-American last year, is eighth at 157 pounds in Division I, while Sheetz and Clemmer are fourth and seventh, respectively, at 125 and 133 in Division III.

Others earning national attention are Liberty’s Tim Harner (Norristown), 17th at 141, and Maryland’s Mike Letts (Octorara) – who is reportedly red-shirting this season – 11th at 174, both in Division I; and Kutztown’s David Zeek (Council Rock North), who is eighth at 157 in Division II.

TOURNEY TIME: Moley was third at last weekend’s Michigan State Open in East Lansing. The former two-time state runner-up, Moley’s only loss was a 3-2 double-overtime setback to eventual champion Kurt Kinser of Indiana. … Bucknell’s Jay Hahn (Great Valley) was fourth at 197 in the Freshman/Sophomore Division of the tournament.

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Letts wrestled unattached and dominated the 174-pound bracket at the North Carolina State Open. Letts, a two-time state champion in high school, had two pins, a technical fall and major decision among his five wins. North Carolina’s Mike Rappo (Council Rock South) won his first three bouts before dropping two straight and getting eliminated at 141.

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Lock Haven’s Nick Hyatt (Boyertown) bounced back from an early loss and placed sixth at 125 pounds during the Buffalo Open in N.Y. … Across the state, in the Oklahoma Gold Classic at SUNY-Brockport, Oklahoma’s Pat Flynn (Quakertown) went 4-1 with four pins to place third at 184 pounds.

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Messiah sophomore David Jones (Boyertown) and Elizabethtown freshman Will Bentley (Owen J. Roberts) were first and third, respectively, at 174 and 125 pounds in last weekend’s annual Messiah Invitational. Jones doubled up Waynesburg’s Todd Martinek, 8-4, in their final for Messiah, which pinned down the team title with a slim 84-80 margin over Elizabethtown. Ursinus freshman Connor McCormick (Owen J. Roberts) came within one win of a medal at 149 pounds.

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Ithaca got a first from freshman Seth Ecker (Pottstown) and a fourth from freshman Jeremy Stierly (Owen J. Roberts) to run away with the team title in the 26th renewal of its own Ithaca Invitational. Ecker, who was named the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler, posted three pins and two technical falls en route to the title at 125 pounds. He was the first Bomber to win the OW award since current assistant coach Marc Israel (2004).

DUAL TIME: Liberty got back-to-back technical falls from Harner and Brad Clark (Methacton) at 149 and 157, respectively, to bury NCAA East Regional rival Gardner-Webb, 43-6, in Tuesday night’s season-opener. … Lehigh opened its 100th season of wrestling last week with a 21-15 win over No. 17 ranked Maryland.

Break down District 1’s overall performance at last week’s PIAA Championships however you like. Look at it this way, that way, anyway you choose.
The panel of critics, which has grown tenfold in three years – or since the district’s Claim to Fame in 2005 – sure has. They began analyzing every single move throughout the preliminaries last Thursday afternoon and were still at it Monday night, two full days after the state tournament was over and done with.
That isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
Neither will the bottom line … at least not until next March.
In plain ol’ English, the district didn’t fare well at all.
A total of 56 wrestlers were penciled into the AAA brackets for Thursday’s opening round, and their combined effort following Saturday evening’s final round was, well, humbling to say the least. Only one state champion and just 66 individual bouts won.
While it’s easy to get overwhelmed and often misled by the slew of numbers, that latter statistic – 66 wins – is one that cannot be overlooked. It’s the one statistic that truly defines how mediocre the district was last week.
There simply was no depth.
The district’s No. 1 seeds – or the Southeast Regional champions – were a somewhat respectable 31-29 with nine medals. But other than Council Rock South’s Mark Rappo, who dominated all the way through for the gold at 103 pounds, the remaining eight featured three fourths, two fifths, a sixth, and two eighths.
Regional runners-up were only 17-29 with three sevenths and an eighth. Only two wrestlers who were third at the regional won more than one bout at states and both finished seventh, and only one wrestler who was fourth at the regional won more than one bout at states, and he finished sixth.
The Southeast Region has four state qualifiers per weight class because of the number of schools in the district, and the District 1 Steering Committee should – and likely always will – continue to demand that number.
But if PIAA officials would ever resort to a revolving or floating number-of-qualifiers format based on all district’s competitiveness in the PIAA Championships, District 1 would obviously be in jeopardy of losing that fourth qualifier. Especially after last week, when just four of the its 14 fourth-place finishers won a state bout, only one – Quakertown freshman Scott Wolfinger – won more than one (and finished sixth), and the 14 were a combined 5-29 overall.
There was a day, and not so awfully long ago, when coaches from around the state saw District 1’s shortcomings as a result of not having enough feeder programs, which resulted in wrestlers not having the wealth of mat time as rivals from around the state. And they never once hesitated to say District 1’s shortcomings were a result of not getting out of its own neighborhood and competing against quality programs from around the state.
Those arguments don’t hold any weight anymore.
Neither do those who question District 1 wrestlers’ technique, and the strength, quickness, and agility that go along with it.
But there were a few coaches, even some from throughout Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties, who did question District 1 wrestlers’ intensity … or drive for the entire six minutes of every bout, as many mentioned.
“Sometimes I see our kids wrestling not to lose instead of wrestling to win,” one coach said.
Good point … the operative word there being point.
More than one-quarter of the district’s 115 losses last week were decided by a takedown or reversal or, perhaps, a near-fall. There aren’t too many people who will remember the actual move that led to all those losses, but few will forget that 15 of those setbacks were by a single point, and another 15 were by just two points.
But as disappointing as all those numbers may be – the number of wins and medals, that is – there were some promising numbers to take into the offseason. More than half of the state qualifiers (30 of 56) and more than half of the medalists (10 of 16) return next season.
Combined with what is supposed to be a very good incoming freshman class, it may be just enough to get District 1 wrestling back on a more respectable track.

GOOD EXAMPLE
No one from District 1 dropped their preliminary bout and came all the way back to medal. Pottstown’s Seth Ecker came close.
The 119-pound senior won his Class AA opener only to fall 9-6 to eventual state champion Travis Erdman of Line Mountain in the quarterfinals. Ecker then strung together a technical fall and two major decisions before outlasting Forest Hills’ David Fogle, 3-2 in overtime, for third place and the bronze medal.
Erdman got his gold medal by holding off Northwestern Lehigh’s Evan Yenolevich, who a week earlier edged Ecker in the Southeast Regional final.
Ecker’s admirable comeback also enabled him to pass Pottstown graduate Joey Allen (131) as the Trojans’ winningest wrestler. Ecker, who matched Allen’s school record of three state medals, finished with 132 career wins.

STREAKING
Boyertown, since returning to District 1 back in 2003, extended its streak of at least one state medalist to six straight years when 130-pound sophomore Alex Pellicciotti placed seventh. … Methacton’s string of three straight seasons ended, as did Upper Perkiomen’s area-high and District 1 record run of 10 straight seasons with at least one medalist also.
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Rappo’s sweep of the 103-pound bracket in Class AAA extended District 1’s streak of at least one individual state champion to 13 straight years. In the 13-year streak, the district has had 25 state champions.
Rappo, who finished 50-0 (152-10 career), also gave his family its fourth gold medal. Brothers Rick (2004) and Mike (2005-06), now wrestling for Penn and North Carolina, respectively, were state champions as well. Unofficially, the three brothers were a combined 421-53 in their high school careers.

LEADERBOARD
Upper Perkiomen still leads the area in state champions (5) and medalists (25). Methacton (18), Pottstown (13), Spring-Ford (12) are the only other area schools with double-digit state medalists.
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North Penn remains District 1’s leader in state champions with nine, while Upper Perkiomen, the former Council Rock and now Council Rock South – in just its sixth year of existence – are tied for second with five apiece. … North Penn’s Matt Prestifilippo finished fifth last week to improve the program’s total of state medalists to 20 and into a tie with the former Downingtown High School for third on the all-time chart. That number trails only the former Council Rock (22) and Upper Perkiomen (25).

NOTEWORTHY
Great Valley’s Kyle Liberato (119) and Carl Buchholz (215) finished seventh and fourth, respectively, giving the Patriots two state medalists for the first time in the history of their program. … Upper Moreland’s Tim Santry (112) was eighth to become the Bears’ second state medalist. The first was Eric McCoy (fourth), 30 years ago. … Truman’s James Bak (103) was seventh, his school’s first medalist in 17 years.

CAREER UPDATE
Spring-Ford’s Ryan Kemmerer (132), who returns next year, and Ecker closed the season tied for 20th on the area’s all-time win chart. Methacton’s Jonathan Hammond (128), a senior who closes as the Warriors’ third winningest wrestler, is tied for 26th. … Daniel Boone’s Tyler Swartz (115) and Owen J. Roberts’ Connor McCormick (108), both seniors, were the area’s only other wrestlers to get on the list this season.
There are seven underclassmen who could reach the milestone next season. They are OJR’s Nick Fuschino (92), Upper Perkiomen’s Jared Bennett (79), Pellicciotti (77) and Boyertown teammate Tim Feroe (75), St. Pius’ Bobby Burns (74), Upper Perkiomen’s Michael McStravick (71) and Boyertown’s Matt Malfaro (67).

Nick Fuschino grew up getting beat up, on the wrestling mat that is, by his older brother. But there was no whining or whimpering, no running off and tattling to mom and dad.
“(Anthony) really helped me out,” Fuschino explained. “The problem was that he was a few years older and 40 pounds or so bigger than me. But he was a big influence on me.”
Anthony Fuschino did rather well for himself at Owen J. Roberts. He won Section Four and Southeast Regional titles, an eighth-place medal at states, and collected 89 career victories before graduating in 2005.
Five months after his cap-and-gown affair and official bye-bye to Bucktown, 14-year-old freshman Nick Fuschino strolled into the Wildcats’ practice room.
And today, though just a junior, he’s no longer known among the OJR faithful as the other Fuschino … or the little brother.
Winning will do that, and Fuschino is doing a lot of it of late.
Last Saturday night, during the 145-pound final of the District 1-AAA Central Tournament at Spring-Ford High School, Fuschino recovered from an early 2-0 deficit with a takedown and added a second-period reversal for all the points he needed in a 5-4 decision of Penncrest’s highly touted Jim Resnick. That was good enough for the gold medal – a district title – the one that eluded his older brother.
“I always felt like I was wrestling to fill (Anthony’s) shoes,” Fuschino said. “He always seemed like he was one step above me, so I figured I had big shoes to fill.
“There have always been those expectations. They came from a lot of people, but mostly from me. I’ve always wanted to out-do (Anthony). The great thing about it, though, is that he understands how competitive it is, and he’s always one of the first to congratulate me. He wants me to do well.”
Nick Fuschino is doing quite well.
He dominated his bracket at the Dallastown and Rustin tournaments earlier this season, placed third at the Keystone Games Invitational, and settled for fifth in the very tough Escape the Rock Classic at Council Rock South.
Fuschino (37-3) would like nothing more than to extend his personal winning streak, too. It began on Jan. 5 – when he humbled Absegami (N.J.) senior Dave Foulke in the consolation finals of the Escape the Rock – and is now at 17 in a row, with eight pins and three technical falls among the count.
The last three, of course, came during last Saturday’s district showdown. He needed just over two minutes to pin Oxford’s Cody Combs, was oh-so-workmanlike throughout a 5-1 decision of Downingtown West’s Chris Uhler, then proved he could go with one of the district’s other promising underclassmen in Resnick (31-3).
“I knew (Resnick) was supposed to beat me, or at least that’s what I heard,” Fuschino said. “But I felt I had something to prove, and I had the confidence to do it.
“Even when I fell behind (2-0), I felt I had the stamina. I figured if I could push him for six minutes he wouldn’t be able to hang with me. And in the end I felt I wore him down.”
For good reason, too.
A district gold medal is something his older brother hadn’t won, and something he himself wasn’t quite able to pin down last year.
“I was second here last year,” Fuschino recalled. “I didn’t want to settle for the same thing this year. I wanted to take first.”
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Fuschino’s effort, combined with teammate Will Bentley’s at 112, gave Owen J. Roberts a pair of district champions in one season for just the fourth time. The first occurred in 1968 with Keith Nyman and Ted Madden, then equaled in 2004 with Dan Hoffman and Bill Kropp and again in 2005 with Jeremy Stierly and Robert Hoffman. … Fuschino now has 87 career wins, two less than his older brother. … Connor McCormick, who has severely hampered by a leg injury in recent weeks, was quite inspiring in his third-place finish. He sandwich a pair of 5-2 decisions and pin around a semifinal injury default to the very physical Steve Hess of Rustin. … The Wildcats suffered a major setback when 285-pound junior Randy Keehn suffered a broken ankle just 11 seconds into his consolation bout with Coatesville’s Zakk Barker.

BEARING DOWN
Boyertown’s run of three straight years with four district champions ended Saturday night. The Bears only had three finalists, but all three – Jeremy Minich (103), Alex Pellicciotti (130) and Tim Feroe (152) – did win. … Teammate Matt Malfaro (112), a state qualifier a year ago, settled for fifth after dropping disheartening back-to-back 2-1 decisions to Lower Merion’s Marcus Neafsey and Unionville’s Chris Carney. … Perhaps the big surprise for Boyertown was senior Tommy MacNamara, unquestionably one of the area’s most improved wrestlers from a year ago, who was fifth at 171.
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Boyertown’s 15 district champions in the last four years is the area’s second-best mark behind Upper Perkiomen’s incredible 22.

GOLDEN NUMBERS
The area programs’ updated (and corrected) overall count of Class AAA district champions has Upper Perkiomen on top with 29, followed by Methacton (26), Boyertown and Spring-Ford (25 each), Phoenixville (21), Owen J. Roberts (19), Pottstown (17) and Perkiomen Valley (3).
The area programs’ updated (and corrected) overall count of Class AA district champions has Pottstown on top with 44, followed by St. Pius X (23), Perkiomen Valley (19), Pottsgrove (18), Phoenixville (14), and Upper Perkiomen (1).
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Upper Perkiomen has had at least one Class AAA district champion for nine years in a row now, while the next longest such streaks belong to Boyertown (six) and Owen J. Roberts (five).
St. Pius X has had at least one Class AA district champion for 10 years in a row, while Phoenixville and Pottstown have each had one or more for four straight years.

DISTRICT 1-AA RECAP
Phoenixville, Pottstown and St. Pius X combined to go 58-42 in bouts, winning eight finals and finishing second in four others, during last weekend’s District 1-AA Tournament. The 12 advance to this Friday’s opening round of the AA Southeast Regional at Wilson (West Lawn).
The Trojans’ Seth Ecker won his school-record fourth straight district title and will attempt to become just the second area wrestler – joining former Pottstown standout Joey Allen (1991-92) – to win two AA regional titles.
Pottstown’s four gold medalists – John Jensen, Ecker, Kyle Musso and Fred Holly – matched 2005’s total. That mark is second only to the seven (Mike Bakay, Gentry Brownie, John Freese, Todd Wright, Jeff Satterwhite, Paul Green and Randall Beasley) titles won in 1984.
Phoenixville’s Joe Mandrusiak and Rob Newcomb were the Phantoms’ first twosome to go gold since 1996 (Jason Meister and Josh Moyer). And Pius’ had two champions, Ryan Miller and Enzo Carannante, for the first time in three years.

HARD TO BELIEVE
One of the most improved programs in all of District 1 is Penncrest. But despite going into last Saturday’s District 1-AAA Central Tournament with nine qualifiers, the Lions failed to end one of the district’s longest and more infamous streaks – the most years without a district champion. No one has accomplished the feat since Randy Erickson swept the gold medal at 127 pounds way, way back in 1968. In simple math, that’s 40 years ago.
Penncrest has had a pair of Southeast Regional champions – current Boyertown head coach Pete Ventresca (1990) and the late Reed Shanaman (1998), but no district champions other than Erickson.
“That’s unbelievable when you think about it,” Ventresca said prior to Saturday night’s finals.

ONE AWAY
Bentley doesn’t need any additional motivation for Friday night’s first round of the AAA Southeast Regional. But the senior needs just one win for the 100th of his career.
Bentley, who swept the Section Four and District 1-Central gold medals the last two weekends, is on a roll of late. Since dropping his last two bouts at the Escape the Rock and then a 6-5 decision to Spring-Ford’s Tim Miller on Jan. 9, he’s won 14 straight bouts. In that run are five pins, one forfeit, three technical falls, three majors and two decisions – 9-5 over Pottsgrove’s Zach Robinson, who was the district North runner-up last week, and 8-1 over Lower Merion’s Marcus Neafsey in the Central final last Saturday night.
“After losing to Miller I thought, ‘This is my ninth loss, I’m so sick of losing,’ ” Bentley said Saturday night. “I was a little down on myself, so I decided I had to turn everything up a notch.
“But dropping from 119 to 112 is a big difference, too. At 119 the kids are a lot bigger. But at 112 I have a lot more confidence. I don’t feel anyone is stronger than me at 112.”

MOVING ON
The area will have 25 wrestlers in the AAA regional and 12 in the AA regional this week. Spring-Ford and Upper Perkiomen lead the way with six each, while Pottsgrove will have three (freshman Zach Robinson and seniors Matt Michaels and Mike Noto) for the first time in recent memory. Perkiomen Valley’s lone representative will be junior Jordan Deane at 135.
Daniel Boone’s Tyler Swartz finished second at 285 during last weekend’s AAA Southcentral Regional to earn a spot in next week’s PIAA Championships. Swartz (38-4) opens against the third-place entry from the Northwest Regional.

MOVING UP
Spring-Ford’s Ryan Kemmerer (128) is now tied with Spring-Ford graduate Eric Smith at No. 25 on the area’s career win chart. Methacton’s Jonathan Hammond (126) is 29th, while Ecker (124) is tied with Boyertown graduate Nick Hyatt in 31st place. … The other two active wrestlers over the 100-win mark are Swartz (114) and McCormick (107).
In addition to Bentley, other active leaders in the area are Michaels (91); Spring-Ford’s Matt Patterson (88); Fuschino (87); Spring-Ford teammates Gareth Cooper and Alex Kanakis (86 each); Holly (80); and Upper Perkiomen’s Jared Bennett (75).