CR North standout set to take big PIAA wrestling step; see our Bucks County team rankings

Eren Sement needed a Plan B in a hurry after his first match at last season's PIAA Class 3A tournament in Hershey.

Coming off an impressive freshman season in which he won a Southeast Regional title and followed that by capturing a bronze medal at states, the then Council Rock North sophomore had his sights set on PIAA gold.

That's when the unexpected happened.

Sement lost his opener 9-8 to West Scranton's Michael Turi in Hershey to drop into the consolation bracket, meaning he'd have no chance at a state title.

"So many things went through my mind after that loss," Sement said. "I was mad at myself for underrating an opponent, which you can't do at states, and winning a state title was gone, too.

Big brother a big help for CR North standout

"I talked to my older brother, Kaya (who wrestles at the University of Pennsylvania), and he told me that I had to forget about the loss and fight back to try and get third place. That was the best I could do at that point and when I came back for my next match, I started wrestling the best I ever had and just tried to keep going."

Sement did what few do at that point by rattling off five straight wins after the loss to earn another PIAA bronze medal.

"Eren absolutely learned from what happened last year and that will make him even tougher to beat now," CR North head coach Mike Diglia said.

"He's a junior now and he's learned not to get ahead of himself and he has the right mindset and a calmness that really helps him. He wants to wrestle the toughest competition and he just strives to keep getting better.

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"His goal is to win a state championship and he has the skill and the temperament to break through and do it."

PIAA gold the goal for CR North wrestler

Sement heads into the post-season with a 31-7 season mark and a sterling 114-17 career record. The PIAA District One East Class 3A tournament is Saturday at Quakertown followed by the Southeast Regionals next weekend in Oxford and then the PIAA tournament at the Giant Center in Hershey the following week.

Four of his seven losses this season have come against Pennsylvania wrestlers. Those wresters are a combined 146-10 this season.

"Eren always wants to go up against the best competition," Diglia said. "He learns from wrestling the top guys and that's why he's also one of the top guys out there."

CR North's Sement learns from his rare losses

"This year, one of my goals was to be undefeated, but that didn't happen," said the University of Pennsylvania commit, who will wrestle in the postseason at 127 pounds.

"In each of those losses I made some little mistakes that cost me, but I've worked on correcting them and my goal is to get to Hershey and win a state title."

Then, after one more season with the Indians next year, he'll be off to join his brother with the Quakers.

"I looked at a lot of schools, but I kind of always knew that I wanted to go to Penn," Sement said.

"The team there is like a family, and they treat me like a little brother. And I want to go into business and to get a Wharton (School of Business) degree is really important to me."

Team rankings

From our first dual-meet rankings in early December, to these, our last of the season, there were few changes.

Council Rock South moved up a couple of spots, but the original five teams we had ranked before Christmas are still in the top five with St. Patrick's Day just around the corner. That's how consistent our original five were.

We'll keep going with our individual rankings until after the PIAA championships.

Let's take a look at the top teams with their final dual-meet records in parentheses:

1. Faith Christian (12-4)

The PIAA holds a statewide dual-meet championship in early February and then crowns another team champion at individual states in March. The Lions won the Class 2A team title a few weeks ago and they'll win the team title again in March. Yes, it's confusing, having two team champions, but more often than not, the team that wins the dual-meet title usually also wins in March when individual performances determine the winner. Faith Christian is likely to have multiple PIAA champs and when you do that, team titles follow.

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2. Council Rock South (15-3)

The Golden Hawks edge Pennridge for the second spot in our final poll thanks to a pair of wins over the Rams during the season.

3. Pennridge (21-6) 

In just three seasons at the helm, Brian Kuhns has turned a struggling Rams program into one of the best in the district and the state. Yes, the state, when you consider Pennridge recently placed fourth at the PIAA Class 3A dual-meet event.

Vote in our wrestling poll: 5 things to watch as Bucks County wrestlers begin tournament action; vote in postseason poll

4. Quakertown (16-5)

The Panthers, always a solid dual-meet team, will make plenty of noise in the postseason team races thanks to four studs in Collin Gaj, Mason Ziegler, Calvin Lachman and Gavin Carroll.

5. Conwell-Egan (10-0)

Here's another team that will impress in the tournaments as seniors Charlie Robson, Steven Harris and Kevin Bagnell lead the way.

Others to watch (listed alphabetically): Council Rock North, La Salle High, Neshaminy, Pennsbury.

Drew Markol: dmarkol@theintell.com; @dmarkol

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: PIAA gold the goal for CR North's Sement; see our team rankings