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Eight Berks high school wrestlers win individual titles at season-opening tournaments

brian smith, reading eagle, pa.
·4 min read

Dec. 3—Eight Berks wrestlers won individual titles and Tulpehocken won a team title at season-opening tournaments that ended Saturday.

Winning individual championships were Daniel Boone's Tucker Hogan, Schuylkill Valley's Ian Vitalo, Wilson's McKaden Speece, Twin Valley's Jacob Gryzbeck and Ean Winchester, and Tulpehocken's Abramm Schaffer, Jonathon McQuillen and Jackson Heckman.

Tulpehocken easily won the team championship at East Pennsboro's Big Cat Brawl.

Hogan, a senior and the defending PIAA champion in Class 3A at 189 pounds, won the 189-pound championship at the Tom Best Memorial Top Hat Tournament at Williamsport for the second straight season. He defeated Saucon Valley's Jared Rohn by technical fall (20-4, 4:05) in the final. He won his other matches by fall in 1:49, by technical fall and by fall in 1:46.

Vitalo, a junior, won the 145-pound title at the Rough Rider Tournament at Catasauqua, pinning Upper Perkiomen's Gabe Sanfelice in 4:31 in the final. He won each of his first three matches by fall, all in 51 seconds or less. He won the 139-pound title at the event last season.

Speece, a sophomore, won the 127-pound title at the Cumberland Valley Kickoff Classic in Mechanicsburg. He defeated West Perry's Jackson Rush, a PIAA Class 2A qualifier last season, 7-6 in the final.

Gryzbek, a senior, won the 139-pound title at the Pottstown Invitational, defeating Mid-Valley's Matthew Almedina, a PIAA Class 2A qualifier last season, 8-4 in the final. Winchester, a senior, won the 285-pound title with a 57-second pin of Methacton's Gabe Franks in the final. He won all four of his matches by fall (32 seconds in his opener, 1:28 in the quarterfinals and 59 seconds in the semifinals).

Schaffer won the 114-pound title, McQuillen the 145-pound title and Heckman the 285-pound title at East Pennsboro.

Schaffer, a sophomore, pinned freshman teammate Jackson McQuillen in 50 seconds to win a Big Cat Brawl title for the second straight season. He won at 107 pounds last season. He won all three of his matches Saturday by fall.

Jonathon McQuillen, a junior, defeated Harrisburg's Naelson Vazquez by technical fall (22-6, 4:24) in the final. He also won his first two matches by technical fall.

Heckman, a sophomore, defeated Hanover's Brayden Pacheco 4-2 in the final. He won his first two matches by fall. He won the Big Cat Brawl 215-pound title last season.

At Williamsport in the Top Hat Tournament, Boone's Dean Houser finished second at 133 pounds, losing 8-2 to Northampton's Trey Wagner, in the final. Jordan Meyer placed fifth for the Blazers at 285 pounds

Boone finished 11th out of 25 teams.

At the Rough Rider Tournament, Landen Reich placed sixth for Schuylkill Valley, which placed 13th out of 16 teams.

Robert Ott placed fourth at 160 and Brenden Ackley sixth at 189 for Kutztown, which came in 15th.

At Cumberland Valley, other place-winners for Wilson were Ryan McMillan, second at 215; Logan Kurzweg, second at 285; Matteo Garcia, fourth at 160; and Blaise Eidle, sixth at 172.

The Bulldogs finished sixth out of 23 teams.

Exeter and Oley Valley also competed at the Kickoff Classic.

Place-winners for the Eagles were Michael Borja, third at 139; Kevin Oswalt, fifth at 189; and Cole Forsythe, fifth at 107. Exeter placed 14th.

Oley finished 23rd.

At the Pottstown Invitational, Chase Shrawder finished fourth at 152 for Twin Valley, which placed 11th out of 24 teams.

At the Big Cat Brawl, Tulpehocken had 15-place winners, including its three champions, to place first out of seven teams with 207.5 points. Delone Catholic was second with 178 points.

The other place-winners for the Trojans: Gionni Messersmith, second, 189; Landon Youse, third, 133; Mark Forry, third, 160; Dominic Stoudt, third, 172; Alexander Klonis, third, 215; Nathan Crampton, fourth, 152; Austin Rauenzahn, fourth, 215; Jose Sanchez, fifth, 285; Kobalt Seigfried, sixth, 133; Xzavier Dietrich, sixth, 145; and Mason Frederick, sixth, 160.

Gov. Mifflin competed in the Solanco Mule Classic at Quarryville.

Placing for the Mustangs, who finished 11th out of 26 teams, were Anthony Montegari, second, 127; Andrew Huesgen, third, 152; Daylen Morey fourth, 285; Samuel Moyer, fifth, 172; and Maddox Noll, seventh, 215.

Conrad Weiser went 2-3 at the Ephrata Duals.

The Scouts beat Ephrata 51-23 and Malvern Prep No. 2 38-35, and lost to Norwin 51-24, Malvern Prep No. 1 74-0 and Biglerville 49-24.

Justin McGarrigle (133) and Kaleb Britting (285) each went 4-1 for the Scouts.