Town and Country Newspaper

Sports Article

Four Indian Wrestlers Qualify for Regionals

Written by Jake Hallman, Staff Writer
2013-02-27

Wolfgang McStravick works an escape from Methacton’s Joe Staley in the District 1 AAA West Tournament at Spring-Ford Saturday. McStravick won the 132-pound championship match. He will head into regionals one win shy of 150 career wins, and is 43-5 on the season.

There were some familiar faces on the podium as well as some pleasant surprises as Upper Perkiomen’s wrestling team took to the mats this past Saturday at Spring-Ford High School to take part in the District 1 AAA West Tournament.

When it was all said and done, the Indians, who saw 10 of its wrestlers qualify for the tourney, had four who will move on to the regional level by virtue of a top three finish.

Those wrestlers included senior Wolfgang McStravick, who was golden at 132; fellow senior Dante Steffenino, a runner-up at 120; sophomore Dustin Steffenino, who grabbed silver at 106 and senior Ray Young, who notched runner-up honors at 152.

That quartet will move on to the AAA Southeast Regional Tournament at Pottstown High School this weekend with a chance to move on to the PIAAA Championships in Hershey the following week. The top three wrestlers in each weight class at regionals will qualify for states.

McStravick, who entered districts as the No. 1 seed with a 40-5 record, lived up to his top billing. He opened with a second-period pin against Spring-Ford’s Nick Beauchamp and worked a 4-0 decision in his next bout over Upper Darby’s Matt Carney to earn a spot in the finals.

In those finals, McStravick met up with Methacton’s Joe Staley in a rematch of the PAC-10 title match a week ago. And much like the previous outing, McStravick used an identical 8-1 decision over Staley to earn his title. He will head into regionals one win shy of 150 career wins, and is 43-5 on the season.

Fellow senior Dante Steffenino, the top seed at 120, spent just 54 seconds on the mat in his opener before he got the slap against Luke Charamella (Springfield Delco). He then worked a 7-0 shutout in the semifinals against Marple Newtown’s Pat Callaghan. In the finals, Garnet Valley’s Mike Marino held on to take the title with a 10-7 decision.

Sophomore Dustin Steffenino’s silver run started with a 40-second fall over Garnet Valley’s Ben Tuohey and a 10-6 nod against Anthony Petril (Upper Darby). His quest for gold in the finals came up just short as he was set back, 5-4, to Jason Rinaldi (Marple Newtown).

Perhaps the most pleasant surprise for head coach Tom Hontz and company came in Young’s gritty runner-up finish at 152. The senior, who came into districts with a 17-16 mark and a fourth-place finish at the PAC-10 championships, improved on that outing against tougher competition. He opened with a second-period drop of Penncrest’s Connor Carey, then dealt Dylan Glenn (Haverford) a 7-0 defeat. In the semifinals, Young pinned PAC-10 runner-up Frankie Krauss of Spring-Ford in the second period to earn his title match.

Young’s finals match against Boyertown freshman Gregg Harvey was a rematch of last week’s consolation finals match in which Harvey prevailed, 6-1. At districts, Young was able to close the spread, but still came up short, 7-3.

At 182, Casey Cook went 1-2, and senior Kyle Fellman was 2-2 at 145 to finish his senior season with a 34-12 record. Eric Miller was 2-2 at 113 and fellow sophomore Trevor Weeks was 1-2 at 160, as was Dan Jordan at 138. Dylan Steffenino, who qualified for districts but didn’t compete due to injury, saw his memorable career end with 113 career wins.

As a team, Upper Perk finished third in the standings behind Owen J. Roberts and Spring-Ford as the PAC-10 took the top five places.

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