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Redskins give Knights a real scare Coming into this week, the Neshaminy Redskins were preparing for a first-place showdown against the still undefeated North Penn Knights - with hopes of a division title still within their grasp. By MICHAEL
DOWLING
LANGHORNE -- Coming into
this week, the Neshaminy Redskins were preparing for a first-place
showdown against the still undefeated North Penn Knights - with
hopes of a division title still within their grasp.
The Redskins were 7-2 overall and 6-1 in the Suburban One League
Patriot Division.
But, due to a wrestler competing in an uncertified weight class,
the 'Skins had to forfeit two earlier season wins.
As of Monday, the Redskins' record dropped to 5-4, 4-3 SOL.
And the hopes of winning the division title were lost for this
season at least.
But North Penn continued its dominance as the Knights of the SOL
roundtable with a narrow 27-25 victory at Neshaminy last night.
But the Redskins seemed to take the match just as seriously as if
it were for first place.
"Learning that we had to forfeit two of our wins, which knocked
us out of first-place contention, didn't really affect me for this
match," said senior Jack Fleming, who won by decision at 189 pounds,
and kept the 'Skins alive going into the last match.
"I told all the guys before the match that this match tonight is
our championship, and we have to treat it like that," Fleming added.
And Neshaminy did just that, scoring seven team points on Jon
Denny's decision at 119 and Brian Rowan's 11-3 major decision win at
125.
North Penn then stretched its lead, duplicating its scoring in
the first two matches with a decision win and a pin over Neshaminy's
Jeremy Kershbaumer at 4:35.
But Neshaminy refused to go quietly into the night and racked up
nine points off Pat Warusz's win by major decision at 140, along
with Rich Palmer's last-second technical fall at 145.
"I was real proud of the way my guys were wrestling tonight,"
coach Mike Ortman Jr. said. "I really feel sick about everything
going on with our wins taken from us. It was my fault, and I take
complete responsibility for it."
But it became obvious that Neshaminy was not just going to roll
over for North Penn.
And Bill Hunt's decision at 160 set up Fleming and sophomore
Geoff Donahue with the opportunity to steal the victory from North
Penn, just as they did from Council Rock one week before.
Going into the last match, Neshaminy was down 27-22, leaving
Donahue with only two options: a pin or a technical fall.
And Donahue almost pinned North Penn's Pete McCormick in the last
second of the first period.
But he didn't, and that was the last chance that the 250-pound
McCormick was going to give to Donahue.
But McCormick managed to weather Donahue's storm, and lost the
match 6-3, but clinched North Penn's victory.
"It's so frustrating when someone's strategy is not to wrestle
you," Donahue said. "It's the worst feeling in the world, and I feel
really bad for the seniors."
But at least one senior didn't seemed to be bothered by it.
"As long as know it in our hearts that we won those matches
outright, we'll be just fine," Fleming said. "It doesn't matter what
they write on paper, we all know who won those matches - we all know
who the better team is."
Thursday, February 1,
2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
