Last Friday's Inter-Ac meet concluded with SCH's junior 138-pounder, Kyle Williams (top), pinning PC's Sam Shemtov. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

Area wrestlers have been in action for more than a month, but Penn Charter and Springside Chestnut Hill Academy made their Inter-Ac League debut only last Friday, when the SCH Blue Devils took the short ride down to School House Lane.

The host Quakers recorded one pin and won four decisions, and they picked up four forfeits along the way to double up the Devils, 42-21. This was actually the first official dual meet in or out of the league for PC, which had only seen action in tournament settings before last Friday.

SCH went back home with a 7-3 mark in duals, having secured two pins and one decision against Charter, and tacking on another six points through a forfeit by the Quakers.

The meet began with an encounter between a pair of veteran 145-pounders, Penn Charter senior David Giorno and Springside Chestnut Hill junior Myles Hugee. Each man appeared close to completing a takedown several times, but both the opening round and the second period (which began with the wrestlers in the neutral position) slipped away while the scoreboard still displayed a pair of goose eggs.

Starting on the bottom for the third period, Giorno managed to escape with 43 seconds remaining. Hugee tried for a late takedown, but the combatants spilled out of bounds and Giorno earned a 1-0 decision. PC's lead in the team score then grew to 9-0 when the visitors forfeited the 152 lb. class to the Quakers' Evan Wilson, one of two juniors who are new to the team this season.

In each of the first two periods at 160 lbs., Charter's Alex Smith executed a takedown and then fellow junior Andrew Cramer of the Blue Devils escaped. The score tightened from 4-2 to 4-3 in the third frame as PC was penalized one point, but Smith still took the decision to put Penn Charter up 12-0 in the meet.

SCH dropped into a deeper hole with forfeits at 170 lbs. to sophomore Wayne Derkotch and at 182 lbs. to Quakers freshman Matthew McGlinchey, but the visitors recovered six points at the 195 lb. level, where the hosts forfeited to visiting junior Sean Edling to make the meet score 24-6.

Senior Michael Spirito, wrestling up at 220 for Springside Chestnut Hill, built up a 6-2 lead in points by taking down PC's Dante DiStefano, who escaped twice. With 1:03 still remaining in the first period, Spirito pinned DiStefano, the other 11th-grade wrestling rookie in the Quakers' line-up.

The Quakers' lead had been cut to a dozen points, but they quickly went up 30-12 as the Blue Devils sent out no one to oppose 285 lb. senior Billy Costello. Costello was coming off of a holiday tournament championship at the annual Ralph Wetzel Classic, where he won by major decision in the finals over previously unbeaten Nick Cooper of Bensalem High School, one of the top PIAA prospects in District 1.

Last Friday's meet then cycled back to the light end of the scale, and the team score remained unchanged as both teams took a pass at 106 lbs.

At 113, Quakers freshman Jess Anderson led most of the way after ringing up an early takedown and three back points, but visiting sophomore Simon Kioko pulled back into a 6-6 tie in the middle of the second period. Anderson ended the second stanza with a reversal and then gained his second five-point lead of the match at 11-6 early in the third round.

Kioko fought back once more with an escape and takedown, closing the score to 11-9, but with just three seconds remaining Anderson was awarded a reversal to claim a hard-won 13-9 decision.

Scoring all of his points on takedowns, the Quakers' 120-pound Jordan Steinhouse led another junior named Jordan (SCH's Jordan Bell) by a 6-2 count in the middle of the second period. With 28 seconds remaining, Steinhouse ended the contest with a pin, and this also clinched the meet victory for Penn Charter. The home team led 39-12, and even with pins in each of the three remaining matches, the Blue Devils could have come no closer than 39-30.

Each side picked up a victory by decision in the next two bouts. After a scoreless opening period at 126 lbs., a late takedown in the second sent SCH sophomore Luke Purcell on to the final round with a 4-2 edge. PC's T.J. Henry, also a 10th-grader, registered an escape in the third session, but it was sandwiched between a reversal and a takedown by Purcell, who won 8-3.

Two takedowns by Charter senior Gene Naumovsky and a pair of escapes by Blue Devil freshman Marco Goldberg produced a 4-2 score after two periods of competition at 132 lbs. Naumovsky, who has been accepted at the University of Pennsylvania, chalked up the lone point of the third frame when Goldberg allowed him to escape at the outset. The SCH ninth grader was unable to score any points the rest of the way, and Naumovsky's 5-2 decision bumped PC's lead up to 42-15 in the team tally.

Springside Chestnut Hill reduced its deficit by six points in the final match of the afternoon. The Blue Devils' tough 138-pounder, junior Kyle Williams, went ahead early with a takedown and tacked on three back points. Penn Charter sophomore Sam Shemtov escaped at the end of the opening period, but still trailed 5-1 for the start of the next round. Starting on the bottom, Williams soon gained control and logged a pin with 1:22 left in the period.

While it's unfortunate that there were forfeits in six of the 14 weight classes in this meet, there was still a good deal of action to entertain onlookers in Penn Charter's crowded wrestling room.