by Tom Utescher

In last Tuesday’s Friends Schools League wrestling meet, visiting Germantown Friends School and host Academy of the New Church each won four of the eight weight classes in which the outcome was actually determined out on the wrestling mat.

Unfortunately for the visiting Tigers, they were unable to fill the other six positions, and this helped the home team roll to a 58-24 victory. It was the second FSL dual meet for each school; the ANC Lions had opened up with a win over Abington Friends, while GFS succumbed to Friends Central.

Last week one of the GFS captains, 11th-grader Jake Moss, was away on his “J-term” junior year study project, and two other Tigers were unable to compete at ANC for medical reasons.

Tuesday’s contest began well for Germantown Friends, as the random start procedure settled on the 160 lb. class for the beginning weight and promising freshman Dante Billups stepped into the circle for the Tigers.

His match with ANC’s Winston Ross went into the third period; with most points being scored on takedowns and near falls, Ross had a 7-6 edge after two rounds.

Starting on the bottom for the third, Billups escaped and then secured a takedown a little over 30 seconds into the period. He turned Ross and pinned him with 1:06 remaining, putting Germantown up 6-0 in the team scoring.

GFS has had trouble filling the heavier classes all season, and here Academy of the New Church rocketed into the lead as the Tigers forfeited in five categories from 170 up to heavyweight. Collecting the points for the Lions were Dante DeMaria (170), Jim Deng (182), Karl Cranch (195), Sean McCurdy (220) and Joe Dybalski (285).

Germantown slipped farther into the hole in the team score, 6-36, when ANC’s 106-pounder, Colin Trost, recorded a first-period pin against Tigers freshman Casey Sparks.

Another GFS ninth-grader, Will Jiggets, held out until the third period in the 113 lb. contest. He scored on a reversal during the first period, but the home team’s Nick Weinstein led 5-2 at the end of the round and later took a 16-2 advantage into the third. Weinstein ended it with a pin 42 ticks into the final round.

Dante Billups (top), a Germantown Friends freshman, starts to turn over Winston Ross of the Academy of the New Church. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

With Henry Hungaski’s victory for ANC at 120 lbs., the Lions’ lead in the team score could no longer be surpassed or even equaled, as the tally now reached 48-6 with five weight classes remaining. GFS freshman Neil Bennett actually had the early lead in this one, scoring a takedown for a 2-0 advantage heading into the second round. From a neutral (standing) start, Hungaski engineered a takedown and then got the pin with 20 seconds left in the period.

GFS junior Javier Carmona often wrestles at 126 lbs., but here he was bumped up to 132, leaving the field clear at the lower weight for the hosts’ Gavin Hungaski to accept six forfeit points. Through the first two periods at 132, ANC’s Jordan Wilson yielded just one point on an escape, and led 6-1.

After a series of escapes and takedowns to start the third stanza, Wilson rolled up some late back points. He won a major decision with a tally of 17-4, spreading the meet score to 58-6.

Germantown Friends was able to make the final meet score look a good deal more respectable with pins in the last three matches of the afternoon. Junior Josh Zeelander, who had been the runner-up in his class at the Church Farm School tournament the previous Saturday, picked up a pair of takedowns to lead 4-1 after the first period of the 138 lb. bout. He reversed from the bottom and pinned the Lions’ Declan Williams 50 seconds into round two.

Sophomore Noah Ruddick, a GFS sophomore, had finished third at the Church Farm tourney. He went ahead early at ANC with a takedown against his host Jackson Irwin, and although Irwin came close to escaping at one point, Ruddick maintained control and completed the pin with five seconds to go.

Last up for the Tigers, at 152 lbs., was junior Liem Kleitz, a team captain along with Moss. In the first round, his three takedowns and two escapes by ANC’s Rafe Williams set the score at 6-2. Beginning the next period on top, Kleitz turned his rival at the edge of the circle, and the official signaled a pin with 47 seconds remaining.