Seen here in the early stages of their match at 152 lbs., Penn Charter senior Sam Shemtov and Germantown Academy junior Deon Savage had their bout end with an 8-3 decision in favor of Savage. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

by Tom Utescher

When it comes to difficulties in filling all 14 weight classes in dual meets, few area wrestling programs are immune. The situation was underscored yet again when Germantown Academy visited Penn Charter last Friday evening and there were forfeits in six categories.

In the other eight classes, the visiting Patriots recorded three pins, two decisions and one major decision to take away a 40-15 win over the Quakers, who picked up one pin and one decision out on the mat.

Filling the lightest positions on the weight scale has long been a problem for independent schools, and nowadays even schools with healthy football programs like GA and PC sometimes go wanting at the highest weights. Last Friday both teams forfeited at 106, 113 and 285 lbs., while Charter had to forego the 120 and 126 lb. categories and GA sent nobody into the ring at 220.

GA, which had previously defeated Episcopal Academy and Haverford School in Inter-Ac dual meets, improved to 3-0 in the league, while the Quakers leveled out at 2-2. Charter had also beaten Episcopal, and in their other two Inter-Ac outings the Quakers defeated Springside Chestnut Hill Academy and lost to Malvern Prep.

Last Friday, the Patriots had 30 points on the visitors’ side of the scoreboard before the Quakers acquired their first points in the meet. When the event began with the 120 lb. class, spectators did not get to see decorated GA junior Chris Kim perform, since the hosts had no one to oppose him. Kim’s classmate, Jibrael Moore, won in the same manner at 126 lbs. for a 12-0 Patriot lead.

It didn’t take much longer for Germantown to assume a 24-0 advantage in the team scoring, as the 132 lb. and 138 lb. bouts were over quickly. First, visitor Christian Colman pinned fellow sophomore Max Lentz in 28 seconds, and then freshman Brian Allen matted PC sophomore Isaiah Woods-Kolsky in 57 ticks of the clock.

More experienced Penn Charter wrestlers, seniors T.J. Henry and Sam Shemtov, would make sure the next two contests went the distance. At 145 lbs., Germantown Academy sophomore Luke Duthie had two takedowns in the first period but Henry, wearing an elaborate brace on his left shoulder, scored an escape in between and then reversed Duthie late in the period to only trail 4-3 going into the second round.

Duthie fortified his position with an escape, a takedown and a near fall to enter the third period with a 9-3 lead. Starting down, Henry escaped with under half-a-minute remaining, but neither man could notch a takedown in the waning moments and GA claimed a 9-4 decision.

GA sophomore Luke Duthie (top) did not pin PC senior T.J. Henry, but he did win a 9-4 decision in the 145 lb. match. Seen in the background at top left is GA head coach Solomon Fleckman. (Photo by Tom Utescher)

Shemtov scored the first points at 152 lbs. with a takedown of Patriots junior Deon Savage. Savage rolled Shemtov onto the top of his shoulders over at the edge of the circle at the end of the period. The ref smacked the mat to signal a pin, but it was ruled that the horn had sounded just a fraction of a second earlier.

Savage came away without even points for a reversal, but in the second stanza an escape and then a late takedown sent him into the third round with a 3-2 edge. Shemtov escaped from the bottom to even the score early in the third, then Savage went ahead for good by taking his host right down onto his back, chalking up two points for the takedown and three for a near fall. There was a clock malfunction late in the period, but the score remained unchanged, with an 8-3 decision for Savage raising Germantown’s team lead to 30-0.

At 160 lbs., the first period ended with a 2-1 lead for the hosts following a takedown by Charter junior John Guiffrida and an escape by freshman Brendan Donnelly of GA. Guiffrida worked through a bloody nose in the second round, and a takedown with short time remaining got him into the third with a 6-2 lead.

With Donnelly beginning on the bottom, a series of escapes by the freshman and takedowns by Guiffrida bumped the score up to 10-4. GA garnered the final point with an escape, but a 10-5 decision for the Quakers gave them their first team points of the afternoon.

Following a 0-0 result in the first period at 170 lbs., GA’s Brian Kelley escaped from the bottom position early in the second. He wasn’t on his feet for too long before fellow 10th-grader Danny Bach took him down and registered Penn Charter’s lone pin with 34 seconds left.

The meet score was now 30-9, but GA soon resumed its winning ways. PC sophomore Antonio DeMarco opened at 182 lbs. with a takedown, then GA junior Wyatt Hare efficiently parleyed a reversal into a pin with 38 seconds remaining in the first period.

In the 195 lb. match, experienced Quakers senior Wayne Derkotch was unable to score, but he fought hard to keep the match going through several near falls recorded by visitor Harrison Levans. However, the GA sophomore was able to build up his lead in points until at the end he had an 8-0 verdict good for a major decision.

The Patriots’ team total was now locked in at 40 points, and the Quakers then went from nine to their final total of 15 when junior Matt McGlinchey accepted a GA forfeit at 220 lbs. No more points were added to the official totals for the three remaining weight classes, since both teams took a pass at 285, 106 and 113.