After the mat and the team benches had been set up in the Germantown Academy gym last Friday, it wasn't long until the Patriots wrestlers were putting them away again.

Both host GA and visiting Springside Chestnut Hill Academy had a number of wrestlers out of action for medical reasons when they met for their first dual meet of the 2024 Inter-Ac League season. Out of the total of 14 weight classes, the official winners in only five of them were actually decided on the mat. In the other nine categories, either one team or the other forfeited, and at the end the Patriots emerged with a 54-30 victory.

The Germantown grapplers had spent the 2023 portion of the season engaged in tournaments, rather than dual meets. Their best outcomes had occurred at the Sam Lovello Classic in Berks County (second out of 15 teams) and upstate at the Jim Thorpe Holiday Tournament (fifth of 26).

Against SCH, they won five weight classes by forfeit and picked up pins in four others.

The Blue Devils had already seen a good deal of dual-meet competition, arriving at GA with a 2-7 record. In the Inter-Ac opener, SCH collected four forfeits and earned a pin in a fifth category.

Each team was missing four wrestlers due to injury last Friday, and SCH had a fifth man out sick.

The meet got underway with the 106 lb. class, where the visitors forfeited to Patriots freshman Justin Farnsworth. At 113, GA sophomore Jack Baron, one of the team captains, squared off against Blue Devils freshman Beckett Chizmar. Baron scored an early takedown and then secured a pin with 24 seconds elapsed. The 120-pound bout, featuring two freshmen, was over in 17 seconds, as GA's Shai Sabag overcame visitor Shane Keefe.

The Patriots were assured of at least a tie in the final meet scoring when the Blue Devils forfeited at 126, 132, 138, and 144 lbs. Accepting the points for the home team were freshman Adam Seidman, sophomore Eric Catenacci, junior Robert Leeds (another one of the Patriot captains), and freshman Aidan Lee.

This gave the Pats a 42-0 advantage in the team scoring, and when Jack Breme nailed down a pin at 150 lbs., the hosts were holding 48 points with a maximum of 36 left on the table in the last six weight classes. Breme ended his match against fellow sophomore Tristan Ferraro of SCH with 51 seconds left in the first period.

Springside Chestnut Hill put points on the visitors' side of the scoreboard when GA forfeited to freshman Colin McFadden at 157 lbs. The Patriots reached their final meet total of 54 points with the outcome of the 165 lb. bout. Here junior Luke Sugalski (the third GA captain) sandwiched two takedowns around an escape by Devils sophomore John Pieczynski to lead 4-1 on points. Sugalski then finished things off with a pin with 22 seconds left in the opening period.

Germantown gave those six points back at 175 lbs., forfeiting that class to Nasir Yard, an SCH junior and one of the team's top performers.

The visitors picked up their only individual victory on the mat in the 190 lb. weight class, courtesy of sophomore Robbie Murray. A takedown and back points put him ahead of junior Andrew Dougherty, 4-0, in the first period, and he led 7-0 after the second round. A pin 47 seconds into the third period wrapped up the encounter.

SCH now had 18 points in the meet, and it acquired a dozen more thanks to a pair of Patriots forfeits, to freshman Nolan Delaney at 215 lbs., and to junior Kyle Knox at 285.