Only nine members of the Germantown Academy wrestling team actually saw action on the mat at Haverford School on Jan. 22, but that was enough for the Patriots to come away with a 58-21 Inter-Ac League victory.

Participating in a lot of tournaments, GA hasn’t scheduled many dual meets outside of the league. The Haverford win lifted them to a 2-0 record in Inter-Ac competition, coming after a 58-12 verdict against Springside Chestnut Hill Academy.

The three seniors on the Germantown roster this year are team captain Jack Baron, Jack Breme, and Gavriel Sabag. Baron and Sabag will continue their wrestling careers at Drexel University.

Haverford slipped to 0-3 in the league (and 6-5 overall in duals), having previously succumbed to Penn Charter and mighty Malvern Prep. The young Fords squad had five freshman and one eighth-grader in the lineup.

The meet began with a pair of freshmen squaring off at 106 lbs. A takedown and a four-point near-fall had GA’s Dylan Deck leading 7-0 after the first period. Later, when Haverford’s Jerry Collins attempted a stand-up escape, Deck lifted him off the floor and slammed him down to the mat. The Patriot lightweight then notched a pin with 29 seconds remaining in the second stanza.

At 113, Haverford forfeited to visiting junior Aidan Lee, giving Germantown a 12-0 lead in the meet score.

Two lads named Max mixed it up at 120 lbs., sophomore Max Berman of the Patriots and freshman Max Lu of the Fords. An escape by Lu sandwiched between two takedowns by Berman had the GA grappler leading 6-1 after the first two minutes. Thanks to a three-point near-fall in the second period, Berman entered the third with a 9-1 lead.

After Berman escaped from the bottom and got a takedown early in the third, Lu managed an escape of his own. Another takedown had Berman on the verge of a technical fall with a 16-2 lead (a 15-point margin is needed for the rule to come into play). A four-point near-fall for Berman ended the bout with 6.5 seconds remaining.

Next up, at 126, was Baron, who last month reached the finals in the expansive and prestigious Beast of the East tournament.

Facing Haverford freshman Finn Thomas, Baron used a takedown and two near-falls to build up a 9-0 lead in the first period. From a neutral start in round two, Baron executed a takedown, then registered a four-point near-fall 33 seconds into the period. That immediately ended the match with a 16-0 score. That tech fall had GA leading the meet 22-0.

Patriots freshman Kelly Corson held a 7-2 advantage after two periods in the 132 lb. match. Corson reversed from the bottom position at the start of the third, then pinned Haverford eighth-grader Mahad Harris with 47.4 seconds to go.

After a blood stoppage early in the 138 lb. contest, GA junior Shai Sabag (Gavriel’s brother) executed a takedown and then pinned Haverford sophomore Idrees Harris 53 seconds into the match. Sabag had bumped up from his regular weight of 132 lbs., and his classmate Adam Seidman stepped up one class to 144. Unbothered by the move, Seidman pinned Fords freshman Danny DiMarino in 37 seconds.

The 150 lb. match didn’t last much longer. Against Haverford junior Daniel Tryon, GA’s Gavriel Sabag needed 58 seconds to press his opponent’s back to the mat. This put the Patriots up 46-0, clinching the meet victory. Haverford could now score only a maximum of 36 points.

The elder Sabag had actually bumped down from his regular 157 lb. position, and thus the Fords picked up their first points of the afternoon when the Patriots forfeited 157 to sophomore Ali Torabi.

The only regular decision of the meet was recorded in the 165 lb. class, where GA sophomore West Borkowski wrestled Haverford senior Ian Thomas. Takedowns helped Thomas build a 7-2 lead during the first two periods.

Starting down at the beginning of the third frame, Borkowski escaped and then executed a takedown of his own, closing the score to 7-6. The gap widened again as Thomas, in turn, logged an escape and a takedown. Borkowski escaped to make it 11-7, but the only other scoring came when Haverford was given a stalling penalty, and Thomas won the match, 11-8.

The Fords gained a little more in the meet score, with a GA forfeit to 175 lb. senior Cole Lisowski trimming the Patriots’ lead to 31 points, at 46-15.

GA’s Breme began the 190 lb. contest with a takedown and a near-fall for a 7-0 lead. The Patriots senior started on top in the second period, and he pinned senior Matt King of the home team with 38.2 seconds remaining. The Pats then forfeited at 215 lbs. to Fords freshman Michael Sweeney.

At 285 lbs., GA junior Stephen White and Haverford sophomore Griffin Apple danced through the first period to a 0-0 outcome. Starting the second round in the superior posture, White took 41 seconds to pin his Fords foe, cementing the final score at 58-21.