Springside Chestnut Hill Academy hosted a non-league wrestling tri-meet last Wednesday, welcoming in George School of the Friends Schools League and Lawrenceville School of the Mid-Atlantic Prep League.

Both George School and SCH were overmatched against Lawrenceville, which defeated the Cougars, 66-6, and then knocked off the host Blue Devils, 63-12. The third encounter proved much closer, with George edging SCH, 30-29. With the addition of a number of exhibition matches (unusual in a tri-meet), this proved to be quite a lengthy affair.

Springside Chestnut Hill had two juniors win both of their bouts, Sean Brett at 132 lbs. against Lawrenceville and 138 lbs. against George School, and Nasir Yard, at 190 lbs. against both opponents.

In the best circumstances, the Devils are able to fill all of the weight categories, but on this day several injuries caused some spur-of-the-moment line-up adjustments.

A pair of first-period pins and an SCH forfeit had Lawrenceville out to an 18-0 lead in their meet when Brett took the mat at 132. A takedown and near-fall had him leading 4-0 after the first period and he started in the bottom position for the second. Executing a reversal, he then secured a pin with 15 seconds remaining in the round.

The Blue Devils forfeited at 138, 144, and 150 lbs., then pins by the visitors in the next three matches swelled the Larries' lead to 54-6 in the meet score. At 190, Yard would provide the home team with its other six points. His rival escaped after his first takedown, but Yard's second TD resulted in a pin with 51 seconds still to go in the first period.

After this came the only match ending in a decision, the 215 lb. contest featuring SCH freshman Nolan Delaney. A takedown and a reversal over the first two periods had him leading, 4-2, but the third round ended with the score tied at 6-6. In overtime, Lawrenceville won by scoring the first points, getting a takedown for an 8-6 final.

That made it 57-12 overall, and an SCH forfeit at 285 lbs. closed out the team score at 63-12.

Next, the Blue Devils took on George School, with neither school presenting a wrestler for the starting weight class, 120 lbs. Brett needed just 45 seconds to record a pin at 138 lbs., and SCH forfeits at 132 and 144 lbs. along with a George School no-show at 126 lbs. had the teams tied at 12-12. Blue Devils freshman Shane Keefe had accepted the Cougars' forfeit at 126.

The 12-12 team score endured through the 150 lb. class, where both schools took a pass.

The momentum kept changing rapidly during the 157 lb. clash, where the Blue Devils were represented by sophomore John Pieczynski. After a series of takedowns and escapes, a late pair of back points had the Cougars' Jaxson Brooks ahead 9-7 at the end of the first period.

With an escape, a takedown, and penalty points in his favor, Pieczynski was up 12-9 in the middle of the next round, but Brooks reversed him and got a pin with 45 seconds remaining.

SCH freshman Colin McFadden found himself in a close contest at 165, with most points scored on takedowns and escapes until the grapplers were tied at 5-5 at the end of regulation. After a one-minute overtime and two 30-second stints, George's Andrew Garrett finally emerged an 8-6 winner.

This would have made the meet score 21-12, but earlier on in the meet a team point had been taken away from SCH for unsportsmanlike conduct, so the tally was now 21-11.

At 175 lbs., Blue Devils sophomore Robbie Murray picked up points rapidly and was ahead 9-0 after one period. Off of a neutral (standing) start in the second, he got a takedown and then a pin with 1:15 left in the round.

Yard was leading 4-2 after the first period at 190 lbs., and he ended the contest with a pin with 34 seconds remaining in the second stanza.

Springside Chestnut Hill now led in the team scoring for the first time since early in the meet, 23-21.

The Devils' Delaney scored a takedown at the start of the 215 lb. match, but Rudy Jatnieks of the Cougars edged ahead and maintained a modest lead until he secured a 9-6 decision. This, along with an SCH forfeit at 285, had the visitors up 30-23 in the team tally.

After a double forfeit at 106 lbs., George School forfeited at 113 to SCH freshman Beckett Chizmar, but this still left the Blue Devils one point short in the team score, as the Cougars prevailed 30-29.