Wrestling: Six from area capture Southeast Regional titles with Hershey the next stop

OXFORD - Tony Burke knew all about the history.

How he had lost to Spring-Ford's Cole Smith in last year's PIAA District One Class 3A Southeast Regional final.

And how he didn't want it to happen again.

"I did beat him the next week at states, but I really wanted to win a regional title last year and I'm glad I was able to this year," Burke said.

"The loss to him last year really pushed me to work harder for my senior season."

Burke won his regional title in style by pinning Smith as the second period ended.

"I was able to catch him with a flick and throw and get the pin," Burke said.

Burke was joined atop the podium by superb freshman Eren Sement, who won the 106-pound crown with an 18-3 technical fall win over Council Rock South's Luke Reitter in the championship match.

The Indians were the only school to have multiple champions and wound up fifth in the team standings.

Quakertown, led by freshman Collin Gaj, who won at 132, captured the team title with 123 points, edging CR South (119.5). The Panthers' Mason Ziegler (120) and Freddie Retter (285) both won silver medals.

The Golden Hawks' Bek Sadriddinov won the 152-pound title, slipping past North Penn's Will Morrow 3-1 in a rematch of the District One-East final.

Central Bucks East's Quinn Collins (189) and CB West's Carl DiGiorgio (215), both seniors, were the other area wrestlers to capture titles.

The top five finishers in each weight class earned berths in the PIAA tournament, which begins Thursday and runs through Saturday in Hershey.

Quakertown's Gaj continues impressive run

It's not supposed to be this easy, but Quakertown freshman Collin Gaj sure makes it look that way.

Gaj pinned his way through the 132-pound bracket, recording four falls (three in the first period), to capture his first regional title.

"It feels really good," said Gaj (pronounced Guy), who improved to 41-5 and 12-0 with 10 pins since dropping down to 132 in early February.

"I woke up last Sunday morning (after winning a District One-East crown) and was ready to go and was looking forward to this. I think I'm wrestling the best I have all season."

Gaj wrestled less than nine minutes in his four matches and needed only 62 seconds to pin Souderton senior Tyler Geiger in the finals.

"If I can get the pin, that's great," Gaj said. "I got a couple here and you'll always take it." And now I'm looking forward to states. Anything can happen and I will give everything I have."

CR South's Sadriddinov making up for last year

Council Rock South sophomore Bek Sadriddinov was not happy with how his season ended last year — he didn't advance out of regionals — and didn't want to have a repeat performance.

"I wasn't happy with how my freshman year ended," said Sadriddinov, whose older brother, Mo, placed second at 145 as did teammate Matt Colajezzi at 160.

"Things are going well now and my goal is to get up high on the podium next week (at the PIAA tournament)."

Sadriddinov was not surprised to see Morrow, an eighth-place PIAA medalist last season, again in the final.

"He's the best guy and I knew I would wrestle him again in the finals," said Sadriddinov, who came to this country at age 7 when his family moved from Uzbekistan.

"Winning this feels really good. My dad wrestled his whole life and I started when we moved here and I'm just trying to do as well as I can."

Central Bucks East's Collins rolls with the punches

He doesn't like it when it happens, but when you wrestle like Quinn Collins does, with a wide-open style, things like getting put on your back once in a while do occur.

"I like to try things and he caught me where he wanted me and the next thing you know I'm fighting off my back," said Collins, who shrugged off the slip up on the way to a 10-6 win over Garnet Valley's Sam DiTrolio in the championship match at 189.

"I also got caught and put on my back in the semis, but was able to get out of it. Those are some of the things I need to fix for next week (at the PIAA tournament)."

Collins, who became the Patriots' first regional champion since Evan Wilson in 2015, heads to Hershey with a nifty 39-1 record (his only loss came against three-time New Jersey state champ Brian Soldano of High Point High School).

"At states, it doesn't really matter where you're ranked because anyone can beat anyone," said Collins, who placed sixth in Hershey last season.

"My goal is to win a state title, 100 percent, but I'm going to have wrestle my best in every match."

Central Bucks West's DiGiorgio hammers way to title

There are plenty of wrestlers in the upper weight classes that poke and prod and struggle to score points.

Then there's what Carl DiGiorgio does at 215.

And that's attack, attack, attack right from the first whistle.

"I feel like I'm starting to peak and things are coming together for me," said DiGiorgio, who won his regional title in style by pinning Kennett's John Pardo in the second period in the championship match.

"I'm trusting myself and what I want to do and just trying to get the most out of my ability."

He did just that over the two days here as he picked up two pins and two technical falls (scoring 35 points in his two tech falls) to become the Bucks' first regional champ since Riley Barth in 2015.

"It feels so awesome to win this," said DiGiorgio, a fifth-place medalist in Hershey last season.

"There's not a better feeling in the world."

Southeast Regional Hall of Fame inductees

Several area wrestlers, coaches and an official were inducted into the PIAA District One Southeast Regional Hall of Fame in a ceremony before the finals.

Being enshrined in the Class of 2021 (there was no ceremony a year ago due to the pandemic) were 2011 Hatboro-Horsham graduate Matt Harkins (a two-time PIAA medalist), 2011 Souderton graduate Joe Stolfi (also a two-time PIAA medalist) and longtime official Chuck Hangey from Quakertown.

The 2022 Class included 2011 Council Rock South graduate Mat Martoccio (a two-time PIAA medalist), 2009 Abington graduate, and current Abington head coach, David Osei (a PIAA runner-up as a senior) and longtime Council Rock North head coach Tom Vivacqua, who led the Indians for 19 seasons before stepping down in 2020.

An honor for Quakertown's Handel

Veteran Quakertown coach Kurt Handel was honored as the PIAA District One Class 3A Southeast Regional Coach of the Year.

Handel led the Panthers to a Suburban One League Liberty Division title and a runner-up finish at the District One Class 3A Dual-Meet Tournament. The Panthers also won the team title at the District One-East tournament and the Southeast Regional title here.

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Faith Christian crowns three champs at Class 2A regionals

It was an impressive showing for Faith Christian at the PIAA Class 2A Southeast Regional at Bethlehem Freedom as the Lions claimed three individual titles, a pair of second-place finishes, and a third-place overall team finish.

Senior Eric Alderfer (145), a fourth-place PIAA finisher last season, led the way by winning his second-straight regional title.

Freshmen teammates Gauge Botero (113) and Chase Hontz (126) also won titles while freshman Max Stein (132) and senior Leo Muzika (285) earned silver medals.

PIAA District One Class 3A

Southeast Regional

(at Oxford Area High School)

Team Standings

(1) Quakertown 123.0, (2) Council Rock South 119.5, (3) Garnet Valley 85.0, (4) Strath Haven 81.5, (5) Council Rock North 80.0, (6) Boyertown 76.5, (7) West Chester Henderson 73.0, (8) Kennett 72.0, (9) Spring-Ford 71.5, (10) Downingtown West 64.0, (11) Central Bucks East 63.5, (12) Interboro 56.0, (13) Sun Valley 51.5, (14) Perkiomen Valley 45.0, (15) Central Bucks West 42.5, (16) Souderton 39.0, (17) Abington 38.0, (17) Oxford Area 38.0, (19) Haverford High 31.5, (20) North Penn 31.0, (20) Owen J. Roberts 31.0, (22) West Chester Rustin 30.0, (23) Upper Darby 29.5, (24) Pennridge 24.5, (25) Conestoga 22.5, (26) Phoenixville 21.0, (27) Lower Merion 19.0, (27) Ridley 19.0, (29) Plymouth Whitemarsh 15.0, (29) Upper Perkiomen 15.0, (31) Pennsbury 14.0, (31) Unionville 14.0, (33) Neshaminy 12.0, (33) West Chester East 12.0, (35) Coatesville 11.0, (35) Harry S. Truman 11.0, (37) Pottsgrove 9.0, (38) Methacton 7.0, (38) Radnor 7.0, (40) Hatboro-Horsham 6.0, (41) Chichester 5.0, (41) Upper Dublin 5.0, (43) Bensalem 3.0, (43) Cheltenham 3.0, (43) Norristown 3.0, (46) Downingtown East 2.0, (46) Marple Newtown 2.0, (48) Avon Grove 1.0, (49) Academy Park 0.0, (49) Great Valley 0.0, (49) Lower Moreland 0.0, (49) Springfield Delco 0.0, (49) William Tennent 0.0, (49) Wissahickon 0.0

Championship Finals

(top five finishers in each weight class advance to PIAA tournament)

106 pounds - Eren Sement (Council Rock North) won by tech. fall over Luke Reitter (Council Rock South), 4:35 (18-3)

113 - Tony Burke (Council Rock North) pinned Cole Smith (Spring-Ford), 4:00

120 - Carmen Cortese (West Chester Henderson) pinned Mason Ziegler (Quakertown), 6:00

126 - Cannon Hershey (Oxford Area) pinned Matthew Ricci (Garnet Valley), 3:46

132 - Collin Gaj (Quakertown) pinned Tyler Geiger (Souderton), 1:02

138 - Dominic Findora (Downingtown West) dec. Kelly Kakos (Perkiomen Valley), 9-2

145 - Chance Babb (Boyertown) dec. Shermuhammad Sadriddinov (Council Rock South), SV-1 6-4

152 - Bekhruz Sadriddinov (Council Rock South) dec. William Morrow (North Penn), 3-1

160 -Chase Barlow (Strath Haven) dec. Matt Colajezzi (Council Rock South), 2-1

172 -Do D'Agostino (Interboro) dec. Marek Seaman (West Chester Rustin), 13-6

189 - Quinn Collins (Central Bucks East) dec. Sam DiTrolio (Garnet Valley), 10-6

215 - Carl DiGiorgio (Central Bucks West) pinned John Pardo (Kennett), 3:17

285 - Julien Laventure (Upper Darby) dec. Frederick Retter (Quakertown), 2-1

Third Place

106 - Cole McFarland (Haverford High) dec. Curtis Nelson (Ridley), 5-2

113 - Luke Heimbach (Boyertown) dec. Brandan Rozanski (Upper Perkiomen), 3-1

120 - Gavin Sheridan (Boyertown) dec. Shane Holefelder (Sun Valley), 6-1

126 - Quinn Smith (Spring-Ford) dec. Matthew McCaughey (Abington), 9-4

132 - Nate Shippey (Interboro) dec. Daniel Kearney (Sun Valley), 3-1

138 - Daniel Husain (Garnet Valley) dec. Erick Dominguez (Souderton), 3-2

145 - Shane Kibler (Abington) dec. Palmer Delaney (West Chester Henderson), 6-2

152 -Mas on Stein (Central Bucks East) dec. Kelton Brunner (Strath Haven), 7-0

160 - Jack Lledo (Lower Merion) dec. Josh Barlow (Kennett), 5-2

172 - Dillon Bechtold (Owen J. Roberts) dec. Darrale Barrett (Kennett), 3-0

189 - Sam Milligan (Strath Haven) dec. Owen Koch (Phoenixville), 1-0

215 - Lucas Doyle (Council Rock South) dec. Aden Roe (Council Rock North), 1-0

285 - Cole Euker (Perkiomen Valley) maj. dec. Ben Farabaugh (Strath Haven), 9-1

Fifth Place

106 - Gus Smith (Spring-Ford) maj. dec. Cole Haines (Unionville), 9-1

113 - Cole Coffin (Pennridge) dec. Andrij Szczesniuk (Coatesville), 4-3

120 - Dominic Ortlip (Spring-Ford) dec. Jake Williams (Plymouth Whitemarsh), 7-3

126 - Todd McGann (Quakertown) dec. Sam Kuhns (Pennridge), 3-1

132 - Billy Wilson (West Chester Henderson) won by inj. default over Austin McMillan (Oxford Area)

138 - Max Parnis (West Chester East) maj. dec. Mason Grodzki (Pennsbury), 16-3

145 - Christopher Wood (Garnet Valley) dec. Zach Borzio (Quakertown), 2-1

152 - Alexander Gamble-Williams (Sun Valley) dec. Josh Kochersperger (Kennett), 7-3

160 - Andrew Pokalsky (Neshaminy) pinned Ryan Corp (West Chester Rustin), 4:25

172 - Calvin Lachman (Quakertown) dec. Nils Updale (Central Bucks East), TB-1 4-3

189 - Jake Allred (Conestoga) dec. Jon Harwood (Haverford High), 5-4

215 - Mason Hale (Downingtown West) pinned Dominic DeMeno (Pottsgrove), 2:36

285 - Bailey Shindle (Kennett) dec. Nicholas Mahoney (Garnet Valley), 7-3

Outstanding wrestler: Dominic Findora, Downingtown West

Drew Markol: dmarkol@theintell.com; @dmarkol

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This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Council Rock North duo of Sement, Burke lead way at regionals