A tough finish for Upper Perkiomen

HERSHEY, Pa. - The streak had to end sometime for Upper Perkiomen's wrestling team. That time was yesterday at Hershey's Giant Center, where the Indians, who had won the last four PIAA Class AAA state championships, finished fourth behind No. 1 Nazareth, Easton and Cumberland Valley, respectively.

However, it was the way in which Upper Perkiomen (21-6) finished fourth that was demoralizing to the team and its coaches. Cumberland Valley defeated the Indians, 34-32, in the consolation final on the strength of three straight falls in the final three bouts at 160, 171 and 189 pounds.

In the Round 3 consolation match, the Indians had beaten Council Rock South with the help of an unusual incident, 30-24, to advance. But in the morning semifinal with Easton, the Indians didn't win the close bouts and fell, 35-24.

Although Upper Perkiomen coach Tom Hontz was without the services of two of his wrestlers at 112 (David Irwin) and 189 (Nick Hale), he didn't want to make excuses.

"To be in the top four in Pennsylvania, you can't be disappointed," Hontz said. "We're the defending champions but a lot of the kids from last year's team are in college. We needed to do what we needed, but it just didn't happen."

What the Indians needed to do against Easton in order to advance to the final was to win at 119, 135 and 140, according to Hontz. Easton, which beat Upper Perkiomen, 32-28, earlier in the season, won those bouts by a whisker.

Easton's Jordan Oliver won a 3-2 decision over Chris Sheetz at 119. Upper Perkiomen's Ryan Kemmerer lost a 3-2 decision to Tevin Gibson at 135 and Easton's Eric Burgey beat Dustin Kern, 3-1, at 140.

"They were three critical matches that could have gone either way," Hontz said. "If we had won two of the three, we win the match, but it just wasn't our day."

Ryan Kemmerer, a sophomore, said his opponent knew his moves and knew how to defend against them.

"I wrestled the kid two weeks ago and I beat him by a point," Kemmerer said.

Council Rock South (17-6), which lost to Hempfield Area High, 36-26, in the quarterfinal round, was leading the Indians by 16-15 after the eighth bout when junior Dustin Tancredi was disqualified for a flagrant violation in the 135-pound bout.

The disqualification not only gave the Indians an automatic six points but also deducted three points from the Golden Hawks, to make the score 22-12 in favor of the Indians.

Tancredi "punched me in the nose," said Kemmerer, who had been leading by 8-6 at the time. "It looked like he was frustrated. I've beaten him the last four times that we wrestled."

The episode swung the momentum of the match Upper Perkiomen's way, and Council Rock South coach Brad Silimperi was so upset by it that he needed time to compose himself before speaking.

"To have it decided like that is very frustrating," Silimperi said. "We were doing outstanding [up to that point]. Every guy was doing his job and that's what competing at the state meet is all about, doing your job, and every single guy did that this weekend."

The Hawks had hoped to avenge their 37-24 loss to Upper Perkiomen in the PIAA District 1 AAA duals championship on Feb. 3 at Pottstown.

The best that the Indians could hope for after beating South was third place in the state in their match with Cumberland Valley, and they were on track to victory with a 32-16 lead when they were pinned in the last three bouts.

"It came down to execution and desire," said senior Zack Kemmerer, Ryan's brother, who won three bouts at 145 for the day. "I guess we didn't have enough of either."

In Class AA, Pottstown, the only District 1 team to win a berth at states, fell, 60-7, to Greenville in the second round Friday. Seth Ecker (112) and Eric Daniels (125) recorded the only victories for the Trojans. Ecker took an 8-4 decision over Coty Burnett and Daniels won by major decision over Doug Richmond, 11-2.

The results

Easton 35, Upper Perkiomen 24

171: Joe Piro, E, pin Nick Edmonson, 1:32. 189: Cory Rutt, E, maj. dec. Mark Strohl, 11-1. 215: Brian Keyser, UP, dec. Chris Wilson, E, 4-1. Hwt: Bruce Augustine, UP, pin Nick Williams, 3:11. 103: Desmond Moore, E, maj. dec. Garrett Fellman, 22-10. 112: Kegan Handlovic, E, pin Marty McStravick, 1:40. 119: Jordan Oliver, E, dec. Chris Sheetz , 3-2. 125: Ryan Johnston, UP, maj. dec. Mark Hartenstine, 8-0. 130: Shane Smith, UP, dec. Ju Ju Drummond, 4-3. 135: Tevin Gibson, E, dec. Ryan Kemmerer, 3-2. 140: Eric Burgey, E, dec. Dustin Kern, 3-1. 145: Zack Kemmerer, UP, tech. fall Jeff Griffith, 22-7, 5:58. 152: Colin Dailey, E, pin Hoyt Emmons, UP, 3:33. 160: Anthony Uhrik , UP, dec. Jules Knighton, 5-4.

Upper Perkiomen 30, Council Rock South 24

189: Mark Strohl, UP, dec. CJ Smull, 5-3. 215: Austin Carter, CRS, dec. Brian Keyser, 5-3. Hwt.: Bruce Augustine, UP, pin Andrew Dowd, 2:11. 103: Mark Rappo, CRS, pin Marty McStravick, 2:30. 112: Brian Hercus, CRS, dec. Garrett Fellman, 2-1. 119: Chris Sheetz, UP, dec. Jason Hirsh, 11-5. 125: Rob Vollrath, CRS, dec. Ryan Johnston, 3-1. 130: Shane Smith, UP, maj. dec. Paul Ebert, 9-1. 135: Ryan Kemmerer, UP, DQ over Dustin Tancredi, 5:58. 140: Dustin Kern, UP, dec. Marc Helfrich, 3-2. 145: Zack Kemmerer, UP, tech. fall Bob Lavelle, 21-6, 4:08. 152: Jim Vollrath, CRS, dec. Anthony Uhrik, 2-1. 160: Bryan Knoblauch, CRS, dec. Hoyt Emmons, 5-4. 171: Dillion Evans, CRS, forfeit.

Cumberland Valley 34, Upper Perkiomen 32

215: Derrick Hockensmith, CV, maj. dec. Brian Keyser, 14-4. Hwt.: Bruce Augustine, UP, pin Cole Pierce, 3:59. 103: Garrett Fellman, UP, dec. Ian Ritchie, 5-0. 112: Gavin Reilly, CV, pin Marty McStravick, 0:44. 119: Chris Sheetz, UP, pin Tom Weichelt, 2:07. 125: Bryce Busler, CV, dec. Ryan Johnston, 7-1. 130: Shane Smith, UP, pin Tom Weichelt, 0:30. 135: Ryan Kemmerer, UP, dec. Joey Napoli, 3-1. 140: Dustin Kern, UP, maj. dec. Nate Zeff, 9-1. 145: Zack Kemmerer, UP, maj. dec. Tristan Warner, 19-8. 152: Mike Evans, CV, maj. dec. Hoyt Emmons, 11-1. 160: Kyle Walker, CV, pin Anthony Uhrik, 1:21. 171: Eric Andrews, CV, pin Nick Edmonson, 1:27. 189: Erik Red, CV, pin Mark Strohl, 3:25.