Marple Newtown Tigers Grapple to Fall Short in Semi-Finals

MAPLE GLEN–With a berth in the state tournament on the line, the Council Rock North wrestling team defeated 46-21 in a District 1 AAA consolation semi-final Saturday afternoon. Council Rock North soon after faced a tough Springford High School squad for third place, and fell short with a tough 35-21 loss.

"It's awesome [to make the state tournament], it was definitely one of our goals," said Council Rock North head coach Tom Vivacqua.

In the gym of host Upper Dublin High School, Marple Newtown started quickly, with 113-pounder Aaron Noldoff and 120-pounder Ryan Flynn both earning 8-0 major decisions over their opponents to give the Tigers an 8-0 lead. However, Council Rock North would respond with a 6-2 win by Tim Ambacher at 126 and a fall from 132-pounder John Dutrow to take a 9-8 lead.

Council Rock North's middle and upper weights would prove to be too much for their opponents. Aldan Ely would collect a fall in the 145-pound weight class and Eddie Mauceri another at 160 to give the Indians a 25-11 lead.

"Their three light weights are some of the best three guys around, so we tried to manage them a little bit," said Vivacqua. "We bumped everybody up, gave up a few majors... but then our middle weights came up with some big wins and up top things worked out well."

195-pounder Brenden Poff and heavyweight Tyler Callender would add falls en route to a 46-21 Indians victory. Marple Newtown's Matthew Wilkinson would pick up a 3-4 win at 138 pounds, Chris Kurkian a fall at 170, and Jason Rinaldi a pin at 106 for the Tigers' only other wins.

On Friday, Council Rock North opened competition by falling to Norristown 37-31. However, they picked up a win over Pennsbury before facing Marple Newtown, who defeated West Chester Rustin 34-33 before falling to undefeated Owen R. Roberts 47-10 on Friday.