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Upper Perk exposes Easton's weaknesses
Upper Perkiomen 49, Easton 26.
Indians jump out early in romp.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
By BRIAN FORTNER
The Express-Times
PENNSBURG, Pa. | For the past two seasons, Upper Perkiomen High School did everything in its power to establish
itself as one of Pennsylvania's wrestling powers.
Except for beating Easton.
Friday night changed all that.
Upper Perk left little doubt as to where the Indians belong among the Keystone State's elite with a dominating
49-26 victory over the previously-unbeaten Red Rovers before a sellout crowd at Upper Perkiomen High School.
"We learned a lot tonight," Easton coach Steve Powell said. "We saw where our weaknesses are and
we saw what we have to improve on. We got spanked."
The Indians (5-0), winners of eight straight Pioneer Athletic Conference titles and ranked fourth nationally by
InterMat Wrestling, racked up seven falls while winning nine of 14 bouts in its first win over the Rovers in four
tries spanning the previous two seasons.
"This is a great win for us," Upper Perk coach Tom Hontz said. "They've been where we want to be
for the past four or five years. To be the best, you have to beat the best. And we weren't able to do that until
now."
The Red Rovers, ranked No. 2 in The Express-Times region, had won the last three meetings between the two schools,
including last season's 38-24 regular-season victory at Easton's 25th Street Gym. The two met again in the semifinals
of the PIAA Class AAA dual meet championships with Easton advancing to the title match with a 35-20 win before
falling to Connellsville 34-25.
"They have virtually the same team they've had the past two seasons," Powell said. "They have a
lot of experience up and down the lineup. There were a lot of tough matchups tonight for us. Where they had holes,
we had Jordan Oliver and Braylin Williams. Their holes were hidden."
Upper Perk struck in a hurry, sending state place-winner Brent Fiorito out at 171 to kick off the action against
Easton's Jules Knighton. Fiorito, normally a 160-pounder, sent the already-raucous home crowd into a frenzy by
taking Knighton to his back for the fall in 2:59, giving the Indians a 6-0 lead.
"Having to match up against a kid like that, it makes you play your trump card early," Powell said. "It's
a tough way to start off when you have to go against a kid like (Fiorito)."
"We were debating whether to use Fiorito as a leadoff guy or a cleanup man," said Hontz, whose team is
coming off an impressive fifth-place finish at The Beast of the East. "We figured with the sellout crowd and
the atmosphere in our home gym, we could get some momentum early. Brent really got the crowd fired up."
Easton sophomore Cory Rutt settled the crowd momentarily with a 5-0 decision over Dustin Pyle at 189. But the Tribe
responded with back-to-back pins by Derek Bennett and Bruce Augustine at 215 and 275 to make it 18-3.
Powell inserted little-used Nick Williams at 215 and moved freshman Chris Wilson to heavyweight in an attempt to
gain a split. Williams lasted just 1:02 against Bennett and Augustine built an 11-2 lead before pressing Wilson
for the fall.
State runner-up Jordan Oliver cut the Upper Perk lead to 18-9 with a first-period fall over Mike McStravick at
103.
Easton would win just three bouts the rest of the way.
Russ Souders (125) and Colin Dailey (152) registered falls and Williams recorded a 17-2 technical fall at 145 to
account for Easton's 26 points.
Also recording pins for Upper Perk were Shane Smith (10-4) at 112, Zack Kemmerer (16-0) at 135, Sam Walters at
140 and Ryan LaPish at 160. Returning state champ Chris Sheetz scored an 11-3 major decision over Brandon Veres
at 119.
"It's a lot like us beating Blair (Academy)," Powell said. "When we knock off Blair, it's a huge
step. (Upper Perk) took a step tonight. "
Brian Fortner can be reached at 800-360-3601 or by e-mail at sports@express-times.com
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Upper Perk pins 49-26 loss on Easton
Impressive Indians get seven pins and a big boost of confidence.
By Beth Hudson
Of The Morning Call
If the volume of the music was set at nine, the crowd in the Upper Perkiomen High School gym was at 10.
And the Upper Perk wrestlers?
They were somewhere off the dial on Friday night.
With strains of AC/DC, Linkin' Park, Pink and House of Pain serving as their soundtrack — and a raucous home crowd
to cheer them — the Indians sent an early-season message to the rest of Pennsylvania: Upper Perkiomen 49, Easton
26.
Though the victory itself wasn't a big surprise, the margin was.
But after opening the week with a top-five finish at the Beast of the East in Delaware, Upper Perk closed the week
by soundly defeating the Red Rovers, winners of four of the past five PIAA Class 3A dual-meet titles.
Seven Indians — Brent Fiorito (171), Derek Bennett (215), Bruce Augustine (275), Shane Smith (112), Zack Kemmerer
(135), Sam Walters (140) and Ryan Lapish (160) — pinned their opponents.
''We've been to the big tournaments — the Beast and the Ironman [in Ohio],'' Upper Perkiomen coach Tom Hontz said.
''That's more like work. That's hard. This was fun. We were able to see what we could do against a quality team.''
On Friday, that was quite a bit.
The Indians opened the night by honoring 12 former wrestlers who had reached the 100-win mark during their high
school careers. Then they dimmed the lights, letting the current wrestlers take the stage.
''I wanted to go out first, even before the [starting] weight was picked,'' senior Fiorito said. ''I wanted to
get the crowd into it right off the bat.''
Once 171 was selected, Hontz and his coaches debated.
''Do we want him batting lead-off or clean-up?'' Hontz said. ''[But] we sent Fio out to get the crowd into it.''
Fiorito delivered by pinning Easton's Jules Knighton midway through the second period. And while the Rovers won
two of the first five bouts, the Indians never seemed to be in danger of losing the momentum.
Bennett pinned Easton's Nick Williams just 1:02 into the 215 bout, and Augustine followed with a second-period
fall against Chris Wilson.
Jordan Oliver, Easton's returning state runner-up, answered with a quick pin against Mike McStravick. Two bouts
later, however, 2005 state champion Chris Sheetz gave Upper Perk a 28-9 advantage with an 11-3 major decision over
Brandon Veres.
By the time Sam Walters wrapped up the fastest fall of the night (37 seconds against Easton's Matt Krom), Upper
Perk had a 43-15 lead.
''I didn't think we'd get as many pins as we did,'' Hontz said. ''Shane Smith at 112, that was a nice six [against
Easton's Kegan Handlovic]. Zack [Kemmerer] and Sammy [Walters], those were unexpected.''
In fact, there weren't many close bouts. Upper Perk's Austin Reed won the closest, hanging on to JuJu Drummond
through the rideout period for a 5-4 decision at 130.
Meanwhile, Oliver, Russ Souders (125) and Colin Dailey (152) provided the pins for Easton, and Braylin Williams
won by technical fall at 145.
''This is so big,'' Fiorito said. ''Us seniors have lost to them the last three years. We really wanted to win
this match. This is basically the most pumped-up atmosphere you can get in this gym.''
Hontz agreed, but looked toward the future, as well.
''It's a nice accomplishment, beating a great team like Easton,'' he said. ''[But] it is what it is — just a win
right now. For us to really prove something, we have to do it in February.''
beth.hudson@mcall.com 610-820-6501
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