Top teams/wrestlers in Central League next year?

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Hershey wrote: next year i think the top central league teams will be Marple Newtown, Upper Darby, and Garnet Valley. my pick for the league title is marple. So my question is what teams do you see being tough next year and what individuals do u see having big seasons from the central league? also any possible break out stars next year?

This looks good to me. Marple is no doubt the favorite, close to a top 5 team in the district. I think Upper Darby is top 10 material as well. Both have well balanced lineups and good young talent that should be even better this year. GV has a bit of talent left but will be in a lot of close matches with the higher middleweights and upperweights gutted by graduation. I think I may give them an honorable team mention but I didn't see anyone on last year's roster who I could reasonably expect to fill their voids.

As far as breakout stars in the Central, it would probably be best to look from 160 on up. That's where you will see most of them because almost the whole district is untested as far as being on the mat at the Giant Center. Anyone below that, there will be plentiful competition to keep them from reaching Hershey. I'd guess Mike Marino and Jason Rinaldi would be the two I'd most expect to take the next step. In the higher weights, I think my two homeboys from Media in Joe Gartland and Austin Jacque could make some waves as far as one if not both getting to regions. They'll get even better when Liam Frank arrives for the 2012-13 season, if he goes to Penncrest he'll be their next big star. They had a real good heavyweight in Ricky Rivera who would have been a player district wide this year as a sophomore, but he went off to play football for state AA champs West Catholic, who does not have a wrestling team.

Greg
  


Edited by gferrell - Jun 11 2011 at 2:34pm

Aaron's gonna love that you said that   Seriously, he's a great story in itself. He went from being a decent but unheralded youth wrestler to a district placer as a frosh, a regional qualifier as a soph (I remember some folks questioning his pre-season ranking and he does too, it just made him determined to prove he belonged in the rankings), and a state qualifier as a junior. After each of his first two years he went right out into the off season with little rest or time to heal and started working to get better. He told me going into the postseason he was hurting pretty bad but he never complained about it and said that if he didn't make it to states, which he still felt he was good enough to do, he didn't want me or anyone else he talks with to bring his issues up as an excuse. I'm sure that in itself is not totally unusual, but it shows the level of determination that it takes to be a state medal winner and I believe he won't settle for anything less than that for himself.

Anyway, your other picks are good ones. Smith should be in the mix for states. Watch for Ridley's James Brown too, he lost twice to Smith, only by 1 point at districts. I think Brown is the best wrestler Ridley has, no one in his 8 losses beat him by more than 4 points. I feel Cramer needs another year under his belt, we'll see. Let's just say I'm not that impressed with his big pin over Kerin. 

Joe Gartland should definitely make it to regions. He should have been there last year but injuries can do that to a wrestler. I hope Jacque can do it too. He had some brutal losses but no one that clobbered him in the regular season was a slouch by any means. You should mention that 21 of his 23 wins were via pin. Definitely aggressive and that probably led to those ugly first period losses. 

Not sure what you're seeing with Bartivic but I haven't seen him so I'll defer. Logan Kerin had great improvement record wise but I think he misses Greg Bacci. Even with the 30 wins it seems to me his wins were more impressive as a freshman. It would be great to see Bacci come back to Conestoga. Nothing against the Malvern coaches, who are excellent, but Steve Harner is one of the best coaches in the entire state and I'd bet he could take him farther as a wrestler. If he were still in the Central, he'd be my pick for best in the league.

Other than your picks, I'd throw in Lower Merion junior Steffen Vestal into the dark horse conversation. Only a junior next season and went from 16-12 to 23-8, plus he pinned Jacque last year. Strath Haven senior Tyler Clapp as well.

Greg   

       

 

With the addition of Don Tabar giving technique that Marple hasnt had in a while to kids lik Chris Kurkian, Tom Antista, and Matt Wilkinson i see these kids advancing further then districts next season. I also see Jason Rinaldi definitely being a state qualifier along with Kenny Smith having a shot due to all the qualifiers graduating from 215 last season.

Kyle Loeb took 5th at regions with a 14-4 win over Shane Hughes. Also don't forget about Dambro for GV. He wrestled 119 then 130 postseason and still was a district qualifier.

neverquit wrote: Upper darby - The other Petril "Anthony"   Garnet Valley - Kyle Loeb (6th at Regions last yr); a few tough freshman coming up   Conestoga - Not to make rumors, but I did hear a few Stoga people talking Bacci returning.  I, personally, would like to see him grab a couple PIAA medals.  Kerin is tough...he will turn the corner this year with or without Bacci being there.

Interesting. It looked to me that both Petril's can make 103/106 and I'd guess Austin is the better one. With Le still there, I'm not sure how Anthony makes the varsity lineup except for spot start situations.

Other than Gary Pizzuto, who are these other tough GV freshmen coming up?  They must be flying well under the radar. Has Pizzuto won any PJW or MAWA medals? When I see where Pizzuto wrestled his PJW qualifiers (117lbs), and saw Marino 112, Alderman 119, Loeb 125, and Dambro at 130 postseason, is it a gimme that he even cracks the lineup full time?   

I didn't want to say it until I got more of a definite, but since you put it out there I also heard the same rumors about Bacci. I'm not going to identify the source other than to say it was impeccable, but I was told that Greg was still in touch with the program and was seriously thinking about coming back. Malvern Prep is a great school but also very rigorous academically, and it may not be for everyone.   

Greg  

Confidence,

Dambro was not a district qualifier, he went 0-2 at Sections....although he coulda, shoulda, woulda!!!!  I plan on him taking giant leaps this coming year.

Dodfan155 wrote: As far as Alderman goes, I think he's good enough to qualify for states BUT can he has stay healthy for an entire post season. He has had to drop out due to injury for the past two years. Sean Edmundson was good enough to qualify for states too, he just couldn't stay healthy.   Is the PIAA rule; an athlete gets six years of eligibility from 7th grade through 12th grade. If that's the case, Bacci only has one year left at a PIAA school. That is if he returns to Conestoga. If he stays at Malvern, it's irrelevant.

NAHS78 wrote: Dodfan155 wrote: As far as Alderman goes, I think he's good enough to qualify for states BUT can he has stay healthy for an entire post season. He has had to drop out due to injury for the past two years. Sean Edmundson was good enough to qualify for states too, he just couldn't stay healthy.   Is the PIAA rule; an athlete gets six years of eligibility from 7th grade through 12th grade. If that's the case, Bacci only has one year left at a PIAA school. That is if he returns to Conestoga. If he stays at Malvern, it's irrelevant.   The PIAA rules are: 1) Four years of eligibility after the 8th grade. 2) Six seasons of competition in any one sport from grades 7 through 12. Bacci has only wrestled four years since the 7th grade. He would have two years left if he went back to Stoga.