Methacton loss caps off rough stretch

by Dennis C. Way, Times Herald

Posted on January 25, 2008

HORSHAM — If Tuesday's demoralizing loss to Quakertown was a haymaker to the pride of the Methacton High wrestling team, Thursday night's 41-23 loss to Hatboro-Horsham in the preliminary round of the PIAA District One Team Tournament was a boot below the belt.

Tuesday's loss effectively ended the Warriors short reign as the Suburban One League American Conference champions. Thursday's setback marked the definitive emergence of the Hatters as THE power in Section III, and sent Methacton back to the drawing board to ponder just what went wrong this week.

In both matches, the Warriors realized going in they would need some things to go their way, and perhaps seize a couple of unexpected wins.

Nothing went right Tuesday, and even less went Methacton's way in Thursday's match.

While the Hatters went into action as the lower seed (ninth to Methacton's eight seeding) and were actually considered the visiting team in their own gym, many felt the Warriors would need a superior effort to come away with a victory.

But just as it happened Tuesday, each time the Warriors looked for a spark, they came up with a damp wick.

"This one hurts a lot," said Warriors head coach Bill Moser. "(Hatboro-Horsham) is a good team, and some matches didn't go as expected.

"Plus, we came out on the short end of some of the tough matches."

"Before the match it looked like we wanted it," said Methacton senior Jon Hammond, a winner at 140 pounds. "But when we got on the mat, we seemed out of it."

Jeff McFarland and Hammond got the Warriors out to an 8-0 start. But the tide quickly turned when Hatter Nick Lynch caught and pinned the favored Kevin Boegly late in the first period.

"That was huge," said Hatters head coach Glenn Kaiser, whose plan to bump up bulk of his lineup proved successful. "That had to sting (Methacton), because they knew we would go on a win string from there."

Sure enough, the Hatters won the next seven bouts, with upper weights Don and Dave Smith and Ryan Kreppel (via his specialty, the lateral drop) and stud freshman lightweight Matt Harkins all adding bonus points.

"Our freshmen and sophomores stepped up," Hammond said. "They came up big for us, either winning or staying off their backs.

"But we needed some other guys to step up. Hatboro-Horsham might be a few points better than us, and tonight's final score doesn't show how close we are."

By the time Justin Andrews stopped the Warriors bleeding with a quick stick at 112, the match was in the Hatters' bag.

"I thought we were the better team and I expected to win," Kaiser said, "but the score is not what I anticipated.

"There's no love lost between these two teams, and both teams wanted it. There are 10 teams in this district that could go on to states. It just comes down to match-ups."

And on this night, those match-ups went to the home team — masquerading as the visitors.

"I have to do a better job getting guys up for big matches like this," Moser said. "They seemed to be up in the practice room this week.

"But this is a young team. And sometimes getting up is a matter of experience. Guys like Hammond (have) been through these big matches and he wrestled tough tonight. Some of our guys just haven't been through these kinds of matches.

"All we can do now is move on, and get ready for Wissahickon and Plymouth Whitemarsh."

BACK POINTS: Along with the loss, the Warriors missed out on an opportunity to claim the program's 500th win this season. The all-time, dual-meet total stands at 497. And with only two dual meets remaining, No. 500 will have to wait until next year. Methacton travels to Octorara for an individual tournament this Saturday. ... Hatters fans were none-too-pleased when, with the match result no longer in doubt, Methacton chose to forfeit to state-ranked, 119-pound standout Robert Gribschaw. As it was, Gribschaw earned his 100th career victory without breaking a sweat. "I'm sure they were disappointed," Moser said. "But I had no idea that was his 100th."

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