| Blues have a slow start in January |  | | | The Blues returned from the winter holiday a little rusty and ran into tough competition. Hill started off the month with a tri-meet at perennial state power Germantown Academy (GA). Kyle Place '09 (215 lbs.) and Jay Knighton '10 (285 lbs.) got the team off to a great start earning six points each. But losses at 103 lbs. and 112 lbs. tied the score. Colin Saunders '12 then controlled his match at 119 lbs. in order to regain the lead the dual meet lead. Jack Sullivan ‘11 hit a tough opponent in Pat Owens, the 2008 state champ, and lost his first match of the year. Karl Wiszumerski ’11 then surrendered a hard fought dual meet at 130 lbs. Steele Phillips '09 helped the team rebound with a dominant performance over another state placer to pull the Blues back to 21-18, but that is as close as the match ever got. GA took a minor decision at 140 lbs., then pinned at 145 lbs. and 152 lbs. Sadly, the Blues were forced to forfeit 160-189 due to injuries to Nick McCall '11 and Nate Mueller '12.
In the second match of the evening, the Blues won seven of the 11 bouts they entered. Unfortunately the forfeits ended any chance of a dual victory. However, the team did get an impressive pin from Jay Knighton, as well as pins from Saunders, Sullivan, and Phillips. Josh Medina '11 earned a hard fought minor decision at 145 lbs.
The following day the Blues headed to Haverford School, but failed to wake up in time to give the Fords much of a match. Haverford matched up well against Hill, with tough wrestlers at 140 lbs. and 215 lbs. This took away two matches that Hill often wins. The team did get nice wins from Phillips, Saunders, Sullivan, Wiszumerski, and Knighton on the day.
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| Battle for the Britches | | | |  If Hill was nervous walking into its battle with school rival Lawrenceville it never showed. Injuries, illness, and unexpected absences ended up spelling out the match for both teams. Coach Young was planning several strategic bumps to try and match up with their rivals. Throughout the week Blues wrestlers ended up beat up. Kyle Place and Jak Hutchinson ’11 both had serious injuries which prevented them from competing, but both weighed in. Two other wrestlers also were unable to participate in the meet. Heavyweight Jay Knighton had the unique opportunity to attend “Junior Day” for football players at Oklahoma State University, and fellow heavyweight Ryan Harris ‘09 could not attend the match due to his performance in the Winter Choral concert. As a result, the Blues looked to bump and win every match possible. As it turned out, when the teamed weighed in, L'Ville was missing three starters of their own for various reasons, so the teams ended up even when the match began.
Kyle Place began the match by taking a forfeit at heavyweight. James Stormer ’09 then earned his first pin of the year dominating a larger opponent at 103 lbs. Garvin Chan '11 wrestled one of his better matches of the year but ended up losing 6-0. Colin Saunders and Jack Sullivan have demonstrated that when the team needs them they will come through. The two youngsters followed up with first period pins at 119 lbs. and 125 lbs. Karl Wiszumerski bounced back from two weeks of chest injuries to major decision on his opponent 15-2. Steele Phillips defeated L'Ville captain Dan Mena who he beat by minor decision at the Valley Forge tourney. This time Mena came out strong earning a quick takedown. However, Steele caught him making a mistake and hit him with a headlock pinning him with two seconds remaining in the first period. This momentum swing may have decided the match in Hill’s favor. Tyler Mueller continued the string of wins by controlling his opponent throughout the match, earning a minor decision and posting the Blues to a 37-3 lead.
L'Ville managed a pin at 145 lbs. over Josh Medina. Bob Dougherty battled to a two point loss at 152 lbs., but looked strong. The Blues gave up a forfeit to Iron Man Champ Brandon Rolnick at 160 lbs. in order to take a forfeit at 171 lbs. Nate Mueller then jumped up to 189 lbs. and gave one of the greatest performances of the evening, losing and incredible match 8-6. The Blues did not have a healthy wrestler to send out at 215 lbs., but by that point the match was out of hand. The final score was 43-27.
This year the teams have created a new trophy for the winning school as this was the first match in the "Battle for the Britches." The Blues took home a pair of red and blue checkered pants, which Steele Phillips is sporting in above photo. | | Read More |
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| | Hot finish to the month | | | | Hill saw tough dual competition as the month rounded out and stepped up to the challenge. Hill hosted Academy of New Church and St. Benedict’s in its lone home event of the season. Hill dominated Academy of the New Church from start to finish. The Blues earned pin points from 112 lbs.-130 lbs. to start the dual. Steele Phillips battled for a major decision at 135 lbs., then Tyler Mueller '10, Josh Medina, and Jay Knighton followed up with three more pins. That along with a minor decision victory by Byron Muhlenberg '10 produced a 55-24 victory.
Against St. Benedict’s the Blues won more bouts than their opponents, but again gave up three forfeits. The result was a 29-45 loss. Kyle Place had the showcase match of the night, needing to battle for six minutes to produce an impressive minor decision. This victory should provide him confidence for the remainder of the season.
The following day the Blues headed to Delaware County Christian School and upset the Knights on their Senior Day. Interestingly enough, the four seniors in Del. Co’s lineup hit third or fourth formers from Hill; and in three of those four matches the Blues came out on top! One of those third formers was Nate Mueller, who the team was happy to welcome back after more than a month away due to injury. Nate earned a third period pin to cap the victory for Hill. Also wrestling well was Steele Phillips who hit his opponent with a bear hug and pinned him a mere 10 seconds into the match. When the dust settled the Blues earned a much deserved 50-30 victory. | |
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| Despite illness, Hill successful at Valley Forge! | | | | Hill continues to show that it performs far better in tournaments then dual meets. The results may have been even stronger had the noravirus not eliminated three starters from the lineup. However, this gave a couple of younger wrestlers the chance to see strong varsity competition.
Colin Saunders and Jack Sullivan led the Blues by making the finals. Saunders saw excellent competition, including three National Prep Qualifiers from the previous season. Colin earned minor decisions in quarter and semi-finals, then dominated finals with a 14-1 victory over the #1 seed from Westtown. Sullivan pinned his opponents in quarter and semifinals before hitting the #3 finisher at National Preps from the previous year. Jack was tech-falled in his match, but earned great experience wrestling such a tough opponent.
Captain Steele Phillips went 3-1 on the day, taking a third place finish. Also wrestling well were Tyler Mueller fifth place 2-2; and Bob Dougherty 7th place 3-1. | |
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| Do you use Facebook©? | | | | Coach Young has started a group on Facebook entitled "Friends of Hill Wrestling." This site allows alumni, parents, and current wrestlers to stay in touch, share wrestling-related stories, and photos. Everyone is welcome to join. Please enjoy the photos and comments posted thus far.
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