WRESTLING: Rams ousted from District 1-AAA Duals

By Dennis Weller
Special to The Mercury

FORT WASHINGTON — One minute, Spring-Ford was involved in its second intense wrestling match against Boyertown in four days. The next minute, or so it seemed, the chances for another win over the Bears and a return trip to the PIAA state duals were gone.
The Rams, trailing by just a point with six bouts to go, dropped four straight by pin in the upper weights and wound up on the very short end of a 44-19 loss Saturday afternoon in their District 1-Class AAA Team Duals consolation semifinal at Upper Dublin High School ... one win short of the top-four finish needed to advance to states.
Sean Hennessey, Adam Dombrosky and Frankie Krauss took close decisions, Tyler McGuigan won by a fall, and Ryan Hayes finished up with a pin for second-seeded Spring-Ford (19-4), which had advanced to the state duals n each of the last two seasons but dropped two of three matches during this weekend’s grind.
Even before the string of pins, the Rams knew they weren’t doing as well as on Wednesday night when they swept six matches in the lighter weights for a come-from-behind 28-24 Pioneer Athletic Conference win at Boyertown.
“We knew we were in trouble,” said Spring-Ford coach Tim Seislove. “We tried to gamble there a little bit at the end. We had nothing to lose. We knew the swing matches. We won them the other night. Today, (Boyertown) won them.”
“We didn’t wrestle too well,” added the 126-pound Hennessey, who pulled off a takedown with 33 seconds left for a 2-1 decision over Eddie Kriczky in a battle featuring two 26-match winners coming into the day. “We didn’t look good. It happens.”
Dombrosky followed Hennessey with a 4-2 overtime decision for a 6-3 Ram lead. Two bouts later, the 145-pound Krauss pulled off a reversal just before the buzzer to create a tie and wound up with an 11-7 win in double overtime to tie the score at 9-9. The 170-pound McGuigan’s pin in 1:52 brought his team to within 16-15 before the Bears rattled off three consecutive falls to clinch the match and added a fourth for good measure.
“We didn’t wrestle well,” said Seislove. “Sean had a nice win. That was a good win for Sean as a senior.”
That Rams have one dual meet remaining, a PAC-10 match at home against Methacton on Wednesday.
“That’s going to be a tough one, too,” Seislove added.
After that, it will be the first-ever Pioneer Athletic Conference Tournament in two weeks to begin the individual post-season grind.
“We didn’t wrestle well, but that’s one thing to look forward to,” said Hennessey.

NOTES
Hennessey has now won two straight over Kriczky after losing their first meeting.  … The Rams finished third in districts last year, fourth the season before, but fell in the first round of states each time. … Hennessey (27-3), Krauss (18-11), and McGuigan (24-5) all went 3-0 in the tournament, with all of McGuigan’s wins coming by pins. ... Boyertown’s four straight pins came in a total time of just 10:25.