Panther junior Dane Csencsits gets points for the Panthers.
Saucon Valley kicked off their quest for an unprecedented SEVENTH consecutive Colonial League title last week with a big, season-opening win over Notre Dame. The Panthers, with their homegrown line-up, defeated the borderless Crusaders 40-26 Wednesday night. Saucon Valley has now won sixty-six Colonial League wrestling contests in a row. Amazingly, the Panthers have not lost a regular season Colonial League match since Dec. 23, 2011!
Coach Shirk and his staff recognized Thomas Spirk as the Panther “Wrestler of the Week” against Notre Dame. In the 138-pound weight class Spirk defeated three-time PIAA state medalist, Richie Markulics by a 7-5 score in a key bout that helped swing momentum in favor of the Panthers. Spirk, a junior, has a 35-24 career record and was a PIAA state qualifier at 145 lbs. last season. However, Markulics was Big-game. It was a signature win for Spirk as Markulics is an outstanding wrestler who owns a 115-20 career record. Markulics placed 8th (2016), 5th (2017) and 3rd (2018) at the PIAA state wrestling championships.
Check out Spirk’s opening takedown against Markulics…..
Coach Shirk’s Takedown Tips with a “Head-outside-shot”:
- Never shoot Head-Outside cross body
- Once you’re in on the leg you must work to improve your position
- Look to “turn the corner” immediately
The Panther crowd roared when Jared Harka’s pin sealed the highly anticipated match with Notre Dame Green Pond.
Saucon Source “Shout-Outs”:
- Week One Shout-Outs go to Junior Matt Arciuolo (170) and his freshman brother, Chris (106). Both won the 2018 “Top Hat” tournament last weekend and both also received their first Colonial League victory! Notre Dame conceded a forfeit to Matt, while Chris defeated Notre Dame’s Evan Maag 7-4 on Wednesday night. Congrats, Matt and Chris!
- Another Shout-Out to wrestling managers Lauren Polak and Emma Rohn. Without their assistance, the wrestling video footage would be near-impossible. Lauren is a senior and Emma is a junior at Saucon Valley High School. Both, are awesome!
In other Panther wrestling action, the Saucon Valley junior high team took a road-trip to Schuylkill Haven for a big tournament on Saturday. With only 11 grapplers participating in the 18 weight classes, the Panther junior high wrestlers represented Saucon Valley in stellar fashion as they placed third among 28 other teams. The Saucon Valley junior high team is coached by Andy Koch and Bryan Israel.
Junior High wrestlers from the Saucon Valley area showing off their hardware.
2018 Blue Mountain Tournament Junior-High Results
Team Results
- Nazareth 345 points
- Emmaus 246
- Saucon Valley 190
- Honesdale 147
- Hazelton 142.5
- Liberty 131.5
- Biglerville 126
- Stroudsburg 120.5
- Central York 117
- Pocono Mountain East 88
Individual Blue Mountain Junior-High Medalists
- 2018 Blue Mountain Tournament Champions
- Tyler Pfizenmayer (138)
- Jake Jones (155)
- Runner-ups
- Cole Hubert (75)
- Travis Riefenstahl (110)
- Damian Garcia (165)
- Medalists
- 4th Place Ronnie Werkheiser (130)
- 6th Place Brent Malick (100)
- 7th Place Chris Peterson (210)
- 8th Place Jared Rohn (115)
- 8th Place Arberi Duka (122)
Up Next: The Saucon Valley Panthers will host the Catasauqua Rough Riders and the Pen Argyl Green Knights this week. The Saucon varsity squad, in their home-opener on Tuesday, Dec. 18, will butt heads with the Roughies (7 p.m.). Then, on Dec. 20, the Panther varsity and junior high welcome Pen Argyl to Hellertown for some Thursday night wrestling action (6 p.m.).
Good luck Panthers, the Source is with you!
