Schools Sports

This Week in Panther Wrestling: Week Two

Saucon Valley continued their quest for an unprecedented seventh consecutive Colonial League title last week with a couple of home, dual-meet victories over Catasauqua and Pen Argyl. On Tuesday, the Panthers roughed-up the Rough Riders 60-12 and then knocked-out the Green Knights 71-11 on Thursday. Saucon Valley has now won 68 straight Colonial League matches.  It was the Pen Argyl Green Knights who last defeated the Panthers on Dec. 23, 2011.

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Yeah, the Saucon Valley wrestling program is that good.

Saucon Valley continued their quest for an unprecedented seventh consecutive Colonial League title last week with a couple of home, dual-meet victories over Catasauqua and Pen Argyl. On Tuesday, the Panthers roughed-up the Rough Riders 60-12 and then knocked-out the Green Knights 71-11 on Thursday. Saucon Valley has now won 68 straight Colonial League matches.  It was the Pen Argyl Green Knights who last defeated the Panthers on Dec. 23, 2011.

Coach Shirk and his staff recognized freshman Dante Mahaffey and senior Carlos Ortiz as the Panther “Wrestlers of the Week”.  Both picked up their first varsity wins with first-period pins.  Mahaffey (152) cemented his Catasauqua Rough Rider opponent to the mat while Ortiz (145) converted a bar-tilt into a fall against the Pen Argyl Green Knights.

Check out Dante Mahaffey pick up his first career win…..

Freshman Dante Mahaffey picked up a first-period pin for the Panthers.

 

Here is Carlos Ortiz getting his first varsity victory…..

Saucon Valley’s Carlos Ortiz pinning his Pen Argyl opponent.

 

Beast of the East Summary

The Beast of the East wrestling tournament is one of the top scholastic wrestling competitions in the United States.  121 schools, including heavy-hitters like Blair Academy, Wyoming Seminary, Bergen Catholic, Bethlehem Catholic and Lake Highland Prep in Florida, came to compete at this year’s Beast.  Schools from as far away as Florida, New Hampshire, Tennessee and Texas made the trip to the University of Delaware to participate in this two-day grind.  Wrestlers compete in 14 weight classes and 64-man brackets to see who will survive and become Beast-worthy.  On Sunday, the Saucon Valley Panthers earned a total of 80.5 points to finish a super-respectable 19th out of 121 teams.  It looks like the Panthers were the highest finishers among all public, small-school competitors.

Beast of the East Top-10 Teams

  1. Blair Academy, NJ               365.5 pts.
  2. Wyoming Seminary, PA     238.5
  3. Bergen Catholic, NJ             162
  4. Mt. St. Joe’s, MD                   133
  5. Bethlehem Catholic, PA       126
  6. Delbarton School, NJ           119.5
  7. Lake Highland Prep, FL      117.5
  8. Northampton Area, PA        116.5
  9. Elyria, OH                              108.5
  10. Malvern Prep, PA                 107.5
  • Other Notable scores
    • 19.  Saucon Valley    80.5
    • 21.  Nazareth Area         73.5
    • 24.  Notre Dame             67.5

Saucon Valley junior Matt Arciuolo

  • Junior Matt Arciuolo (160) is a BEAST!  Matt placed 5th at the 2018 Beast of the East!
    • Arciuolo dropped a 6-4 decision and was knocked out of the Championship bracket by #2 seed and N.C. State commit Kai Bele. Bele is a junior from Lake Highland, Florida.  After the loss, Matt wrestled back to eventually defeat Bethlehem Catholic’s Luca Frinzi for his 5th Place finish.

Panther senior Josh Jones

  • Senior Josh Jones (132) is a BEAST!  Josh placed 8th at the 2018 Beast of the East.
    • Jones lost in overtime of the quarterfinals to #1 seed Nicholas Raimo from Hanover Park, NJ.  Raimo went on to finish 2nd at the Beast and will wrestle next year at Arizona State.  Jones, a George Mason commit, wrestled back to earn his place on the podium with an 8th place finish.

Panther freshman Ty Csencsits gets his first Colonial League win.

 

Saucon Source “Shout-Outs”:

  • Week Two Shout-Outs go to freshmen Cael Markle and Ty Csencsits.  Along with Mahaffey and Ortiz, both secured their first-ever Colonial League victories.  Markle and Csencsits both earned major-decisions in the 60-12 victory over Catasauqua.   
  • Another Shout-Out to Photographer-Extraordinaire, Chris Christian.  Chris provides Saucon Source with countless, quality sports photos!

Cael Markle picked up his first win against the Catasauqua Rough Riders.

Up Next:  The Saucon Valley Panthers will compete in the Liberty Hurricane Classic on Dec. 28 and Dec. 29 before ringing in the New Year against Colonial League rival, Southern Lehigh on Jan.2.

Good luck Panthers, the Source is with you!

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About the author

Keith Riefenstahl

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