Wrestling: Garnet Valley dominates Central League tourney

Upper Darby's Austin Petril celebrates after edging Garnet Valley's Matt Marino, 2-1, in overtime of their 113-pound final at the Central League Tournament Saturday. The win gave the senior his third straight individual league championship. (Eric Hartline)

HAVERFORD — If there had been reserved seating for Saturday’s Central League wrestling championships at Haverford High, Rocco Fantazzi’s spot in the corner of the center mat would’ve been worth its weight in gold.

Eight times the Garnet Valley coach was up close and personal to see his athletes compete for a title, and four times the Jaguars obliged — with Nick Puliti (106 pounds), Michael Marino (120), Gary Pizzuto (132) and John Dambro (170) finishing atop the podium.

Matt Marino (113), Ben Tuohey (126), Sean Lyons (145) and J.C. Zweier (220) weren’t too shabby either, each finishing runnerup and contributing mightily to Garnet Valley finishing atop the team scoring with 207.5 points, with Penncrest second at 183.5 and Springfield and Conestoga tied for a distant third with 112.

The team title “is a nice way to cap off the end of our Central League season,” Fantazzi said. “We’re in the individual part of the season, so we tell them their first job is to do what they have to do to win and advance to the next week. Once they’ve got that secured, their job is to get bonus points if they can. Everybody who went out there tried to take it a step further to get that major decision or that fall and those extra points added up to the team win.”

There was plenty of praise to go around for the Delaware County contingent, headed by Marple Newtown senior Pat Callaghan who improved on last season’s runnerup finish to capture the 126-pound championship and earn the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler award.

A case could also be made for Tom Meyers to take the top individual honor as the Radnor junior ran his season record to 29-0 and added to his runnerup finish as a freshman by outlasting a dynamic effort by Haverford’s Wyatt Martin (25-5) to win the 160-pound title.

“Wrestling all six minutes in the semifinal (a 4-1 decision over Upper Darby’s Charlie Livingston) and then having to wrestle all six in the final without taking a break was a tough way to end a very long day,” Meyers said. “Now I’ve got to put this behind me and go on to districts.”

The top six finishers in each weight class earned a berth in Saturday’s District One-West Class AAA Tournament at Spring-Ford and there were plenty of athletes and coaches already looking ahead to the new challenge.

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