Big goals lie ahead for the Wilson boys wrestling team. However, the Bulldogs weren’t about to look past the first step they’ve been waiting to take for the past year.
Wilson rolled to a dominant 44-19 win over Berks Catholic in the BCIAA championship match Friday night at Wyomissing, avenging last year’s loss. The victory wrapped up Wilson’s third county championship in four years and gave the Bulldogs momentum for the upcoming postseason.
“Us losing here last year definitely was a huge motivating factor,” said Wilson 215-pounder Ryan McMillan. “After winning it my freshman and sophomore year it hurt coming in here and losing last year.”
The 41-15 loss to the Saints has been eating at the Bulldogs for a year. They didn’t wait for the week of the six-team tournament to prepare.
“Since we lost that match last year, I cut that article out of the newspaper and it’s been posted in our wrestling room since last year,” said Wilson coach Jason Gibble. “We don’t like losing.”
The Bulldogs (15-1) left little doubt about the outcome. After defeating Wyomissing 59-11 in the semifinal round, Wilson jumped out to a 19-0 lead over Berks Catholic (12-1) and was in command the rest of the way.
Dominic Delgado got Wilson started with a 10-0 major decision in the opening bout at 145 pounds and Ricardo Tinoco, who was on the winning side wrestling for Berks Catholic last year, followed with a 5-2 decision.
“It’s wrestling, we just had to go out there and bump heads,” Tinoco said about facing his former teammate Gabe Iswalt. “It feels very different, but it was exciting.”
A forfeit to Matteo Garcia and a 55-second fall by Blaise Eidle gave Wilson a 19-0 lead before Berks Catholic got on the board with a major decision by Carmine Lenzi.
That momentum was short-lived. McMillan followed with a 22-second fall that made it 25-4 and got the Bulldogs starting to think about the road ahead.
“Winning three out of four county titles in high school is obviously amazing,” McMillan said. “But we won the county plenty of times before so we have our eyes set on bigger things for districts. This is nice but this is just a small stepping stone in our future goals this year.”
Wilson currently ranks No. 1 in the District 3 3A power rankings and will be home for first-round and quarterfinal matches on Tuesday. Berks Catholic, the defending 2A champion, is ranked third in the latest power rankings and likely will receive a bye into Wednesday’s quarterfinals when the brackets are released on Sunday.
Wilson’s championship became official when sophomore McKaden Speece scored a major decision over Gunnar Macijewski at 127 with two bouts left, giving Wilson an insurmountable 34-19 lead.
It helped the Bulldogs ease the pain of last year’s loss and allowed them to look toward a promising future.
“We went home hurting last year,” Speece said. “We just grinded in the room and had a passion to win.
“This is only the beginning for us. We’re looking for a district championship next week.”
Wyomissing, Exeter, Conrad Weiser and Tulpehocken also are expected to qualify for the District 3 Team Tournament.
Wyomissing defeated Tulpehocken 36-27 and Berks Catholic downed Conrad Weiser 45-22 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Berks Catholic downed Exeter 42-28.
Source: Berkshire mont
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