Month: December 2016

This past weekend (12/17-12/18), DE Wrestling braved the first ice and snow of Winter to go out and face the monster known as the Donegal Holiday Tournament at Donegal HS. Known as Mt. Joy, the town hosted wrestlers from throughout the state, but the only visible joy came from those who stepped on the line and made it through the battle. Teams like East Stroudsburg South, Troy, Upper Dauphin, Notre Dame and Canton travelled the miles to compete. In the end, the Cougars placed 6^th out of 16 teams, finishing with 118.5 points. Lead by champion Brendan “Beef” McGinley (285), they had 8 total place winners with Lukas Richie (120) placing second, Brett Horne (132), Connor Birzes (145), Jake Neubaum (152), and Josh Wileczek placing 4^th, Zach Aceto (220) placing 7^th, and Jack Lawton (160) finishing 8^th. Beef McGinley highlighted the tourney as the very last match where he defeated the top seed  Brandon Tomeo of Camp Hill 12-5. Congratulations to the Cougars for being the highest finishers from District 1 and continuing to compete at a high level despite their overall youth and inexperience. Next up, the Ralph Wetzel Classic in Hatboro; time to once again ready the troops! Merry Christmas to all!

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On Saturday 12/10, the Downingtown East Wrestlers headed westward and competed in the annual Ephrata duals. Despite the young and fresh nature of the team, the Cougars performed like journeymen and collected 4 dual meet wins before falling in the event’s final. They defeated Ephrata 52-18, Biglerville 45-21, Hanover 59-12, and Reading 35-30. In the final, East gave maximum effort, but struggled against PIAA state ranked Spring Grove and lost on a 54-15 score. Undefeated Cougars on the day were Connor Birzes (145), Josh Wileczek (195), and Brendan McGinley (285). Congrats also go out to first time varsity DE wrestlers Kyle Mittelstadt (126), Spencer Uggla (138), Jett Lucas-Murphy (145), PJ Grubb (170), Kyle Hodges (182), and Zach Aceto (220) for picking up their first wins in blue and gold and contributing to a great day for the team. The Cougars now have a week to train, re-focus, and set their sights on the newly scheduled Donegal Invitational next weekend. Best of luck to all!

On Saturday 12/3, the Cougar grapplers travelled for their last scrimmage before opening weekend. They made their way over to “Ram country” in Spring City/Royersford to train with Springford, Haverford HS, and Quakertown. The event had all the makings of a pre-competition grudge session with lots of drilling, situational wrestling, and plenty of live goes. It was great to see the efforts of our athletes new to wrestling like Will Vincent, Jake George, Marena Warta, Kyle Hodges, Aidan Virelli, and Alex Hoke. The coaches are very proud of them as well as the veteran wrestlers who put in two hard hours of work to get ready for the last week of practice before our opener in Ephrata. Well done team! Now, the time for first weigh-in and first official combat is fast approaching. Remember your goals and stay the course!

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