Duffy and Krueger headed to States, claim fourth place medals at Regional

There was no mistaking the look of pride on the face of Spring-Ford Rams' head coach Tim Seislove as he presented seniors Kyle Duffy and Matt Krueger their fourth place medals at the PIAA class AAA Southeastern Regional Tournament Saturday.

In what has already been a history-making season for Spring-Ford wrestling, the thrills will continue into next weekend’s PIAA State tournament as Duffy and Krueger will be packing their bags for Chocolate Town USA and the bright lights of the Giant Center.

“This was huge for both of these guys to make it to states,” said Seislove. “They have worked very hard and showed the dedication needed to get to this point. They have been a great influence for our younger guys and I am very proud of them.”

Krueger, who in Friday night’s opening round at the Oxford Area High School packed gymnasium, had to fight his way through the consolation bracket on Saturday after dropping his quarterfinal bout, 7-1, with eventual regional runner up Nick Russell, a Neshaminy senior.

Krueger (37-11) started Saturday’s trek to the medal podium with an 8-1 win over Owen J. Roberts sophomore Gordon Bolig, which he followed up by eliminating Radnor senior Jeremy Kim (32-8) by a 5-1 count before the afternoon session.

In the consolation semifinal, Lower Merion senior Jake Zimmer, who entered the tourney with a 31-3 record, took a first period lead on Krueger before the Rams senior scored six unanswered points to prevail 8-5. That set up a match for third place with LaSalle College High School junior Shane Springer.

Springer played a stalling game the entire last period to claim a 5-2 win over Krueger, who settled for fourth place.

“Sure, I’m a little disappointed about this last match,” said Krueger. “But I am very happy with finishing fourth place in a tournament like this. I am going to Hershey with one goal in mind, to come home with some hardware. I want to win a medal at states and that would complete an amazing senior year.”

Earlier in the day junior Chase Brown, who dropped his preliminary match 6-4 to Pennsbury’s Jason Bing, was defeated in the opening consolation round.

Brown (34-12) finished his junior season by dropping a 10-0 decision to West Chester Henderson’s Jim Long (30-5), who would eventually defeat Bing for third place overall.

Sophomore Sean Hennesey, who finished the season at 34-11, battled but allowed a late third period comeback by Methacton’s Rob D’Annunzio (39-6) who would wind up in the consolation final.

The Rams' underclassmen may not have advanced to states but got some valuable mat time against quality competitors who will be competing next week in Hershey.

“It was great for our young guys to be here,” said Seislove. “To get a chance to compete on this level and be in this environment is something special that hopefully they can learn from and bring to the table next season.”

Spring-Ford senior Kyle Duffy (23-8), as a result of his quarterfinal 9-0 win over Jon Dempsey, got to forgo the early rounds on Saturday as he prepared for his winner’s bracket semifinal with Council Rock South senior Matt Martoccio.

Martoccio, who wound up being the 140-pound champion, got off to an early 3-0 lead that he never relinquished on the way to a 5-1 win. He advanced to the final and sent Duffy into the consolation semifinal.

After a brief break to recharge, Duffy punched his ticket to the consolation final by defeating Plymouth Whitemarsh’s Lucas Wisniewski 14-10, but dropped the final to Interboro junior Wayne Armstrong 4-2, thus finishing fourth overall.

“Of course, winning the gold here would have been great,” said Duffy. “He (Martoccio) is a great wrestler and I may get another chance against him next week at states. The goal now is to work with Matt and get ready for next week. Having a teammate there will be great. I want to bring home a medal next week.”

The fact that five wrestlers―more than a third of the Rams squad―qualified for the PIAA class AAA Southeastern Regional speaks to the success of Spring-Ford wrestling and the stepping stones they have put in place for the future.

PIAA state tournament match ups for Class AAA

On Thursday, March 10^th, an elite field of the best 16 wrestlers in each weight class will take the mat with aspirations of being a state champion. The preliminaries for Class AAA will start at 4pm at the Giant Center in Hershey.

In the 140-pound weight class, Spring-Ford senior Kyle Duffy will line up to face Middletown High School senior Shane Miller, who is 27-5 on the season and enters the tournament as the South Central region's top seed.

Matt Krueger (37-11) will start his journey to 160-pound gold by squaring off against Mechanicsburg senior Zach Thomson (35-1).