TOWAMENCIN – Six pins later and the Knights were conquered by the Indians in a numbing defeat on Wednesday night. Souderton (6-8)  came ready to rumble, handling North Penn 49-21 in a meet that the Knights can only hope to forget. 

The duel started out rocky for the Knights, with the 106lb. competitors stepping on the mat first. It was an uneventful match with North Penn’s Freshman Danny Mallitz, getting pinned at a 1:55  by Souderton Senior Luke Ragusa. It was an unfortunate start that seemed to set the tone for the rest of the night. 

Head coach Rob Shettsline was incredibly disappointed and knows that his boys can do better. 

“We came out flat and it was our worst performance of the year. We were winning matches and then we got pinned, that can’t happen,” Shettsline said.  

Next up was the match between North Penn’s other freshman Josiah Thomas against Souderton’s Gisele Ramirez at 113lbs. Thomas dominated the match starting out with two takedowns and only allowing one escape by Ramirez to make it 4-1 North Penn. At the end of the first period Thomas held on 6-1 earning two back points. Thomas remained strong in the second period earning one more take down and only allowing one more escape. But unfortunately, with only half a period remaining Thomas was caught trying to cradle his opponent and was pinned for North Penn’s second pin of the night and another crushing loss.  

With North Penn losing 12-0, Jaden Stahl went up against opponent Charlie Arobone at 120. The match started out evenly ending the first period 2-2 with a take down for Stahl and reversal for Arobone. The match remained tight with Arobone only earning two more points to end the second period 4-2, but in the third period the match slipped away from Stahl as Souderton ran away with the 7-2 victory. 

Dylan Reinhard had fans on their feet nearly pinning his opponent AJ Stayton 20 seconds into the third period, but with only 50 seconds remaining in the match Reinhard was called for stalling and the match ended with a North Penn escape and two backpoints for Souderton allowing them to collect their fourth victory of the night and put Souderton up 18-0 in team points.  

Michaël Cliver started out strong, landing two points for a take down in the first 20 seconds against Tyler Geiger and then gaining three backpoints for a near fall putting Cliver ahead 5-0 and the end of the first period. Cliver gained another point for a stunning escape in the second period but was devastatingly pinned with only 23 seconds remaining in the second period giving North Penn it’s third pin of the night. 

After Souderton’s Erick Deminguez pinned Wyatt Miller with 30 seconds left in the second, North Penn was in desperate need of a victory. William Mayland stepped up to face his opponent Andrew Hallman and ended the first with a promising score of 2-0. In the second period , Mayland gave himself a little more wiggle room with another take down to give himself a 4-0 lead and earned a reversal in the third period making it 6-0 and taking home North Penn’s first victory of the night. The Knights were now on the board making the score 31-3.  

26-2 senior, Will Morrow, pulled in the Knight’s second victory pinning his opponent with 13 seconds left in the first to give North Penn 6 more points and bring the score to 31-9. But Souderton’s Ben Beckett shot back pinning Nick Ray from a cradle midway into the third period. Although it was another pin, Senior Dylan Verwey came reading to wrestle and destroyed his opponent only 11 seconds into the match giving North Penn another much needed pin. 

But Morrow and Verwey’s astounding pins weren’t enough to fire up North Penn’s final competitors. Caleb Moister was pinned with 1:33 left in the match only bumping up Souderton’s lead making it 43-15. 

The tightest match of the night that had fans on the edge of their seat was between Amir Rose and Justin Morales. The match see-sawed back and forth with the first period ending 2-1 North Penn. In the second period North Penn then went down 3-2 but Rose managed to escape and put himself back on top at 4-3. Souderton then executes and takedown regaining the lead at 5-4 but Rose fires right back with a take down to make it 6-5. Morales escapes tying the match 6-6 and then pulls off another escape to give himself a 7-6 lead. Rose wasn’t having it and landed himself another takedown to make it 8-7, but with 34 seconds left Souderton ended the nail-biter with a devastating pin for Rose. 

The meet came to a conclusion with Souderton forfeiting their heavy weight to end with a 49-21 defeat over the Knights. 

Shettsline knows this shouldn’t have been a loss to tally off in the record books but hopes to move on and have his boys continue to work hard and grow.

“We need to improve on staying off our backs and improve through hard work,” Shettsline said.  

The Knights next meet at Pennridge High School on Tuesday, February 15, in the SOL Colonial Championships.