TOWAMENCIN- On Wednesday night, the North Penn Knights (8-4) hosted the William Tennent Panthers (1-5) in a Suburban One match up. The Knights came out victorious with nine out of their fourteen wrestlers able to come away with wins.

“We wrestled this team Saturday, so we knew what to expect. The kids came out fired up tonight, ya’ know? Nice home match and they wrestled pretty well,” said head coach Robert Shettsline.

In the Knights’ 54-18 win over William Tennent, North Penn had four pins, four decision wins, three forfeits, and one technical fall. The night started off in the 170 pound weight class with senior Reid Dentner.  

“You go into every match expecting to win, it’s the only way you can go out there. But I’ve really been hitting a couple moves hard, and I went out there with a game plan and I just executed,” said Dentner.

Dentner made quick work of Tennent’s Mohamed Djabri and pinned him early in the first period.

The Knights then jumped to a 9-0 lead after senior Garret Quallet won 6-5 after three periods. The Panthers would finally tally their first points in the 195 pound weight class when North Penn senior Dan Sibel was pinned by Yusuf Aladinov late in the third period.

The score now 9-6, senior Owen Verespy of the 220 pound weight class came to the mat to wrestle Christian Amato. Verespy dealt with Amato swiftly and pinned him with 24.3 seconds left in the first period.  

Now 18-6, senior Ryan Cody came away with a forfeit in the 285 weight class, improving the Knights’ score 21-6.

At the 106 pound match, North Penn’s Eddie Galang won by decision 19-6 after three periods, against Tennent”s Carlton Walters.

The Knights were able to receive twelve more points when sophomore Jabez Chae in the 113 class won by forfeit  and sophomore Nolan Roberts in the 120 weight class pinned Brian Hadlich in the second period. These matches were followed by hard losses in the 126, 132, and 138 weight classes where the Knights happen to lack experience.

“They’re learning and it’s going to be a learning experience for them. We try to keep their hopes up, some of them had really good guys. Collin’s guy will probably place at states,” explained Shettsline.

The Panthers, crawling their way back, decreased their deficit to 37-18, but then at the 145 pound weight class, North Penn’s Jarret Niedosik came back from 0-2  to pin Tennent’s Akmed Aladinov.

Following a forfeit in the 152 weight class, North Penn junior Patrick O’Neill took to the mat for the first time at home this season. In front of a strong home crowd, O’Neill dominated Tennent’s Shamil Aladinov, winning by technical fall early in the third period.

“It was the first match I got to wrestle in our home gym, so that was exciting. I was a little anxious, but I just wanted to get the job done for the team,” said O’Neill.

With the Knight’s 54-18 victory, they look to perform well this weekend in the Sam Cali Invitational at West Orange High School in New Jersey..