HOLLAND, Pa. — Noah Knorp had both hands and knees firmly planted in the center of Mat 8 with 10 seconds left his fifth-place match at Escape the Rock early Saturday night at Council Rock South High School.
The Notre Dame-Green Pond junior heard the pounding of the mat by the host team in support of his 285-pound foe, Matt Scott, who was about to ride him out in an ultimate tie-breaker, the most painful way to lose any match.
But Knorp heard one thing above the noise and the pounding of his heart: the voice of Crusaders head coach Matt Veres, who always preaches one thing above all else.
“All we preach in our program is heart,” Veres said. “You got to have a lot of heart. That’s the only thing I care about. I don’t care about winning. I don’t care about losing. I just care about kids who have heart.
“When you see kids have heart, it makes you emotional because it’s not always talent and speed and technique and ability. It’s the will to win. That makes a difference.”
Knorp valiantly tried to get out on the edge of the mat with five seconds left, but he and Scott went out of bounds.
The Crusader again found himself with both hands and knees on the middle of the mat for a final shot.
Knorp again found a way to his feet near the edge of the mat, but this time he broke free from Scott just as time was about to expire.
“Noah Knorp showed a lot of heart,” Veres said. “One second left in an ultimate rideout. It’s good to see that, to end with a fifth-place medal. That kid beat him twice before. He wanted to get out. I was happy to see him get out.”
It was a happy end to a crazy tournament that was reduced to one day because of a snowy forecast for southeastern Pennsylvania starting early Sunday morning.
With many teams coming from out of state, Escape the Rock officials decided to forgo several rounds of wrestlebacks, had the quarterfinal losers wrestle a round of consolations with the losers battling for seventh place and the winners wrestling for fifth while the semifinal losers wrestled for third.
The revised schedule stunted the opportunity for many other locals to have a Noah Knorp moment and display the heart of a champion even if the medal at stake wasn’t gold.
“We had seven guys still alive [in consolations],” Easton coach Corey Keener said. “A number of those guys could have won matches on the back side to put themselves in position to get on the podium.
“But, due to unfortunate circumstances, it is what it is. It was a good experience because we were able to win some matches we weren’t able to win last year so that was good.”
No one from the Lehigh Valley’s three entries left with a gold medalist.
Notre Dame-GP, Easton and Bethlehem Catholic combined for six medalists, no finalists.
It was another painful tournament for the Golden Hawks, who had freshman 127-pounder Jack Cole suffer what appeared to be a right hip injury 25 seconds into his round of 32 match with Conwell-Egan’s Lukas Grodski.
Cole was on his back for more than 15 minutes while awaiting a stretcher to take him to an area hospital.
Teammate Mason Thomas suffered a season-ending leg injury at last year’s tournament.
Still, the three area coaches saw positives and teaching moments in the abbreviated event.
“We’ve just got to get healthy and wrestle a little bit better,” Bethlehem Catholic coach Mike Cole said.
The Golden Hawks didn’t have Andre Cerrato or Jaden Santiago, but both will be good moving forward according to Cole.
Perhaps the biggest surprise among the local entries was Bethlehem Catholic’s Keanu Dillard, the top seed at 139, losing in the quarterfinals to St. Joseph Regional’s Brian Little thanks to a takedown late in the second period of what was a 4-1 decision.
Cole liked what he saw throughout the tournament from Dillard, who bounced back to win two matches to take fifth.
“I’ve studied his films and we’ve had a lot of conversations about his stalking,” Cole said. “In the match he lost, he was actually stalking well. He just didn’t finish any of them. I was pleased with his approach in that match except his inability to finish.
“I think Keanu will be fine. He’s a tough kid. He knows what he has to do mindset-wise.”
Dillard, a three-time PIAA Class 3A champion, has three losses this season by a combined seven points.
Notre Dame-GP had two other medalists in addition to Knorp. Max Quarry was fifth at 107 and Dom Sumpolec was third at 189.
Sumpolec was in a similar situation to Knorp in his placement-round match. He and Camden Catholic’s Jaden Simpson rode each other out in the regulation part of their third-place match.
Neither scored in the one-minute sudden victory period before Sumpolec took bottom to the start the tie-breaker. The senior was growing increasingly frustrated by being stuck underneath Simpson and time was his enemy.
After taking injury time with five seconds left in the 30-second period, Sumpolec mustered up one last attempt to get out. Not only did he get out, he got a reversal and a locked-hands call on Simpson for a 3-0 cushion.
Simpson chose top for the final 30-second tie-breaker, but Sumpolec escaped and avoided any more drama to win 4-0.
Sumpolec was leading 5-4 over Howell’s Tanner Hodgins in his semifinal, but gave up a takedown with 22 seconds left in the third period.
It was another scenario that allowed Veres to reflect on the wrestlers’ heart.
“Some guys show [heart] in tense moments like Knorp in a rideout,” Veres added. “That’s just great to see. I was happy to end on that note. Max Quarry took a couple tough losses, but he’s getting better. He’s taking some losses, but he’s making adjustments and becoming better each week.
“Dom had that [semifinal] won. You have to dig deep in those moments. You have to learn from those matches. If you don’t, that’s a tough loss to have.”
Nick Salamone was Easton’s lone medalist, finishing sixth at 133.
Nico Emili was Bethlehem Catholic’s second medalist, taking fourth at 121. The sophomore had a resume-building moment in the quarterfinals after trailing top seed Johnathon McGinty of St. Joseph Regional (N.J.) 7-1 entering the third period.
The Golden Hawk chose neutral before hitting a cement job for a fall in 5:05.
Notre Dame-GP was 10th in the team race with 76.5 points. Bethlehem Catholic (54.5) was 15th and Easton (54) 16th. Lake Highland Prep (Fla.) was first with 230.
Sammy Julian, Larry Dieter, Brandon Mihalko and Mark Getz were officials representing District 11.
Escape the Rock tournament
Saturday at Council Rock South H.S.
(local results only)
ROUND OF 64
114: Brayden Abrams (Ea) dec. Maximus Behrooz (St. Christopher’s School), 6-4; Johandiell Gonzalez (Berks Catholic) dec. Gino Bozzi (BC), 6-4
127: Trey Neith (NDGP) tech. fall Dale Wetherill (Central Bucks West), 16-1, 4:44 Jack Famularo (Ea) pinned Ethan Smith (Jesuit), 1:55
133: Braxton Eason (Father Ryan) dec. Mason Roncolato (NDGP), 16-12
152: Wyatt Snyder (Ea) maj. dec. Edgar Estrada (Miami Southridge), 13-1
160: Mason Thomas (BC) maj. dec. Ryan Nathan (Owen J. Roberts), 10-1; Danny Byrne (Lower Cape May) tech. fall Tyler Cruise (Ea), 21-5, 3:47; Shohjahon Sharifov (Council Rock South) dec. Dominic Tocci (NDGP), 4-0
172: Michael Zamora (Ea) pinned Ardian Mamo (Owen J. Roberts), 3:03
ROUND OF 32
107: Max Quarry (NDGP) pinned Rhys Schaffer (Wilson-West Lawn), 5:59; Jack Anello (Blair Academy) pinned Michael Rambone (Ea), 0:35; Nolan Mather (Grassfield) maj. dec. Mike Nicosia (BC), 14-6
114: Cael Muller (NDGP) dec. Nick Banos (Southern Regional), 7-0; Shiloh Joyce (Christian Brothers Academy) tech. fall Brayden Abrams (Ea), 19-3, 2:08
121: Rocco Lombardo (Malvern Prep) tech. fall Tanner Milburn (Ea), 15-0, 5:00; Nico Emili (BC) tech. fall Logan Worth (Council Rock South), 15-0, 3:53; Noah Hernandez (Seton Hall Prep) tech. fall Cole Schwartz (NDGP), 16-0, 4:12
127: Lukas Grodski (Conwell-Egan) inj. def. Jack Cole (BC), 0:25; Finnegan O’Brien (Blair Academy) pinned Trey Neith (NDGP), 1:15; Mikey Bautista (St. Joseph Regional) Jack Famularo (Ea), 18-3, 3:22
133: Reef Dillard (BC) dec. Carter Soto (Owen J. Roberts), 5-3; Nick Salamone (Ea) tech. fall Keith Messner (Berks Catholic), 17-2, 3:53
139: Keanu Dillard (BC) pinned Nahki Hernandez (Mt. Olive), 0:30; Yandel Morales (Lake Highland Prep) pinned Mason Kanuck (NDGP), 3:16; Noah Fenner (Ea) pinned Daniel Smith (Connellsville), 3:26
145: Ethan Krazer (Ea) dec. Mathew Dailey (Wyoming Seminary), 9-6; Gavyn Kelton (NDGP) maj. dec. Anthony Moreno (New York Military Academy), 10-1
152: Charlie DeSena (Lake Highland Prep) pinned Wyatt Snyder (Ea), 0:49; Declan O’Byrne (Malvern Prep) pinned Emil Sperling (BC), 0:58; William Sakoutis (Christian Brothers Academy) maj. dec. Jared Gonzalez (NDGP), 16-3
160: Kage Jones (Camden Catholic) pinned Mason Thomas (BC), 1:01
172: Lucas Boe (Lake Highland Prep) pinned Michael Zamora (Ea), 2:43; Chris Dennis (Central Bucks West) tech. fall Cole Retos (NDGP), 18-1, 1:17
189: Justin Cosover (Ea) maj. dec. Michael Godri (Owen J. Roberts), 12-2; Connor Gillahan (BC) pinned Jarred O’Neil (Christian Brothers Academy), 4:20; Dom Sumpolec (NDGP) pinned Khalif Wardlaw (St. Joe’s Prep), 0:38
215: Thomas Kellas (Blair Academy) dec. Alonzo Parker (Ea), 8-6; Decker Bechtold (Owen J. Roberts) pinned James Bozzi (BC), 1:04
285: Kurtis Crossman (Ea) dec. Christopher Thompson (Bishop McDevitt), 4-0; Jared Martini (Mount Olive) pinned Grant Mulhern (BC), 1:00; Noah Knorp (NDGP) dec. John Hearon (Lower Cape May), 4-0
ROUND OF 16
107: Max Quarry (NDGP) maj. dec. Trapp Walsh (Berks Catholic), 8-0
114: Shiloh Joyce (Christian Brothers Academy) tech. fall Cael Muller (NDGP), 20-2, 5:46
121: Nico Emili (BC) dec. Rocco Lombardo (Malvern Prep), 5-2
133: Nick Salamone (Ea) dec. Reid Yakes (Jesuit), 2-1 TB-1; Evan Sanati (Brentsville) dec. Reef Dillard (BC), 4-1
139: Gavin Green (Delone Catholic) dec. Noah Fenner (Ea), 8-1; Keanu Dillard (BC) pinned Adam Seidman (Germantown Academy), 4:27
145: Bobby Duffy (Christian Brothers Academy) maj. dec. Ethan Krazer (Ea), 13-1; Weston Borgers (Blair Academy) maj. dec. Gavyn Kelton (NDGP), 15-7
189: Lucas Parietti (Wyoming Seminary) maj. dec. Justin Cosover (Ea), 9-0; Jaden Simpson (Camden Catholic) dec. Connor Gillahan (BC), 2-1; Dom Sumpolec (NDGP) pinned Greg Sawyer (Delsea), 1:38
215: Bradley DiMiglio (Malvern Prep) dec. Connor Smalley (NDGP), 5-2 TB-2
285: Noah Knorp (NDGP) dec. Christian Soto (Miami Southridge), 3-2 UTB; Jared Martini (Mount Olive) dec. Kurtis Crossman (Ea), 4-1 SV
QUARTERFINALS
107: Ace Chittum (Cleveland) dec. Max Quarry (NDGP), 5-0
121: Nico Emili (BC) pinned Johnathon McGinty (St. Joseph Regional), 5:05
133: Sammy Spaulding (Camden Catholic) dec. Nick Salamone (Ea), 10-4
139: Brian Little (St. Joseph Regional) dec. Keanu Dillard (BC), 4-1
189: Dom Sumpolec (NDGP) pinned Levi Foote (Southern Regional), 0:36
285: Cael Mielnik (Blair Academy) maj. dec. Noah Knorp (NDGP), 13-3
SEMIFINALS
121: Cooper Merli (New York Military Academy) dec. Nico Emili (BC), 5-3
189: Tanner Hodgins (Howell) dec. Dom Sumpolec (NDGP), 7-6
SECOND-ROUND CONSOLATIONS
107: Mike Nicosia (BC) dec. Mike Rambone (Ea), 7-2
114: Nick Banos (Southern Regional) tech. fall Brayden Abrams (Ea), 15-0, 3:43
121: Cole Schwartz (NDGP) tech. fall Tyler Maack (Owen J. Roberts), 17-0, 3:17; Logan Worth (Council Rock South) dec. Tanner Milburn (Ea), 4-0
127: Jack Famularo (Ea) maj. dec. Kristen Beres (Mount Olive), 10-2
139: Mason Kanuck (NDGP) dec. Maksim Marrero (Seton Hall Prep), 7-6
152: Jared Gonzalez (NDGP) tech. fall Vince Lienti (Central Bucks West), 17-0, 3:48; Brady Greene (Grassfield) dec. Wyatt Snyder (Ea), 7-0
160: Colton Quinn (Christian Brothers Academy) dec. Mason Thomas (BC), 7-4
172: Cole Retos (NDGP) forfeit over Brandon Papa (Seton Hall Prep)
215: Alonzo Parker (Ea) pinned Ryan Brown (Connellsville), 2:23
285: Grant Mulhern (BC) pinned Christopher Thompson (Bishop McDevitt), 2:47
CONSOLATION QUARTERFINALS
107: Max Quarry (NDGP) dec. Stephen Bagocius (Camden Catholic), 8-2
133: Nick Salamone (Ea) dec. Shai Sabag (Germantown Academy), 8-5
139: Keanu Dillard (BC) dec. Pat Woloshyn (Council Rock South), 6-5
285: Noah Knorp (NDGP) dec. Jared Martini (Mount Olive), 4-1
FIFTH-PLACE MATCHES
107: Max Quarry (NDGP) dec. Evan Cies (Malvern Prep), 5-4
133: Vincenzo Anello (Blair Academy) tech. fall Nick Salamone (Ea), 18-1, 3:54
139: Keanu Dillard (BC) pinned Ryan Rios (Blair Academy), 0:45
285: Noah Knorp (NDGP) dec. Matt Scott (Council Rock South), 3-2 UTB
THIRD-PLACE MATCHES
121: Jovanni Tovar (Miami Southridge) maj. dec. Nico Emili (BC), 10-2
189: Dom Sumpolec (NDGP) dec. Jaden Simpson (Camden Catholic), 4-0 TB-2
Senior writer Tom Housenick can be reached at thousenick@mcall.com
