At Ridley, wrestling with a power outage

T.J. Meloney was watching Interboro's Wayne Armstrong put Chichester's Dan Adamek on his back when all of a sudden things went dark.

The lights, literally, turned off. As matches took place, in the middle of the PIAA District 1 Section 5 individual wrestling tournament Saturday at Ridley High School, high winds damaged power lines, killing the electricity and postponing the event until Monday.

Using auxiliary lights, manual scoreboards and stopwatches, tournament officials finished the semifinal round before calling it quits.

"We had to end it because we didn't know when the power would come back on," said Meloney, a Ridley assistant coach, who added that power was restored Sunday morning.

About half of the consolation semifinals - which determine third place matches - have yet to be concluded. On Monday, Ridley will host the rest of the consolation semis, consolation finals and the final round matchups - 35 matches in total.

It is the second time the power has been tripped at Ridley this season. On Feb. 2, lights went out in the early morning on a day when the wrestling squad was to host Springfield. Power was not restored until roughly 8:30 p.m., long after the match had been canceled.

Under PIAA rules, wrestlers must again make weight Monday or be disqualified. It is a growing concern that some wrestlers will be forced to forfeit their remaining bouts because of weight issues.

"There's nothing we can do at Ridley," Meloney said. "There's nothing anyone could have done. It's just an act of God and it's unfortunate."

Dominant big men. In Brendan Walsh and Matt Idelson, Garnet Valley might have the region's most formidable duo in the 200-plus-pound divisions.

Walsh, the Jaguars' heavyweight, and Idelson, their 215-pounder, are fresh off Section 6 titles over the weekend, and own a combined record of 68-2 this season. They spearheaded the Jaguars (16-4) to their first Central League title since joining the league four years ago.

Idelson's lone loss came in the finals of the Beast of the East tournament, one of the nation's top events. And though the senior just claimed his 100th career win and a sectional crown, he has trouble moving past his one crushing defeat.

"I was going for a perfect season," said Idelson, who lost a narrow 3-0 decision at the Beast of the East. "That one loss, it just means more than the 33 wins I have right now."

Walsh remains upbeat. For the last two weeks, he has been hobbled by potentially torn knee cartilage, but still cruised to his second consecutive sectional title at 285 pounds.

"I'm think I'm still wrestling at 100 percent," said Walsh, who is eyeing Duke, Pittsburgh or Chicago as potential colleges. "Clearly I can still hang with the best of them."

The gold standard. In an area rife with talented wrestling programs, Council Rock South has established itself as the preeminent program in Southeast Pennsylvania.

The Golden Hawks (20-4) are just over a week removed from their second top-four finish at the PIAA AAA team duals in the last three years, and have not finished lower than sixth over that period.

Last season at the PIAA individual tournament, South combined for fourth in team points, and on Saturday it easily won the District 1 Section 1 tournament.

"Pennsylvania is the toughest state in the country in terms of wrestling," head coach Brad Silimperi said. "To be able to place [at the state tournament] . . . I think that helps show our program is one of the tops in the state if not top in the country. We're very proud of that."

Silimperi has made a concerted effort to bolster his program's nonleague dual schedule, booking matches against Easton (this year's state runner-up) in late January and hosting the Escape the Rock tournament, one of the toughest events on the East Coast.

The Hawks have been unable to crack the state's top three despite their dominance in District 1, but are perennial contenders.

"The hardest thing is actually getting to the state tournament," Silimperi said. "Once you get [there], anything can happen."