Father Judge captures Catholic League wrestling title

Dean Jakeman grew up around the corner from Archbishop Wood, but he never envisioned himself attending the school.

Jakeman - now a junior at Father Judge - said he instead always felt a "personal rivalry" with Wood.

"Wood has always been in the back of my head because I grew up 30 seconds from here, I looked at this school every day, and then I ended up going to Judge when I moved to Philly in eighth grade," Jakeman said. "But I always had something out for Wood. I always wanted to get them."

On Wednesday night, he got them good.

Jakeman scored a pin in the 285-pound bout to help seal Judge's 32-25 win over Wood in the Catholic League wrestling final. The Vikings were ahead by two points heading into the heavyweight clash, which was the 10th bout of the night. Jakeman pinned Wood's Jeremy Wentz in 3 minutes, 33 seconds to give Wood an eight-point lead with four bouts left.

It was Judge's second Catholic League title in the last three years.

"We kind of knew we'd start off strong, dip, and then end strong, but it was kind of closer than we would've liked it to be," Jakeman said. "A couple matches didn't end our way, but we got our majors where we needed majors, pins where we needed pins, and we got it done."

Father Judge roared out of the gate, winning five of the first six bouts and leading 19-4.

But following a forfeit loss for Judge, Wood senior Matt Murray brought the Vikings within five points with a 16-2 major- decision victory over Robert Ortiz in the 195-pound class.

A win by Wood freshman Connor Bishop then brought Judge's lead down to just two. But Jakeman's six-point pin gave Judge the momentum it needed to reach the finish line.

"It was big," Judge head coach Jim Savage said of Jakeman's pin. "If we don't get a fall there, I mean, who knows what could have happened."

Wood coach Chris Meister said Wednesday's loss was a humbling experience for his group after taking down reigning champion La Salle in the semifinals and reaching the final for the first time since 2002.

"Our boys were prepared, but I think that they didn't realize how much of an uphill battle it is to get a win when the other guy wants it just as much as you," Meister said. "Judge has seen this championship match for the last couple years and they prepared their boys, and they came to wrestle."

The Results

Father Judge 32, Archbishop Wood 25

132: Caesar Fountain, F, dec. Zach Shaffer, A, 8-6; 138: Trevor Elfin, F, pinned Sean Brill, A, 0:33; 145: Austin Gillick, A, major dec. Dan Dugan, F, 17-7; 152: Anthony Armstrong, F, major dec. Matt Palage, A, 15-4; 160: Adam White, F, dec. George Frattora, A, 11-5; 170: Erik Lindemann, F, dec. Zac St. Thomas, A, 5-2; 182: Harry Green, A, forfeit by Father Judge; 195: Matt Murray, A, major dec. Robert Ortiz, F, 16-2; 220: Connor Bishop, A, dec. Sean Armstrong, J, 7-5; 285: Dean Jakeman, F, pinned Jeremy Wertz, A, 3:33; 106: Max Shaffer, A, dec. Liam Logue, F, 10-5; 113: Tim McCall, F, major dec. Tommy Hooven, A, 9-1; 120: Mike Metzger, F, dec. Stephen Veneziale, A, 11-7; 126: Alex Shafer, A, forfeit by Father Judge.

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