Faith Christian Academy (PA) Roars to Beast of the East Victory

The Lions crown two champions; Lake Highland Prep (FL) finishes second

Gary Adornato, Billy Buckheit | 9 Hours Ago

Smyrna (DE) wrestler Devin Smith (front) wrestles to a loss in a preliminary round at 120 pounds to Micah Loudermilk of Bergen Catholic (NJ) by technical fall in the Beast of the East tournament, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024 at the Bob Carpenter Center at the University of Delaware. / William Bretzger-Delaware News Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Pennsylvania’s No. 2 Faith Christian Academy is now two-for-two in tournament appearances ending in championships as they captured the Beast of the East title on Sunday evening at the Bob Carpenter Center on the Campus of the University of Delaware. The Lions outpointed runner-up No. 5 Lake Highland Prep of Florida by 21, 276.5-255.5.

Faith Christian put a tournament high four in the finals and came away with two champions, No. 1 Fred Bachman (113) and No. 2 Adam Walters (190).

Bachmann won by a razor-thin margin of 1-0 over No. 29 Rylan Seacrist (Brecksville, OH). Waters also won by a one-point margin, 5-4, over No. 5 Lane Foard (Benedictine Prep, VA), a wrestler he pinned two weeks ago in the Ironman finals.

Settling for second were No. 4 Joe Bachmann (120) and No. 21 Chase Hontz (157). Picking up third place finishes were No. 13 Max Stein (150) and No. 10 Mark Effendian (285).

No. 10 Cael Weidemoyer placed fourth for the Lions at 165. Taking fifth were Mason Wagner (144, Honorable Mention) and No. 13 Nick Singer (175). No. 21 Jason Singer was sixth at 215 and No. 7 Gauge Botero landed in the seventh position at 126. Faith Christian’s eleven award winners paced the field.

Lake Highland Prep had eight guys place, but no one who reached the podium for them was lighter than 138lbs. Their three champs were the most of any team, No. 7 Zeno Moore (144), No. 9 Claudio Torres (165), and No. 11 Jacob Levy (285) earned top honors in their brackets.

Moore came out ahead of No. 8 Sonny Amato (Rumson-Fair Haven, NJ), 4-1. Torres fended off the young and tenacious No. 13 Salah Tsarni of Bullis Prep in Maryland, 4-3. Levy rang up a major decision of unranked Cristian Alvarez (St. Joseph’s Regional, NJ), 10-2. To reach the finals, Levy avenged two previous losses to Effendian from Super 32 and Ironman, with a 7-3 semifinal victory.

Two of the Highlanders third place finishers pulled off upsets in the consolation finals as No. 12 Lucas Boe (157) defeated No. 10 Joey Canova (Bergen Catholic, NJ), 2-1 TB1, and No. 9 Robert Kucharczk downed No. 6 Vincenzo LaValle (Hanover Park, NJ), 8-0. No. 8 Jayce Paridon joined them in the third spot at 138.

No. 23 Charlie DeSena was fourth at 144 and No. 18 Alex Smith took seventh at 215.

No. 9 Malvern Prep was sitting atop the field at the end of wrestling on Saturday. They would fall back and place third in the team race with 236.5 points. They put nine on the podium but only had one finalist who did claim the title at 106 in No. 5 Justin Farnsworth, who rolled to a 12-1 major decision of Nico Emili (Bethlehem Catholic, PA).

Emili upset to Marylanders to reach that match, taking out HM Tyler Verceles (Loyola Blakefield), 14-2, in the semis, and No. 10 Corey Brown (Mt. St. Joseph), 5-3, in the quarters.

No. 11 Lukas Littleton-Mascaro (120) and No. 6 Matthew O’Neill (126) were third for Malvern. O’Neill beat Vincenzo Anello (Blair Academy, NJ) 7-0 in his placement match to gain instant revenge after Anello beat him in the quarters, 3-1.

Other Malvern Prep grapplers to reach the podium were No. 16 Tyler Conroy (4th at 132), No. 27 Lukas Zalota (5th at 285), Jason Torres (6th at 138), Chase Hetrick (7th at 165), and two who finished eighth, Raymond Fitzgerald (150) and No. 26 Stosh Zalota (215).

Norwin’s No. 10 Landon Sidun pulled off the biggest upset in the championship finals when he won an overtime tiebreaker, 2-1, over No. 4 Joe Bachmann at 120lbs.

The other big upset in the gold medal round was No. 2 William Henckel (Blair Academy) taking out No. 1 Ryan Burton (St. Joseph Regional), 5-3. Burton won a 4-2 decision over Henckel in the Junior Freestyle Finals at Fargo over the summer. Henckel’s second straight crown led his team to a fourth-place finish.

Burton falling short of the title was a microcosm of St. Joseph Regional’s weekend escapades. They came in as the No. 3 team in the nation, ahead of Lake Highland and Malvern, but placed sixth. Yes, they were missing a few starters, but underperformance and injury derailed their train. Heavyweight Alvarez, who reached the finals, was one of their rare bright spots.

No. 19 JoJo Burke placed seventh at 106, losing to HM Verecles along the way. No. 5 Johnathon McGinty placed eighth and lost to three wrestlers he was favored to beat, Littleton-Mascaro, No. 17 Alex Rozas (Teurlings Catholic, LA), and unranked Nicholas Salamone (Easton, PA). No. 5 Adrian DeJesus was injured at 138 and did not reach the podium.

No. 1 Anthony Knox (St. John Vianney, NJ) looked like he was on his way to a tech fall win in his 126lb showdown with No. 4 Keanu Dillard (Bethlehem Catholic). But Dillard seemed to figure something out ahead of the third period and was able to shut down Knox’s scoring as the match ended with a 13-3 major decision. For Knox, it was his third Beast title as he did not appear here as a freshman.

One more Jersey guy claimed the top spot at his weight as 138lber, No. 6 Caedyn Ricciardi decked fellow Garden Stater, No. 29 Carson Walsh (Pope John XXIII), in the second period, 3:31. Walsh upset No. 8 Paridon in the semis, 7-4 OT Sudden Victory.

Two others from Pennsylvania locked down championships, No.2 Aaron Seidel (North Lebanon, 132) and No. 5 Tahir Parkins (Nazareth, 144). Seidel blanked No. 7 Tyler DeKraker (Chantilly, VA), 4-0. Parkins secured a takedown in the first overtime frame to beat No. 13 Eren Sement (Council Rock North, PA), 4-1.

The other two brackets were claimed by Virginians, No. 9 Chase Van Hoven (Brooke Point, 157) and HM Cash Colbert (Paul VI, 215). Van Hoven clocked an 11-1 major decision of Hontz. Colbert upset Blair Academy’s Peter Snyder (No. 18 at 190lbs), 3-1.

Team Scores (Top15):

1-Faith Christian Academy, PA 276.5

2-Lake Highland Prep, FL 255.5

3-Malvern Prep, PA 236.5

4-Blair Academy, NJ 165.5

5-Brecksville, OH 150

6-St. Joseph’s Regional, NJ 144

7-Bethlehem Catholic, PA 134.5

8-Bergen Catholic, NJ 129

1st Place Match

Jacob Levy (Lake Highland Preparatory School) 5-0, Sr. over Cristian Alvarez (St Joseph Regional) 5-1, Jr. (MD 10-2)

3rd Place Match

Mark Effendian (Faith Christian Academy) 10-2, Jr. over James Bechter (Northfield Mt Hermon) 8-1, Jr. (M. For.)

5th Place Match

Lukas Zalota (Malvern Prep) 5-2, So. over Benjamin Shue (Bergen Catholic) 4-3, Sr. (Dec 5-0)

7th Place Match

Mateo Vinciguerra (Woodstown) 6-2, Jr. over Dante Donaldson (The Hill School) 16-4, Sr. (Fall 2:21)

Published 9 Hours Ago

GARY ADORNATO

Gary Adornato began covering high school sports with the Baltimore Sun in 1982, while still a mass communications major at Towson University, and in 2003 became one of the first journalists to cover high school sports online while operating MIAASports.com, the official website of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association. Later, Adornato pioneered market-wide coverage of high school sports with DigitalSports.com, introducing video highlights and player interviews while assembling an award-winning editorial staff. In 2010, he launched VarsitySportsNetwork.com which became the premier source of high school media coverage in the state of Maryland. In 2022, he sold VSN to The Baltimore Banner and joined SBLive Sports as the company's East Coast Managing Editor.

BILLY BUCKHEIT

Billy Buckheit is a long-time high school wrestling expert and journalist who has been doing the individual national high school wrestling rankings for SBLive Sports since 2022. He also provides coverage a major high school wrestling tournaments throughout the year. Billy previously served as the senior wrestling writer for Varsity Sports Network and the Baltimore Banner. He has also served on the seeding committees for many prestigious regional and national tournaments. In addition, he is the editor of Billy B's Wrestling World, a popular Facebook page dedicated to high school wrestling, and is an editorial contributor for the Maryland State Wrestling Association (MSWA).

Faith Christian Academy (PA) Roars to Beast of the East Victory

Gary Adornato, Billy Buckheit | 9 Hours Ago

Team Scores (Top15):

Individual Results

106

113

120

126

132

138

144

150

157

165

175

190

215

285

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