Roundup (Jan. 14): Owen J. Roberts’ Dillon Bechtold repeats as Escape the Rock champion

Wrestling

Owen J. Roberts senior Dillon Bechtold repeated as 215-pound champion at the Escape the Rock tournament on Sunday at Council Rock South.

Bechtold pinned his way to the title, dropping Abington Heights’ Caleb Marzolino in 2:44 in the final.

Bechtold, the returning PIAA 3A runner-up, is 23-0 this year with a King of the Mountain championship already to his name.

The Wildcats also had a pair of fourth-place finishers in Sam Gautreau and Dean Bechtold.

At 172 pounds, Gautreau fell to St. Joseph Regional (NJ) standout Ryan Burton, ranked No. 2 in the country, in an 11-8 decision in the semifinals. Gautreau downed Abington Heights’ Brian Heard 5-3 in the consolation semifinals to make the third-place match, where he forfeited to claim fourth.

Burton was the champion at 172, winning 3-1 in sudden victory over Faith Christian’s Adam Waters, who resides in Pottstown.

At 285 pounds, Dean Bechtold lost 2-0 to State College’s Nick Pavlechko, the returning PIAA runner-up in 3A, then majored St. Joseph’s Prep’s Maxwell Roy 13-0 in the consolation semifinals. Quakertown’s Calvin Lachman, a Lehigh commit, edged Becthold 2-1 in the third-place match.

OJR placed 11th as a team. Malvern Prep won the team title with 199 points, followed by Faith Christian (158).

Girls’ Basketball

Perkiomen Valley 50, Archbishop Wood 46

Perkiomen Valley (13-1, 5-0) got the best of three-time defending PIAA champion Archbishop Wood  at the Hoops for Hope Tournament at Arcadia University on Sunday afternoon. At 1:23 in the fourth quarter PV took the lead and did not look back, winning 50-46, going 10-for-12 at the line in the fourth despite only two field goals. Perkiomen Valley went 19-for-24 from the free-throw line to help their cause. PV had three players in double figures: Quinn Boettinger was leading scorer with 18 points, Grace Galbavy scored 11 points, and Grace Miley had 10 points in the contest.  Emily Knouse of Archbishop Wood had 16 points including four 3-point goals.

Perkiomen Valley 8 11 16 15 – 50
Archbishop Wood 14 10 12 10 – 46

Perkiomen Valley: A Stein 0 0 2-2 2, Bacani 2 0 0-0 4, Smith 0 0 0-0 0, L Stein 0 1 2-2 5, Miley 1 2 2-3 10, Boettinger 5 0 8-12 18, Galbavy 3 0 5-5 11. Totals 11 3 19-24 50.

Archbishop Wood: McDonald 0 0 0-0 0, Renninger 2 0 1-2 5, Yogis 0 1 0-0 3, Topakas 1 1 0-2 5, Finnegas 1 1 0-2 5, Knouse 2 4 0-0 16, Greer 3 0 0-1 6, Windish 2 0 2-3 6. Totals 11 7 3-10 46.