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Sheridan places 7th in the state
On Saturday night at the Giant Center in Hershey, junior Gavin Sheridan stood on the podium and received his first PIAA state medal. Sheridan placed 7th at 133 pounds after going 3-2 over the 3-day tournament. Sheridan's tournament started with a 5-3 decision victory over Gabriel Ruggieri of Connellsville in the first round on Thursday evening. In the quarterfinals on Friday evening, he dropped a 3-2 decision to Cael McIntyre of Bethlehem Catholic to fall into the consolations later that night. Needing a win to secure that first state medal, Sheridan won 6-3 over Nazareth's Charlie Bunting to keep his season going. In the fourth round consolation match on Saturday morning, Sheridan dropped a 1-0 decision to earn a place in the 7th place bout on Saturday night. In that placing match he defeated Ruggieri once again, this time by a score of 3-1. Overall Gavin went 3-2 with all the matches being decisions and the largest margin of victory being just 3 points. It is the state tournament after all.
Sheridan finished his junior season with a superb record of 46-4, while his career mark now stands at 94-17. He's a 3-time state qualifier. His 7th place medal gives Boyertown 37 medals overall from 23 different wrestlers. The streak of 28 years with a state qualifier is currently the 10th best active qualifier streak in the state. Rapp competes at the PA Girls state tournament
While she went 0-2 in the tournament and didn't place, it was a great experience to compete with the best in the state. While she's not the first female BASH wrestler to compete in the state tournament, this was the first year that you had to qualify in order to wrestle in the tournament.
Now that the PIAA is expected to soon officially sanction girls wrestling, the future is looking bright for every girl who dreams of wrestling and competing for a state championship! Sheridan wins regional crown; advances to states
On Saturday night at the South East AAA Regional tournament at Souderton HS, junior Gavin Sheridan earned his third trip to the state tournament and won his first regional title. Sheridan (now 43-2 on the season) cruised to the semifinals with pins in his first 2 matches before a strong 7-1 decision in the semis and then an 8-4 decision over Carmen Cortese of West Chester Henderson for the regional title. With Sheridan qualifying for states, it's the 28th straight season that a Boyertown wrestler has qualified for the PIAA championships. Unfortunately for the Bears, Sheridan will be making the trip to Hershey alone. Senior Sonny Mash came the closest to advancing before falling in the third round of consolations, 2 wins shy of qualifying for states. Mash went 2-2 in the tournament and closed out his season 25-17 and his career 37-21. Seniors Luke Heimbach and Cooper Gardner each went 1-2, at 114 and 285 respectively to close out their careers as well. Heimbach finished his senior season 35-11 and ended his high school career with a record of 97-45. He was a 4x regional qualifier and was a state qualifier last season. Gardner closed out an excellent senior season, going 28-13 in his only season as a starter after going 2-8 as junior. Junior Ryder Gehris and sophomores Shane Stankina and Owen Dykie also went 1-2 in the tournament to close out their seasons. Gehris finished 21-14 and will be 42-29 heading into his senior season. Stankina went 19-9 this season while Dykie went 24-15. As a team, the Bears finished in 12th place with 42 points.
PAUSA Wrestling has been holding a girls state championship tournament for several years but due to the massive growth of the sport on the girls side, they had to do something they hadn't done before. They created 4 regional tournaments to act as qualifiers for the state tournament. This year, the Boyertown girls team competed in the East regional at Parkland HS for the right to go to the state tournament, to be held at Central Dauphin HS on Sunday, March 12th. Top 5 per weight would advance. Freshman Keyra Seville came to the closest to advancing the state tournament as she finished 6th at 100 pounds. Seville went 1-3 on the day to close out her first season as a wrestler with a 4-7 record. Fellow freshman Madalyn Rapp placed 8th at 118 pounds, going 2-3 in the tournament to finish her first season as a wrestler 5-11. Senior Trinity Miller (0-2 at 130) and sophomore Skylar Bohn (1-2 at 142) also competed in the tournament but did not place.
Congratulation to all the girls on the team on an exciting and fun first ever season of girls wrestling at Boyertown. We can't wait for what the future holds! 7 Bears advance to regionals; Sheridan and Gardner strike gold
The individual post-season got started on Saturday at Perkiomen Valley HS for the District 1 AAA Section North tournament. When the dust settled at the end of the day, seven Boyertown wrestlers qualified for the South East AAA regional tournament next weekend by placing in the top four at their weight. The Bears crowned two champs at the North tournament as junior Gavin Sheridan went 3-0 with 2 pins to claim the gold medal at 133 pounds and senior Cooper Gardner also went 3-0 on the day to take gold at 285. Gardner needed a little extra time in the final, as he won in the tiebreaker period. Also making the finals at the tournament were senior Luke Heimbach at 114 pounds and sophomore Shane Stankina at 139 pounds. Both dropped their finals match to take 2nd place. Junior Ryder Gehris placed third at 160 pounds while senior Sonny Mash (121) and sophomore Owen Dykie (145) placed fourth to advance. Freshman Cole Fogle (107) and sophomore Brody Coleman (127) placed fifth and will be alternatives for the regional tournament in the event someone can't compete next weekend. Carter Stouch (152), Brent Caprio (172), Mike Kelleher (189), Brody Ayres (215) wrestled in the tournament but did not advance and saw their seasons come to an end. All four are underclassmen so they'll have a chance to compete again next season.
Bears go 2-1 at Whippet Duals; get ready for post-season For the final tune-up before the individual post-season, Boyertown traveled to Downingtown West for the Whippet Duals and got 3 good matches as a team. They opened up against the newly crowned state champs in AA, Faith Christian Academy. While the Lions didn't have their full varsity lineup competing, they showed why they are highly ranked by defeating the Bears 34-33. Faith forfeited 5 weights to the Bears and Boyertown only won one contested bout, with Gavin Sheridan scoring a decision at 133. In the second match, the Bears took care of Chichester 63-9. Chichester forfeited 5 weights in the match. Boyertown wrestlers earning wins in the match were Luke Heimbach (pin), Gavin Sheridan (pin), James DeSanto (pin), Ryder Gehris (pin), Cooper Gardner (decision), and Cole Fogle (pin). In the final match of the day and the season, the Bears defeated the host Whippets 30-23. Just like their District Duals opening match, the two teams went back and forth all match. Heimbach, Sonny Mash, Sheridan, Shane Stankina, Brent Caprio, and Gardner all won via decision. Owen Dykie and Brody Coleman won by fall in the dual.
Bears defeat OJR on Hall of Fame Night In the final dual meet of the 2022-23 season, the Bears hosted rival Owen J. Roberts while also celebrating Youth Night as well as inducted new members into the Boyertown Wrestling Hall of Fame. Prior to the match, wrestlers from the Boyertown Youth Wrestling Club were honored as their encircled the mat. Next up, the program inducted Jakob Campbell, Gregg Harvey, and Jordan Wood into the Hall of Fame. As for the match itself, OJR was slightly undermanned on the evening which made the match a bit of a blowout. The Bears won the first 7 bouts to take a 31-0 lead. Cole Fogel (forfeit), Brody Coleman (decision), Gianni Costello (forfeit), Luke Heimbach (decision), Sonny Mash (decision), Gavin Sheridan (pin), and Owen Dykie (major) scored for the hosts during that opening run. After an OJR win at 152, the Bears got back-to-back pins from Ryder Gehris and Brent Caprio. OJR got 2 pins of their own before Cooper Gardner closed out the match with a 5-3 decision. Bears go 0-2 on final day of District Duals Despite getting the 5th seed in the 16-team field for the District 1 AAA Duals, the Bears knew going into the final day at Upper Dublin that it would a day of tough competition. In the quarterfinal round, the Bears squared off against PAC rival and #4 seed Spring-Ford. The match was filled with runs as the Bears jumped out to a 21-6 lead before the Rams roared back to tie it at 21-21 with 4 weights to go. Spring-Ford proved just too tough as they won 3 of the final 4 bouts to win 36-24. In the consolation, the Bears faced a surprise team in the top seeded Council Rock South Golden Hawks. South was upset in the quarters by #8 Owen J. Roberts. Once again Boyertown took an early lead after 4 bouts (12-4) before the Hawks took the lead at 16-12 on 2 quick pins. The Bears were able to win 3 of the next 4 to take a 27-19 lead but South finished strong winning the final 3 bouts to take a 31-27 win and eliminate the Bears from the tournament.
Bears beat Perk Valley on Senior Night Boyertown hosted their 2023 Senior Night on Wednesday night when they faced the Vikings of Perkiomen Valley in a key PAC Liberty dual meet. Before the match Boyertown seniors Nick Bauer, Cooper Gardner, Luke Heimbach, and Sonny Mash along with Trinity Miller of the girls team were honored. The dual started at 172 and Perk Valley jumped out to a 16-0 lead on the strength of two pins and a major decision. Cooper Gardner was awarded a forfeit at 285 before the Vikings struck again with a pin at 107 to widen their lead at 22-6. The Bears responded in a big way by scoring victories in the next six bouts. Brody Coleman got the streak started with a pin at 114. Luke Heimbach followed with a fall before Andrew Myslinski won by major at 127. Sonny Mash won by decision, Gavin Sheridan accepted a forfeit, and Owen Dykie won by decision to put the Bears out in front 34-22 with two to go. The Vikings would take both of those bouts by major and a fall to set the final at 34-32. Bears defeat Downingtown West; advance to District quarters The Bears opened up the District 1 Duals post-season on Thursday night as the #5 seed, hosting #12 Downingtown West in the first round matchup. The Whippets put up a great fight, making the dual a back and forth affair the entire night. Mike Kelleher scored a 6-5 decision to open the dual before Downingtown West won the next three bouts to take an early 15-3 lead. Boyertown responded with three straight wins of their own as Brody Coleman won by major, Luke Heimbach scored a 17-2 technical fall, and Sonny Mash won 5-4 to square the match at 15-15 seven bouts in. The Whippets scored a win at 133 before Gavin Sheridan scored a first period pin. Downingtown West replied with a pin of their own to take a 24-21 lead with three to go. Logan Oaks and Ryder Gehris made sure the Bears advanced to the quarterfinals when they each picked up pins in the first period to seal the victory. Downingtown West closed the dual with a decision, as the Bears won 33-27. Boyertown advances to the District 1 AAA Duals quarterfinals to be held Saturday, February 4th at Upper Dublin HS. They will face PAC rival and #4 seed Spring-Ford. Quarters begin at 8:30 AM. Top four teams qualify for the state duals. Bears place third at PAC tourney
The Pioneer Athletic Conference held their annual individual tournament on Saturday, January 21st at Pottsgrove HS and the Bears had a pretty good showing. As a team, they placed 3rd, only 4 points behind 2nd place. Individually, they brought home 2 golds, 2 silvers, 2 bronzes, 5 fourth place finishes, and a fifth place. Senior Luke Heimbach won gold at 121 and junior Gavin Sheridan won the 133 pound weight class. Brody Coleman and Carter Stouch placed second at 114 and 139 respectively. Owen Dykie (145) and Brent Caprio (160) placed third while Sonny Mash (127), Ryder Gehris (152), Joshua Larrimore (172), Mike Kelleher (189, and Cooper Gardner (215) all placed fourth. Cole Fogle rounded out the place winners by taking 5th at 107 pounds. Bears get by Methacton in league match The team traveled to Methacton on Wednesday to take on the Warriors in the PAC Liberty match. Despite a slow start and falling behind 12-0 after three bouts, the Bears won 7 of the last 9 weights to earn a 38-26 victory. Cole Fogle got the scoring started for the visiting Bears with a pin at 107. Luke Heimbach followed with a pin of his own at 121. Methacton widening their lead to 21-12 before the Bears rattled off three start wins, all with bonus points. Gavin Sheridan won by fall at 133, followed by a major decision at 139 by J.D. Heiser, and then Shane Stankina won via a first period fall at 145. After a Methacton win, Ryder Gehris (pin) and Brent Caprio (major) closed out the scoring to get the Bears the win. Bears go 3-1 at Big Red Duals
On Saturday, the Bears traveled to Souderton for the 16-team bracketed dual meet tournament known as the Big Red Duals. Boyertown was seeded 4th in the field and faced North Penn in the opening round. The Bears won that matchup 36-30 with wins by Luke Heimbach, Andrew Myslinski, Gavin Sheridan, Carter Stouch, Shane Stankina, Mike Kelleher, and Cooper Garder. In the quarterfinals, they faced Neshaminy and came away with a 36-33 win for their second close match of the tournament. Winning against Neshaminy were Heimbach, Myslinski, Sheridan, Stankina, Nick Bauer, and Gardner. The win setup a semifinal match with highly ranked Saucon Valley. The Panther won 9 of the 13 bouts to take a 50-24 win over the Bears. Winning for Boyertown in the semifinal were Sheridan, Gardner, Gianni Costello, and Cole Fogle. The Bears closed out the tournament by winning the third place match 37-30 over Pennsbury. The team jumped out to a 21-0 lead to start the dual on wins by Myslinski, Sheridan, Stankina, and Luke Barnett. Pennsbury roared back with 24 unanswered points before Cooper Gardner and Cole Fogle won with back-to-back falls before Pennsbury won the second to last bout to set the score at 33-30. Luke Heimbach sealed the victory with an 11-2 major decision.
Boyertown hosts first ever official girls wrestling event
Four Boyertown wrestlers got matches with Keyra Seville winning her match by an 18-4 major decision. Madalyn Rapp, Trinity Miller, and Skylar Bohn also got matches as well. A total of 21 matches were wrestled. A nice crowd was on hand to cheer on the girls as they competed. The referee for the evening was Dan Cwalina, a 1998 Boyertown grad and former Bear wrestler. Bears roll over Norristown 71-6 The same night as the girls hosted their first matches, the boys team traveled to Norristown for a dual meet with the Eagles. The visitors made quick work of the hosts in route to a 71-6 victory. The Bears won 12 of the 13 bouts, including eight by fall. Gavin Sheridan, Shane Stankina, Owen Dykie, James DeSanto, Brent Caprio, Joshua Larrimore, Mike Kelleher, and Cooper Gardner all won by pin for the Bears. Sonny Mash earned a technical fall, while Gianni Costello, Cole Fogle, and Luke Heimbach took forfeit wins. Bears go 3-2 at Parkland Duals Boyertown hit the road again on the first weekend in January when they travelled to the Parkland Duals for five dual meets. The Bears opened with a 57-18 over Northwestern Lehigh before dropping a 45-21 match with the host Trojans. The team rebounded with a 38-29 win over West Chester Rustin in their third match of the day. The Bears then dropped a heartbreaker to Delaware Valley 34-29 before closing out the tournament with a 41-31 win over Quakertown. Gavin Sheridan was the lone Bear to go 5-0 on the day.
Bears fall to Spring-Ford in first league dual To start the new year, Boyertown traveled to Spring-Ford to take on the Rams on January 4th in the first PAC dual for both teams. The Bears won three of the first four bouts to take an early 9-6 lead with Gavin Sheridan (133) and Shane Stankina (139) opening the dual with decisions and Ryder Gehris (152) getting a decision as well after a Rams pin. The Rams took the lead by winning the next two bouts by decision and a pin before Mike Kelleher scored a 7-6 decision at 189 to get the Bears to within 15-12. Unfortunately they would not get any closer as the Rams flexed their muscle by taking four of the final six bouts. Cooper Gardner won a 5-2 decision at 285 pounds and Luke Heimbach won via a second period pin at 121 to close out the scoring for the visiting Bears. The Rams won the dual 36-21. Spring-Ford won seven bouts to the Bears six but the Bears could only muster three bonus points in the dual. Three Bears place at Bethlehem Classic
Heimbach went 4-1 with two major decisions, Sheridan also went 4-1 with a pin, a technical fall, and a major decision, while Beck 3-3 in his matches. Sonny Mash (121) and Ryder Gehris (152) were each a win away from placing. Sheridan, Heimbach, and Babb place at KOM
Sheridan earned his trip to the finals with a pin, a major decision, and two decisions before falling in sudden victory in the title match. Heimbach went 5-2 at the tournament with a pin and two technical falls. Babb went 3-3 with a pin. Cole Fogle (107), Brody Coleman (114), and Sonny Mash (121) each were a win away from placing. Bears place 5th at Bear Duals; get program win #700
The 2022-23 scholastic wrestling season got underway for the Bears on Saturday, December 10th with the 18th Annual Brian Bealer Memorial Bear Duals. This year's field featured a few new teams and plenty high-quality wrestling as expected. Easton repeated as the tournament champion, after winning last season. The Bears opened with a 72-0 shutout over Interboro and then a 64-6 win over Garnet Valley. Then the Bears dropped their next two matches against new teams to the Duals in Pennridge and Wilson (West Lawn), falling to the Rams 38-30 and then to the Bulldogs 45-30. In the tournament's 5th place match against Souderton, Boyertown got the 45-21 victory. That win was the 700th in Boyertown's high school wrestling history.
Boyertown officially approves girls wrestling!
Boyertown becomes the 44th school in PA, the 2nd school in District 1, and the 1st school in the Pioneer Athletic Conference to start a girls program. The sport is currently not a PIAA-sanctioned sport, as the PIAA is looking for at least 100 schools to sponsor girls wrestling before sanctioning it. The SanctionPA effort is working hard to get to that mark, and Boyertown is doing their part to help. Year-round Fundraisers for BAWA
The fundraiser is the RaiseRight gift card program (formerly known as Scrips). This program allows you to purchase gift cards via the mail or online to hundreds of top brand stores, restaurants, and more with a percentage of each purchase being donated to BAWA. This program is great because it allows you to purchase items you already were going to purchase, with the added bonus of having a portion of your purchase being donated to BAWA. Check out the link below for all the details on how to get started! |
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Freshman Madalyn Rapp was a late add to the 118 pound bracket for the 2023 MyHouse PA Girls State Wrestling Championships after some other wrestlers had to drop out. This allowed her to compete on Sunday, March 12th at Central Dauphin HS.
Wednesday, January 11, 2023 will go down in Boyertown sports history at the date of the first ever home girls wrestling event when the girls hosted Exeter, Governor Mifflin, and Souderton. With no team having a full roster of girls just yet, the four teams got together in order to get as many matches for their wrestlers as possible.
For the first time since 2013, Boyertown competed at the Bethlehem Holiday Classic at Bethlehem Liberty HS. As a team, the Bears placed 20th out of 32 teams and earned three individual medals. Senior Luke Heimbach placed 3rd at 114, junior Gavin Sheridan placed 3rd at 127, and sophomore 
In the first individual tournament action of the season for the Bears, three Boyertown wrestlers placed in the top 8 at the annual King of the Mountain tournament at Central Mountain HS. Junior Gavin Sheridan placed 2nd at 127, senior Luke Heimbach placed 5th at 114, and sophomore Beck Babb placed 8th at 139. As a team, the Bears placed 21st out of 30 teams with 70 team points.
BAWA has a fundraiser going all year long to help raise money for the wrestlers in the Boyertown area.| Copyright © 2023, Boyertown Area Wrestling Association | |