WESTTOWN — Since West Chester Rustin opened in 2006, West Chester East has often been the proverbial third child on the wrestling mat, often finishing behind the Golden Knights as well as West Chester Henderson.
Wednesday, on Rustin’s Senior Night, the Vikings finally accomplished something 20 years in the making.
With a couple key wins, and of course a little bit of controversy, East topped Rustin, 33-25. It was the first time, ever, East has beaten Rustin and Henderson in the same season, for the unofficial West Chester championship. It was also East’s first win over Rustin since 2020.
“It’s great,” East junior Adam Timm said. “I mean, it’s never been done before so it feels great to do it. It’s unlike anything else, to be able to win the West Chester championship. It’s amazing.”
Timm (152 pounds) was a part of one of the two most consequential matches of the night. He scored two takedowns in the first two periods, though the Rustin coaches may disagree with the close calls, and held on for a 9-8 win over Colin Baldesari.
“I knew where (Timm) was all along, and hopefully he did, too,” East coach Marc Chafetz said. “Now he definitely does. He’s been working hard in the off-season, and had that unfortunate injury, but he knew where he stood and that match obviously proves it.”
Two bouts later, Rustin’s returning fifth-place state medalist, AJ Corp, was called for an illegal slam against Bryson Chok just seconds into their match. A likely bonus point win for Corp ended up being six for the Vikings (13-7 overall), and with Rustin (4-9) not having a heavyweight, the following two matches were basically rendered irrelevant.
“We scored late in matches and we pushed the pace, and our plan’s coming to fruition where we’re starting to peak at the right time,” Rustin coach Aston White said. “We don’t care about winning this match at all. It is what it is. I don’t think if we wrestled this match again, it would turn out the way it did this time, for multiple reasons.”
The Golden Knights led by seven after six bouts, picking up bonus points in a couple swing matches from Ryland Fanfera (107) and Maks Kubatka (139).
Finn Smith (145) stopped the Rustin run with a decision, and Timm followed. Amin Amin (160) used a third-period takedown to get past Jimmy Boland, 4-1, and give the Vikings a lead they kept the rest of the way.
“We knew (Rustin) was going to come at us,” Chafetz said. “We watched them wrestle Henderson and they were very, very aggressive. And they were very, very aggressive against us. Our message to our guys was, ‘either match the intensity or don’t let it bother you and wrestle your match.’ A lot of our guys did that.”
After Corp’s slam, East led 27-19, and Rustin’s Jake Altman (189) scored a takedown in sudden victory to edge Kevin Rivas. Elijah Thomas (215) broke a 1-1 tie late for another decision win for the Knights, but East’s Justin Williams took a forfeit to wrap up the win.
On paper, if that six at 172 goes to Rustin, the Knights win 31-27, but how 189 and 215 are wrestled if Rustin led the team score going into them is anyone’s guess.
For the Knights, it’s about moving on into postseason mode.
“There’s little things with some setups and some motion and getting angles that we can work on with some guys,” White said. “Other than that, the hay’s in the barn and we’re just trying to get the guys feeling as good as they can.”
The Vikings travel to Great Valley Saturday morning for another inter-league dual, before both teams compete at the District 1 Central Sectional at Oxford High, February 21.
For Timm, he’ll go forward with some extra confidence.
“It’s been a lot of perseverance, dealing with injuries early in the season,” Timm said. “Being able to get my cardio back and keeping my headspace, not getting in my own head and just pushing myself every day, no matter what. Everybody has tweaks at this point. It’s all about perseverance.”
West Chester East 33, West Chester Rustin 25
107 – Fanfera (WCR) pinned Fuentes, 2:20 (0-6)
114 — Ipri (WCE) won by forfeit (6-6)
121 — Verbos (WCE) pinned Baillie, 3:15 (12-6)
127 — Emmonds (WCR) pinned Munoz, 3:00 (12-12)
133 – Flores (WCR) dec. M. Hussein, 10-8 (12-15)
139 — Kubatka (WCR) maj. dec. Federici, 11-3 (12-19)
145 — Smith (WCE) dec. O’Rourke, 7-2 (15-19)
152 — Timm (WCE) dec. Baldesari, 9-8 (18-19)
160 — Amin (WCE) dec. Boland, 4-1 (21-19)
172 — Chok (WCE) won by disqualification Corp, (27-19)
189 — Altman (WCR) dec. Rivas, 4-1 SV (27-22)
215 — Thomas (WCR) dec. Lehr, 7-1 (27-25)
285 — Williams (WCE) won by forfeit (33-25)