Inaddition, the Screaming Eagles Wrestling Club starts their fall program this weekat Extreme Sports in Oaks,PA. Practice will be every Sunday, Monday  and Wednesday.  For more information check out the link below. 

 http://sportsextreme.us/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=108&Itemid=162

Have your Junior Wrestler spend a day of wrestling with the UHS Varsity Team learning wrestling fundamentals and having some great fun! The Clinic will be held at the C.F. Patton Middle School gym and refreshments will be served. The fee is $30.00 per wrestler and you can register by completing & mailing the form that can be downloaded from the link above or by visiting the "Coach's Clipboard" "More Handouts"section of the web site. Hurry, space is limited and this will fill up fast! All proceeds benefit UHS Wrestling.

For the second time in the last three years, Joe Bonaduce (125) earned Outstanding Wrestler “OW” honors on his way to collecting the gold medal at 125lbs at this weekend’s West Chester East Invitational.   Coach Matz also got golden performances from Zander Adam (135), Mason Popham(140)and Zac Lawson (160) each taking top honors in their respective weight classes. 

Grady Stevens grabbed a silver medal and Scotty Seidenberger continued to impress with a 3^rd place finish and a bronze medal.  Overall the Tribe finished in 3^rd place behind Malvern Prep and the host Vikings. 

Click on the link above to check out the championship boxscores.   

The 08/09 edition of Indians wrestling is underway and off to a solid start.  On the eve of the Tribe’s 1^st home meet of the season, check in with Coach Matz by clicking on the link above and downloading your copy of the Coach’s Clipboard.   

Coach will be looking for contributions up and down the lineup as the Indians play host to the Tigers from Rising Sun, tomorrow evening at UHS. Wrestling gets underway at 7:00pm ….Hope to see everyone matside! 

The first three dual meets of the season brought a lot of reason for optimism, certainly brilliant individual performances but each time that all important team victory proved to be elusive.  All that changed in a big way last Monday as the Indians recorded their 1st "W" of the season with a convincing win over Strath Haven.      

Things got started quickly for the U's with a 1^st period decking by Zach Lawson at 160lbs. However, the match was a back and forth affair and very much in doubt until a key pin by Evan Brady at 119 seemed to spark his teammates.  From there, the strength of the Indians line up took over and closed out the Panthers in convincing fashion.  

The Tribe is looking for some more great  performances as they head to the A.I. DuPont Classic, during the Christmas break.  This is one of the areas premier (JV &Varsity) Tournaments with some of Coach Matz’s state hopefuls looking forward to the competition.   Check the "calendar" link for times and directions!  

Follow the link above to get Coach Matz's perspectives on the Starth Haven match and the upcoming holiday tournament.  

by NateHeckenberger, Special to the Daily Local News

Posted on December 29,2008

GREENVILLE, Del. --Entering Sunday, Mason Popham's closest match was an 18-5 major decision a few weekends ago.

Day one of the A.I. duPont Tiger Classic saw Unionville's Popham collect two first-period falls, but on the second day he finally got challenged. Two decisions later and Popham proved that he can go the distance if needed as he wound up the lone area champ with a 4-3 victory over Sussex Central's Joel Collins in the 135-pound final.

Five other Indians collected top-8 medals, including a third by Zack Lawson (160 pounds) and fourths by Joey Bonaduce (125) and Zander Adams (140). Unionville finished seventh out of 29 teams, while Conestoga used seven medallists to place 11th. Jordan Pavillard (135),Bryan McCormick (171) and Greg Gruschow (215) earned fifth-place finishes to lead the Pioneers.

Popham, though, led the county in what proved to be a very competitive tournament. A takedown late in the second period and an escape early in the third gave Popham enough to escape a first-period deficit.

"This is one of the toughest tournaments we have on our schedule,"the undefeated sophomore said. "To get first here, it kind of sets up therest of your season."

Thus far Popham is 11-0 on the season and his coach, Chris Matz, noted his finals bout was "the first time he's been pushed this year."

Bonaduce entered Sunday undefeated as well, but wound up in a very deep125-pound bracket that had the likes of the top two seeds, Pat Owens of Germantown Academy and Wendell Cannon of Sussex Tech, who took second and fourth at the Beast of the East last weekend, respectively.

In the semifinals, Bonaduce faced off against Owens, and got the first takedown before Owens' quickness got the better of him, 8-3. In the third-place match,Bonaduce jumped out to a 5-0 lead against Cannon with an early lateral drop.But Cannon took a lead in the third off a questionable takedown call. A stalland an escape for Bonaduce gave him a chance to win, but it was Cannon who gotthe last two with six seconds left to win, 12-10.

"It definitely does help my confidence," said Bonaduce. "Because instead of having an easy bracket that I could just beat everyone, these couple matches will help me for the postseason. They make me better."

McCormick and Gruschow nearly had identical fifth-place bouts. Both trailed late and both came up with clutch takedowns in the waning moments for 4-3 victories. Pavillard, meanwhile, had little trouble discarding the No. 3 seedfor a 7-2 victory. Ben Hartshorn (sixth), Nick Becatini (seventh), David Exler (eighth) and Matt Roe (eighth) also engineered medals for Conestoga.

"We don't have any superstars," Conestoga head coach Steve Harnersaid. "We're spread-loaded, so it was good to get seven medals and eight through the second day. It's good experience because we were in a lot of matches but we were beating ourselves."

With a relatively young team, Harner has had success in dual meets thus far andis trying to cultivate the skills necessary for the individual postseason.

"We took some choices to try and better ourselves," Harner said."If you can't get out from bottom you better learn now because comeFebruary it will be too late."

Unionville's other medallists were Scott Seidenberger (112) with an eighth and Jake Popham (189), who took sixth.

After losing his first match of the tournament, Adams won five straight to reach the consolation finals, but he was shutout by Pennsville's Zach Inman, and walked away with a fourth after starting unseeded.

Lawson, on the other hand, was bumped from the championship bracket in semis, but responded with two more pins, including one in the consi-finals to earn a bronze medal. Lawson won all four of his bouts by fall over the weekend.

"He wrestles to pin, not just to win," Matz said of Lawson, who is now 9-3 with seven pins.

Coach Matz provides his perspectives as the Indians roll into the most challanging part of their schedule.  Download your copy today!   

The Indians entered the Great Valley gym on Friday night keenly aware of the challenge that lie ahead as they faced arguably the best team in District 1 and one of the top programs statewide.   After theTribe built a brief 8-0 lead courtesy of Joe Bonaduce and Mason Popham, the powerful Patriots line up reeled off 10 straight wins and dispelled any notion of a Unionville upset.  To real more about it, catch Nate Heckenberger’s write up in the Daily Local by following the link below. 

http://www.dailylocal.com/articles/2009/01/11/sports/local/srv0000004468199.txt

Coach Matz will attempt to get his U’s mended and rested as they continue to face an uphill climb when the undefeated SunValley Vangards invade Unionville's house this Wednesday evening.  Hope to see you mat side!

It was a pinning duel when Sun Valley invaded the Indians gym on Wednesday evening.  In the end, it came down to the last match at 285 with the match in the balance and the Tribe looking to spoil Sun Valley's undefeated season.   However, Paris Covington overcame  Kris Walls with a quick 1st period pin that sealed the U's fate and kept the Vanguards perfect season intact.  

Coack Matz is looking forward to this weekends 5 Star duels at Conestoga where for the 1st time this season he may have all three of his varsity Captains on the mat and something resembing a full team of starters.  Come out and support Unionville wrestling!  

Follow the link above to grab your copy of Coach Matz's recent comments regarding his young Indians progress. 

In his 8^th season coaching varsity wrestling at Unionville and his 11^th overall, Chris Matz arrived at the coaching milestone of 100 varsity wins over the weekend at the Conestoga 5-Star Duels. His Indians went 3W-2L and took a very respectable 5th place out of 12 teams for their weekends work.  With wins over Central Bucks West and Chichester in the preliminary rounds, Coach arrived at the 100W plateau.   

In addition to Coach Matz’s achievement, the other highlight of the tournament was Joe Bonaduce’s convincing 11-2 major decision over 5th place State medalist Matt Prestifilippo from North Penn.   Joe’s bonus point proved the difference in the U’s 3rd win of the weekend over the Knights.

Congratulations Coach and thanks from the entire UHS wrestling community!   

Hope all fans turn out as the U’s make a short trip across town to battle the Kennett Blue Demons this Wednesday night.  Action gets underway at 6:30pm!     

After being sidelined for the better part of 3 weeks due to the Ches-Mont league-wide skin disease outbreak, Coach Matz and his Indians have received a clean bill of health and returned to the practice mat this week.   

They will attempt to shake off the rust and shed some pounds as they prepare for the post season opener at the Sectional Tournament at Boyertown High School, next Saturday, the 11^th.   Several U's are expecting to make an impact on the road that leads to the State Championship in Hershey. Come on out and support the team!  

There’s always a few more fans in the seats and a lot more emotion in the air whenever the Indians square off against the Blue Demons and this year varsity wrestling match was no exception.  The fact that it was senior recognition night at Kennett only added to the drama.  

It was a see-saw battle through out the evening.  The highlight bout came in a match up of two undefeated titian with Unionville’s super sophomore, Mason Popham taking on Kennett senior and state medalist, Kyle Bove.   Bove grabbed an early lead that he never relinquished however Mason continued to battle reversing him late in the match. In the end the Kennett senior showed his savvy and experience in scratching out a narrow 5-3 win.   

Both sides continued to trade W’s until Unionville freshman Billy Reichle quieted the Kennett home crowd with a stunning pin that turned the tide on the evening and sealed a well earned W for the Tribe.  

They say the postseason is all about survival…..getting to next week  and continuing on the road to Hershey!  

Using that as a benchmark, Coach Matz’s wrestlers had a successful start to the “second season” with their trip up to Boyertown capturing 4^th place team honors and advancing six wrestlers to next weekend’s district tournament at Spring-Ford.   Congratulations go out to Joe Bonaduce, Mason Popham, Zander Adams and Grady Stevens for their Silver medal performances. In addition, Zach Lawson took a bronze medal and Jake Popham grabbed a 4^th place finish in moving on as well.   

The ’09 season has certainly had its share of twists and unusual turns but there are six Unionville wrestlers that have ended up right where they want to be and looking forward to next week!

Speaking of next Saturday, wrestling gets underway up at SFHS at 9:30am!  Follow the “Away Locations” link on the main menu for directions. 

If you can't attend in person, you can still follow your favorite Indian's in real time as the NHSCA Sports Network will be offering "Live Link" once again this week! Follow the URL below to track all the scores as they happen.

http://liveevents.nhscasportsnetwork.com/2009dist1centralaaa/

While "LiveLink" is great, it's no substitute for the real thing! Here's hoping everyone can make it to Spring-Ford to enjoy all the action as you cheer on the Blue & Gold! Let's GO U! 

The District 1 Central Championships at Spring Ford offered a little bit of everything as three Unionville standouts will continue their post season journey.  The U’s had some injuries, tough match ups and a few heart stopping losses yet managed to fight their way to a 7^th place team finish in the 20 team field.  

In the highlight bout of the tournament, Joe Bonaduce battled back from an early 6-2 deficit against Boyertown’s, Matt Malfaro. After leveling the match in the second period, Joey grabbed a one point advantage with 17 seconds remaining only to have Malfaro reverse him with just a few ticks left during a scramble that could have gone either way!  When the smoke cleared on the fireworks, Joe came up on the short end of the 9-8 decision but gained a measure of confidence going into next week and the appreciation of the entire crowd.  

Along with Joe’s heroics, congratulations go to Mason Popham who also grabbed silver medal honors in a rematch of last week’s Sectional championship bout with Boyertown’s, Alex Pellicciotti.   Grady Stevens rounded out the Tribe’s line up for next week, having to nurse an injury from his 1^st match, he injury defaulted to a 4^th place finish.  

Follow the link above to catch up on all the team results and individual weight class brackets.  The road to Hershey has its next stop next Friday night and Saturday at the Regional Championships at Oxford High School. 

It’s a short drive down Route 1 to see some of the country’s best high school wrestling.  Hope you will join us!    

When Mason Popham and Joe Bonaduce first arrived in a Unionville wrestling room, high expectations came with both like it was part of their wrestling shoes and headgear.  Both had shown great promise in high profile youth wrestling careers so, a trip to Hershey and a spot at the big dance, the PIAA State Championships, was anticipated, almost expected!   

Well, both young men did not disappoint the Unionville faithful as they delivered on that promise Saturday evening at the Southeast Regional Championships in Oxford.  Mason and Joe each earned that trip to Chocolate town with a 2^nd and 3^rd place finish in their respective weight classes.  Joe, punched his ticket to Hershey while capturing career win #99 and avenging his only loss of the tournament with a dramatic second period pin of Dave Irwin from Norristown.  Follow the link above for all the box scores. 

This weekend’s heroics also represented an evening of 1^st for Coach Matz and the entire Unionville wrestling program.  This is the 1^st time that two Indians will be vying for state honors in the same year.  It’s also the 1^st time that Unionville will be represented at the PIAA championships in two consecutive years by different individuals, Nick Fischer having made the trip last year.  Joe and Mason join a very select group of Unionville wrestlers as only 4 had qualified for the state tournament previously.  Congratulations to both wrestlers and best wishes in their attempt at another 1^st for Unionville wrestling…… a state Championship!      

For fans that wish to turn out to provide their support to Mason and Joe, the PIAA Championships get underway on Thursday evening at the Giant Center with the finals on Saturday night.  

Wrestling gets underway at the Giant Center this afternoon at 4:00pm and will continue with sessions tomorrow and Saturday culminating with the Championship finals on Saturday night.  

If you're not able to make the trip to Hershey to cheer on Joe Bonaduce and Mason Popham, you can still check in on all the action via "Live Update".   Follow the link above to the National High School Coaches Association web site where all the scores will be posted as they happen.  

Good luck Joe & Mason!