ALLENTOWN—Maul heading to Atlantic City

By: Kyle Moylan Sports Editor
    When Allentown High’s Taylor Maul placed second at the District 25 Tournament on Feb. 21, he took the loss in stride.
    “I’ve just got to go back to work and get better,” Maul said.
    Mission accomplished.
    Maul placed third at the Region VII Tournament at Moorestown this past weekend. That earns him the right to wrestle in the state finals this weekend at Atlantic City. He’s one of 24 119 pounders with a chance to still be the state champ.
    “Taylor had a very tough weight class, one dense with talent,” noted Allentown Coach Larry Kimport. “He just wrestled real tough. I’m real proud of him.
    “He’ll now wrestle against a second-place finisher from another district on Friday (the region champs get a bye in the first round of states). It’ll be a tough kid. There are no easy passes at this level.”
    As a second-place finisher in the districts, Maul needed a win on Tuesday, Feb. 24 in order to advance into the Region VII quarterfinals. Maul responded with a win over Cal Stack of Eastern by injury default.
    Maul was defeated in the quarterfinals by Lenape’s Hugh Nawn, 5-1, on Friday. Fortunately, Saturday proved to be a much better day for the Allentown High sophomore.
    Maul bounced back with a 4-3 win over Rancocas Valley’s Steve Scotten, the wrestler that beat him in the District 25 Tournament. Maul followed that with a 7-0 win over Palmyra’s Alex Moritz.
    Maul then defeated Haddon Township’s Ron Hoover, 5-3, in the match for third place.
    “He was the eighth seed until one kid dropped out and everyone was bumped up,” Kimport noted of Maul. “His attitude was really good throughout the tournament. He wasn’t tentative at all. He wasn’t intimidated by the kids ranked above him.”
    Maul was hoping to have some company on the trip to Atlantic City, but Ross Scheuerman (140) was defeated in the match for third place by Ray Schlitt of Haddonfield, 5-1, this past Saturday.
    “He (Scheuerman) was up 1-0 with about twenty seconds left in the match,” Kimport said. “He then got a warning for stalling and was worried he would lose a point that way. He took a shot and the kid caught him. It was heartbreaking. We thought we were going to take two kids to states.”
    As a District 25 Tournament winner, Scheuerman got an automatic bye into the Region VII quarterfinals. Scheuerman then opened up with a 3-2 win over Lenape’s Brad Sanders.
    Scheuerman was then defeated in the semifinals by Collingswood’s Brian Hairston, 3-1. Scheuerman bounced right back with a 10-0 win over New Egypt’s Andrew Hinger. He was then defeated by Schlitt in the match for third place and a spot in Atlantic City.
    Sam Shonk (130) lost an 11-5 decision to Haddon Township’s Steven Nelson on Feb. 24, which ended his season in the opening round of the Region VII Tournament.
    The great consolation for Scheuerman and Shonk is they are just sophomores. The fact Maul is also a sophomore is just a reminder the next two years of Allentown wrestling should be very interesting.
    “Those three have been pals since they were playing Pop Warner football,” Kimport said. “They were all pals on my middle school team (Kimport moved from coaching Upper Freehold Middle School to Allentown High this season). It’s no surprise that those are the three that would place at districts and go on to regionals.”