There wasn't a single coach on Marple Newtown's staff who could pinpoint the last time the Tigers won a Central League wrestling title.
As recently as 2008-09, Marple went winless in the league. Last year, the Tigers fell one match short, finishing second to Garnet Valley.
With every win, though, the program inches closer and, with the team's 60-20 rout of Conestoga in the Pioneers' gym Thursday night, Marple moved to 14-0 overall and 7-0 in the league.
After the win, in which the Tigers won 10 of 14 matches, including nine by pin, assistant coach Tim Leyr called former Tigers grappler Mike Glenn. Glenn said the Tigers' last league championship came in 1993-94, when he was a member of the squad.
Though four league matches remain, the Tigers look in position to run to their first crown in nearly two decades. First-year coach Don Tabar said he isn't concerned with such matters, but his wrestlers have different ideas.
"As soon as I was a freshman, that's what my goal was," said 126-pounder Ryan Flynn, who earned his seventh pin of the season Thursday. "We have a chance to go to state duals and make some noise there, but Central League, that'd be awesome. To have our name up on that banner and everything."
Marple hasn't simply been beating league opponents - it has been crushing them. Entering Thursday, the Tigers boasted a 31.16 average margin of victory against Central competition. They beat that margin by almost nine points, or the equivalent of three matches won by decision, against the Pioneers.
Conestoga (11-2, 5-2) figured to provide a challenge for Marple, but after taking three of the opening six bouts, the Pioneers faded. Conestoga 152-pounder Logan Kerin earned a technical fall, 16-1, over JV call-up Dan Rodriguez with four bouts to go, but that was hardly enough for the team to avoid its first dual-meet loss since Dec. 14.
"Obviously, they were better prepared than us, that's all," Pioneers coach Steve Harner said.
That Marple could dispatch so easily a team that had won 13 consecutive meets is clearly encouraging. Earning nine pins in 13 matches (one was a forfeit) makes a clear statement.
"It's something we've been working on all season, to go hard for all six minutes until we get the ultimate, until we get the pin," said Tabar, previously the head coach at Shippensburg University.
