This column originally ran in the Dec. 19, 2011, edition of The Mercury.

They call it the "Beast", short for the Beast of the East for a reason. It's unquestionably a demanding and exhausting two days of wrestling as any other. And any other includes the mighty Iron Man in Ohio, the Reno Tournament of Champions out in Nevada, the Minnesota Christmas Tournament up near the Twin Cities and, of course, Pennsylvania’s own PowerAde at Trinity High School.

The "Beast" provides the ultimate challenge for a wrestler because of the mental preparation needed before even stepping on the mats, and the physical endurance required to return to those mats time and time again .. for as many as seven, eight or more bouts in a single weekend.

And to think the test unfolds on a stage that features as much if not more individual talent than anyone may ever see in one setting during their entire career.

So when the Owen J. Roberts entourage got back into Bucktown early Sunday night with a bunch of filled-out brackets but not a single medal, head coach Steve DeRafelo wasn't whimpering, weeping or whining.

Like many before him, including Pioneer Athletic Conference rivals Pete Ventresca of Boyertown, Tim Seislove of Spring-Ford and Tom Hontz of Upper Perkiomen, all of whom can relate to the "Beast" experience, DeRafelo realized it may not be the medals as much as the mettle, or the resolve, that counts most during those two very grueling winter days in Delaware.

The bottom line is that no other inindividual or dual tournament, or practice room routine on any given weekend, will help the Wildcats better prepare for the grind that lies ahead of them ※ and better prepare them to deal with all the lofty expectations.

"I thought we had a pretty good showing," DeRafelo said. "You think about how a lot of our kids lost right away, but (all but two) of them came back to get at least one win. I thought we did pretty well."

DeRafelo and his staff focused on and worked on the moves made as well as the moves not necessarily made over the weekend when everyone returned to the practice room Monday afternoon, and they likely worked on reinforcing that resolve.

The Wildcats, all 14 of them, went a combined 23-28 at the "Beast." Not bad considering a couple of very promising freshman lightweights still weren't in the lineup. Not bad at all considering unbeaten upperweight Nick DeAngelo watched instead of wrestled when a couple of teammates moved down a weight class and squeezed him out of the lineup. And when considering they finished 21st among ninetysome teams.

"Like I said, a pretty good showing," DeRafelo reiterated. "The only team from (District 1) who finished better than us was Norristown (15th), but that's a team with five or six lights-out studs. In a tournament like (the "Beast") you're going to do well with that many outstanding individuals.

"We're just not a tournament team. We don't have a lot of studs. We don't have anyone who medaled at states. But we have what I feel is a very good dual-meet team. So to finish 21st .. our kids did well."

One Wildcat in particular who did well was Demetri D'Orsaneo, who has as promising credentials as any freshman to roll through OJR in recent memory. The 132-pounder knocked off two seeded opponents, including a state champion and state runner-up, in a three-bout run Saturday that put him in the quarterfinals. But then he got tutored by Blair Academy's nationally ranked Mark Grey, who not only won his fourth straight "Beast" title but the OW award as well.

Another solid showing came from 126-pound teammate Colby Frank who didn't look at all like the freshman regional qualifier of a year ago during the season-opening Bear Duals, but who responded with four wins and, like D'Orsaneo, came oh so close to getting into the medal rounds. And DeRafelo had to be pleased with newcomer Jim Warta, who moved down to 195 and went 3-2.

"A lot of our kids stepped up their game a lot," DeRafelo said.

Quote of the Week comes from Pittsburgh Central Catholic's 195-pound "Beast" champion Perry Hills, the Vikings' star quarterback who has committed to Maryland: "Every quarterback should wrestle," Hills told InterMat when talking about the mental and physical toughness of the sport.

OJR's Andrew Kinney is the area's winningest active wrestler with 92 career wins going into this week. Boyertown's Jon Neiman is one back with 91 after going 7-0 and winning his 160-pound bracket at the Jarvis Memorial Tournament last weekend. Teammate Eddie Kriczky (126) was also golden at the tournament. Also closing in on the 100-win milestone are Upper Perkiomen's Wolfgang McStravick (78) and Spring-Ford's Chase Brown (75).

It was an interesting weekend for Easton head coach Steve Powell, a Henderson graduate. Powell guided his Rovers to a third-place finish at the Reno Tournament of Champions and also got to watch his former three-time state champion and current defending NCAA champion Jordan Oliver put on a clinic. The Oklahoma State junior had five straight first-period pins (in a ridiculous total time of 5:44) to win the 133-pound title and OW honors in the college portion of the Reno T of C.

With most schools out for the holidays, college wrestling was light last week. But No. 5 Penn State (4-1) leveled Lock Haven, 50-0, on Sunday. The Eagles' Zach Heffner, a freshman out of Boyertown, was tech-falled by defending national champion Quentin Wright at 184. Davidson's Ben Hartshorn (Conestoga) dropped to 6-7 on the season after losing a decision at 141 pounds in the Wildcats 27-19 setback to Ohio Northern. And Drexel, with Nick Becattini (Conestoga) falling 8-3 at 184 pounds, nudged Northern Colorado, 26-11.

This column originally was published in the Dec. 22, 2008 edition of The Mercury.

If there is a scale (not the kind you weigh in on practically every day), or a measuring stick to discover just who’s who, where they are, and where they may be headed, it’s the Beast of the East.

The name certainly implies exactly what it is (with apologies to Shrek), an ogre. And if you don’t think wrestling as often as five times, possibly from early morning until late at night the first day, and as often as four times, possibly from early morning until dinner time the next — against some of the best competition in the entire nation both days, too — is a monster challenge, well, you’d better stick to the other sports (or the movies).

It is what it is.

A beast.

This past weekend’s 16th edition of the Beast was just that, too, with four of the Top 10 nationally ranked programs and 10 of the Top 25 overall in the 88-team field. And even though national high school rankings in any sport have their flaws, the Beast had the giant itself in Blair Academy of N.J.; four of Pennsylvania’s power punchers in Northampton, Central Dauphin, Cumberland Valley and Wyoming Seminary; and more than a handful of other mighty entries from up and down the eastern side of the country and as far west as Oklahoma. And don’t forget the wave after wave of individual talent that may not be part of those mighty lineups, but nonetheless is still spread throughout every one of the 14 brackets.

Local wrestlers, even District 1’s entire entourage, were overwhelmed in the early tournaments. This past weekend, they failed to return home with a gold medal for the ninth time since 1994.

It’s actually been three years since Upper Perkiomen’s Zack Kemmerer and Octorara’s Mike Letts provided the district with an individual champion at the Beast and, if you remember, both Kemmerer and Letts went on to become two-time PIAA state champions. Two other Beast champions from District 1 — Council Rock’s Rocky Mantella (1999-2000) and Neshaminy’s Mike Pirozzola (1997-98) — would double as state champions, too.

In other words, performances in the Beast provide a little insight into wrestlers’ immediate future — or how they may do the rest of the winter. And even though there never have been too awfully many District 1 teams enrolled in the Beast year in a year out, the efforts of individuals in their respective lineups have certainly reflected on the district’s overall showing at the PIAA Championships.

Prior to last weekend, District 1 has had double-digit (10 or more) medalists in five of the Beast tournaments, and each of those five seasons happened to end on a rather productive note in March out in Hershey

If that trend continues, District 1 could very well be on the rebound from last year’s disappointing finish both at the Beast and at states because this past weekend, thanks in part to Boyertown’s four medalists, the district had 10 overall.

The Bears’ Ryan Kemmerer came oh so close to ending the district’s three-year gold drought, taking second at 140 pounds. Matt Malfaro (119) and Alex Pellicciotti (130) recovered admirably from early losses to place fifth, and Tim Feroe (152) won five of his first six bouts before settling for eighth.

With four medalists and a seventh-place finish in the team standings, the Bears — barring injuries and any other unforeseen distractions — may very well be positioning themselves as a favorite in next month’s District 1-Class AAA Duals. A lot could happen in the ensuing weeks, of course, but Boyertown has certainly matched moves or gone step-for-step with the other elite, namely Council Rock South, Great Valley, Quakertown (15th at the Beast), and Springfield-Delco (28th at the Beast) thus far.

Kemmerer’s path to the final included four straight decisions, including an 8-6 semifinal win over No. 2 seed Ben Morgan, an Oklahoma state runner-up from Catoosa High School. He dropped a 7-2 final to top-seeded Anthony Baldasaro of Eastern Regional, a New Jersey state champion, Cadet National champion and returning Beast silver medalist who is ranked No. 3 in the country.

Malfaro was part of a bracket that featured seven Beast medalists from a year ago. His biggest win was a 14-1 humbling of Central Dauphin’s Simon Rice, who was third at states a year ago. Pellicciotti rang up five straight wins in the consolations, with one over a Virginia state medalist and two others over seeded rivals. And Feroe beat up on one of Catoosa’s standouts and Caesar Rodney’s highly-touted Issah Meade in his comeback to the medal stand.

All but two of Boyertown’s 14 wrestlers won at least one match. The Bears went 38-26 overall en route to its seventh-place finish, far and above better than its previous-best finish; just shy of the area’s best showing (Upper Perkiomen was fifth in 2005 and 2006); and three spots below District 1’s best showing (Neshaminy was fourth in 1996).

WESTERN SHOWDOWN

Upper Perkiomen, without the injured 171-pound Nick Edmunson and a pair of other regulars that left two voids in the lineup, was 25th among 89 teams at the Reno Tournament of Champions, considered by some as the western version of the Beast.

The Indians had just one medalist in 285-pound Jared Bennett, who was seventh. But Michael McStravick (140) came within a win of the medal round, three others won three bouts, and the team finished with a 26-24 overall mark in individual bouts wrestled.

In other words, the Indians have not quite gone away yet. They’ll host Boyertown on Wednesday, Jan. 14 in a match that will undoubtedly decide the PAC-10 championship.

POWER ON POWER

Great Valley dominated the Border Battle Duals at Rowan University over the weekend. Head coach Joe Tornetta, a graduate of Phoenixville, guided his team to five straight wins, and 215-pound Carl Buchholz was named the OW. … Council Rock South was eighth among 36 teams at the highly regarded King of the Mountain. Jim Vollrath was golden at 152 and Ed Shupe was the runner-up at 160 for the Golden Hawks, who had two other medalists. Hatboro-Horsham, with two medalists, was 21st.

COUNTERING

The Hill School continued one of its best early-season runs in a number of years with a third place in the Northfield Mount Hermon Invitational up in Mass. Head coach Jesse Young had three individual champions in Jack Sullivan (119), Colin Saunders (125), and Jay Knighton (285) and 10 medalists overall. Sullivan and Knighton pinned all three of their opponents, and Saunders had two pins and a technical fall. ... Phoenixville also came up with a strong showing at the Radnor Tournament. The Phantoms got a first from Chris Onder (112), a second from Joe Mandrusiak (160), and thirds from Matt Cermanski (130) and Ken Cenci (215).

MOVING ON UP

Kemmerer’s weekend blitz pushed his career win total to 143, tying Boyertown graduate Jesse DeWan for ninth on The Mercury area’s all-time list. Kemmerer will likely move past DeWan and No. 8 Dan Covatta of Methacton at the Cedar Cliff Duals on Saturday, Jan. 3. … Pellicciotti (91), Bennett (90), and Feroe (88) all moved closer to the 100-win mark over the weekend. … And on a final note, safe and happy Holiday Season wishes to all.