Local wrestlers have strong showing in section tourney
CANONSBURG — It looked like a regular big event at Canon-McMillan High School Friday.
Six mats down in the main gym, three more in the auxiliary gym, similar to the setup for the Powerade Tournament or a WPIAL Championship.
But it was a unique event that was held there. It was named the WPIAL Class AA Section Tournament and for the first time, all three Class AA sections held their tournaments at one place. And to add to the uniqueness of the event, those who qualified Friday night will compete in today’s WPIAL Class AA Individual Championship at the same site.
In the end, however, it was wrestling and wrestlers from several district schools did well.
Mount Pleasant advanced four wrestlers into the finals, the most of any area schools. Beth-Center (3) and Bentworth (3) were close behind, with Elizabeth Forward (2), Southmoreland (2), Jefferson-Morgan (1) and Mapletown (1) also being represented in the finals.
The best wrestler in the area, region, state and who knows how far else, Jefferson-Morgan’s Gavin Teasdale, was his spectacular self in winning his third Section 2 title. He wrestled twice, pinning Jake Garrety, of McGuffey in 26 seconds and putting a 19-3 technical fall on Derry’s Shaw Broadway, a PIAA qualifier last year.
“He’s having fun,” said J-M coach Mike Lesko. “It’s all business on the mat for sure, but when you have the kind of confidence he has, well, you can’t teach confidence. Once you get that on the mat, you see what can happen.”
No doubt Teasdale will win his third WPIAL Class AA title today, his third Southwest Regional title next week and his third PIAA title in three weeks in Hershey.
“In my opinion, nobody is going to outwrestle him, somebody is going to have to catch him to beat him,” Lesko said. “He got caught at states and was almost pinned. Had he been, we wouldn’t be talking about all of this. But right now, I don’t know that there’s anybody anywhere any better.”
Other Section 2 champions from the area were: Elizabeth Forward junior Freddie Howard, who knocked off Mount Pleasant’s Damian George, 6-5, at 106; Bentworth’s Manny Dovshek, a 4-2 winner over Doug Bittner, of Mount Pleasant, at 113; Southmoreland’s Tyler Griffiths, who ground out a 2-0 win over the Vikings’ Al Miscovich at 132; freshman Thayne Lawrence, of Frazier, who pinned Derry’s Trey Weinell at 2:48 at 132, winning the first section title in school history.
That capped a nice three-pin day for Lawrence, who also decked Mason Burgdolt in 1:09 and Aaron Mylan, of Jefferson-Morgan, in 3:16.
Southmoreland’s Jaden Datz knocked off the No. 1 seed at 160 pounds, McGuffey’s Christian Clutter, 3-1, to pick up a section title.
Beth-Center’s Dominic Fundy, top-seeded at 182 pounds, handled Derry’s Dom DeLuca, 4-1 to win his weight class. Bentworth’s Ryan Wise, the top seed at 195, pinned Mount Pleasant’s Zack Charlesworth in 3:03.
Mapletown’s Seth Shubert lost a 4-1 decision to McGuffey’s Jeff McConn at 152 pounds. Beth-Center’s Jacob Housel dropped a 2-1 decision to Derry’s Dominick Jellison at 145. The Warriors’ Nick Wardropper lost to McGuffey’s Luke Shingle, 8-1, in the 170-pound final.
The top four finishers advanced to the district finals.
Elizabeth Forward’s Jordan Devine (113), Beth-Center’s Jimmy Gwyer (120), Mount Pleasant’s Austin Mihalcik (126), Jefferson-Morgan’s Aaron Mylan (138), Yough’s Zack Smart (145), West Greene’s Kolin Walker (152), Southmoreland’s Colt Harper (170) and Ryan Mauro (195), Bentworth’s Jonathan Vargo (182) and Dominick Daniels (285) all won their consolation final to finish third.
Southmoreland’s Nicholas Yeskey (113), Bentworth’s Carter Riskey (138), Jefferson-Morgan’s Josh Agnew (120), Yough’s Dustin Stange (152), Jack Harris (220), and Jake Lauteri (170), Mapletown’s Gavin Uphold (195), and Frazier’s Harry Johnson (285) finished fourth
Today’s schedule at Canon-McMillan begins at 11 a.m. with the opening round, followed by the quarterfinals at 12:15 p.m. The first round of consolations begins at 1:30, semifinals and second round of consolations at 3. Consolation and championship finals are scheduled for 7 p.m.
Semifinal losers will wrestle for third and fourth place. Losers in the round of 16 and quarterfinals will wrestle for fifth through eighth place, with the top seven finishers moving on to the Southwest Regional next weekend at Indiana (Pa).