Local teams place 7 wrestlers in Powerade semifinals
CANONSBURG – Things were a little cozy in the Canon-McMillan gymnasium with 48 teams competing on the first day of the 48th annual Powerade Wrestling Tournament. Lots of wrestlers, lots of matches and a good crowd for most of the day.
It wasn’t all that cozy at the top of the team standings, however, as Buchanan High School from California was dominant, getting all 14 of their wrestlers to Monday night. Ten of those were alive in the winners’ bracket, with four competing in the consolation bouts.
Buchanan maintained that top spot by moving four wrestlers into the semifinals and having nine wresters still alive in the consolations. The California squad has 135½ points, 12 points better than their closest pursuer.
Wrestlers from the district did well in this monstrously tough tournament as seven advanced to the semifinals.
Jefferson-Morgan’s Gavin Teasdale decisioned freshman Josh Humphreys, of Huntingdon, W.Va., 5-3, and while the score was close, the J-M freshman was in control throughout.
“He sure didn’t say so, but it looked to me like he wasn’t feeling all that good today,” J-M coach Mike Lesko said after Teasdale posted two technical falls and a decision.
Jefferson-Morgan’s Brendan Howard was expected to make a run at 120 pounds, but that run ended when he was pinned by Reynolds freshman Cole Matthews in 4:27.
“I should have gone with my original instinct,” Lesko said. “He want to go neutral (to start the third period) and I wasn’t crazy about that but I didn’t want to create doubt in his mind.”
As it turned out, the decision was the wrong one as Matthews took the Rockets’ senior down and turned him 27 seconds into the final period. The Rockets’ Bill Bowlen had a battle with Latrobe’s Jake Shaffer and came up on the short end of a 5-2 decision, a bout that ended with both wrestlers sporting bloody noses.
J-M heavyweight Ian Wolfe put together a pair of pins in his first two bouts, but ran up against No. 1 seed Al Beattie, of Burrell, and fell, 3-0.
Belle Vernon freshman Zack Hartman became the Leopards’ first semifinalist, racking up an 11-2 major decision over Monday Kennedy of Arlington Martin, Texas.
Mitchell Hartman lost a tough 2-1 decision to Tyler Vath, of Saegertown, in the quarterfinals at 138 for Belle Vernon. The Leopards probably weren’t expecting to lose sixth-seeded Jarod Verklereen in the quarterfinals, but he was edged, 3-2, by third-seeded Hayden Hidlay, of Mifflin County.
The other good news of the night for BVA came at 170 where third-seeded Austin Bell pounded out a 13-0 major decision over Michael Millero, of Reynolds, giving the Leopards two wrestlers in this morning’s semifinals.
Belle Vernon is in eighth place in the team standings with 78 points.
Waynesburg’s A.C. Headlee won his first two bouts by fall and then pounded out an 8-3 win over Michael Bartolo of Reynolds to reach the semifinals and keep alive the possibility of a dream match-up with two-time defending state champion Luke Pletcher, of Latrobe, in the finals.
He’ll be joined by a pair of teammates, Shaun Wilson at 138 and Colin McCracken at 182. Wilson beat Grant Aycox, of Archer, Ga., 6-4. McCracken knocked off Milton Kaboly, of Belle Vernon, 6-4.
The Raiders are sixth in the team standings with 83½ points.
Connellsville’s lone quarterfinalist, 182-pounder Tommy Provance ground out a 3-1 win over Donovan McAfee, of Good Counsel in Maryland, and advanced to the semifinals. The Falcons’ other stud, 126-pounder Tyler Kenney, had the misfortune of drawing the No. 1 seed in his weight class, Jacob Lizak of Parkland.
“We knew that was going to be tough for him and he battled, but the kid is really good,” said Connellsville coach Tom Dolde. “He’s still alive in the consolations so that’s good.”
Wrestling gets started this morning at 10 a.m. with the fourth-round consolations with the semifinals following at 11:30 a.m. Consolation rounds will follow in the afternoon, with the consolation finals at 5 p.m.
The Parade of Champions will begin at 7:15 p.m. and the finals at 7:30.