Bonus points key Falcons’ 30-29 setback in PIAA championships
HERSHEY – When a coach says, “Every point counts,” in a dual wrestling meet it may appear as a cliche, but don’t tell that to Connellsville coach Bill Swink, who witnessed his team suffer a 30-29 setback to Wilson West Lawn on Thursday in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A dual meet championships at the Giant Center.
The Falcons (13-3) were riding high coming into the state tournament after earning a 33-32 victory over Trinity to win their eighth WPIAL Class 3A team last Saturday, but swallowed a tough pill at around 9:30 in the evening.
“It was not a great effort,” Connellsville coach Bill Swink said. “They’re (Wilson West Lawn) good but beatable.”
Connellsville’s Evan Petrovich had a 9-2 lead over Dominic Delgado at 145 pounds but didn’t get the major decision, and teammate Kolton Turek had a 3-2 lead in the third period but lost the advantage and was pinned.
“We knew what the score was and were telling Evan the whole time he needed another takedown,” Swink said.
The Bulldogs (21-2) had a 30-13 advantage heading into the final three bouts after 285 was contested.
The Falcons’ Tommy Gretz (107) won by fall in 1:02 to cut the deficit to 30-19 before Nolan Rice (114) earned a 4-0 major decision over Isaac Eidle, which was not what Connellsville wanted because it needed a technical fall to tie the bout.
Rice did everything he could to turn Eidle, who was penalized three times for stalling. A fourth stalling call would have ended the bout in a disqualification. Eidle took recovery time with 24 seconds remaining in the third period.
“You knew when he (Eidle) went out, they were told just to not give up the pin,” Swink said. “Nolan did everything he could, and one more stalling call would have ended the match in a disqualification, but weren’t ready to wrestle tonight.”
Zachary Franks won by forfeit at 121 but the dual meet was already clinched for Wilson.
The Falcons’ Kai Vielma won by fall at 133 and Lonzy Vielma earned a 19-4 technical fall in 4:25 at 160.
Wilson’s Blaise Eidle (172), Ethan Brownback (189), Ryan McMillan (215) and Logan Kurzweg (285) won the four straight individual bouts that extended the Bulldogs’ advantage to 17.
Connellsville wrestles Cathedral Prep (13-4) this morning at 10:30 in the first round of consolations.
“We will tell the kids to get a good night’s sleep and they need to show up ready to wrestle,” Swink said.