Connellsville breezes past Uniontown wrestlers
Connellsville’s wrestling team is now one-third of the way towards achieving one of their goals for the season. Five pins, one technical fall, four forfeits and four decisions added up to a 71-0 win over host Uniontown Monday in Section 2-AAA wrestling, the third win in a row for the Falcons, and their second in section competition.
Coach Tommy Dolde said, “Before the season started, the team got together and set some goals for themselves that they hoped to accomplish. One of those goals was to score three team shutouts, and they got the first one here tonight. Their other goals involved x-number of pins, takedowns, etc., in each match.”
Dolde added, “Overall, things went pretty much as we planned. Their 171 and 145 wrestlers gave our guys a pretty good test. I told our wrestlers that we are now in a make-or-break period, for between now and the end of the year we will be meeting Laurel Highlands, Kiski, and Latrobe in duals, plus the Beast of the East and Powerade Tournaments, which are ranked first and fifth toughest in the entire country. It’s not an easy road ahead.”
This was the first match of the season for the Raiders, and coach Jerry Simon noted, “We tried and they fought well, but we knew what we were facing coming in. Our wrestlers worked hard for this match, but it was just a case of our first match against their three already wrestled, along with their experience. Some of our wrestlers are in their first year, but they will get their experience down the road.”
On the new rule of sequence matches in effect this year, competition got under way with the 125-pound bout, and the Falcons posted three successive pins. Adam Bucci (125) rolled Tom Furbee into a banana split at 3:32, Josh Martin (130) wrapped Jonathon Guth into a bearhug at 1:03, and Adam Knepper (135) put Matt Donese down and wrapped him up in 1:26. Kyle Martin (140) won by forfeit for a 24-0 Falcon lead.
Corey Fox (145) used five takedowns, around three escapes, to clinch a 10-3 win over Nathan Klingensmith, then Jarrod King (152) and Chad McBurney (160) won by forfeit, giving the Falcons a 39-0 lead and there was no way they could lose, for they had at least six more coming on a forfeit they would get at 112.
The closest bout of the night was at 171, where Jason Doppelheuer held off a last-period threat by Jeremiah Ditmore to squeeze out a 5-4 decision. Doppelheuer had a takedown in the first to lead 2-0. Ditmore was down to start the second and escaped, Doppelheuer took him down again, and Ditmore escaped a second time to trail 4-2 into the third. Doppelheuer was down to start and escaped for what would be the clinching point. With 10 seconds left Ditmore took him down, but couldn’t add to it in the final seconds.
Uniontown had its only lead of the night when Dan Newlan (189) took Jim Tony down at 41 seconds of the first period, but Tony quickly escaped, got a takedown and back points, to lead 6-3 after one, and was on his way to an 11-5 win.
Brent Wilson (215) posted the fastest win of the night when he took Brandon Darnell down and locked him up across the chest in 43 seconds. Steve Hughes (275) used a reversal and back points to clinch an 8-2 win over Bryan Bianchini, then P.J. Holden (103) got an 18-3 technical fall over Seth Merschat, clinching with a takedown and back points from a neutral start in the third, Merschat escaped, and Holden took him down again to clinch. Steve Bell (112) won by forfeit, then Ashtin Primus got the second fastest win, getting Doug Rush down and across the chest in 45 seconds.