Third annual Southmoreland event
28 teams from three states vie for honors in wrestling classic ALVERTON – Wrestling enthusiasts who like to see a lot of action on the mats will be in their glory next week if they stop by the Southmoreland High School gymnasium.
The third annual Southmoreland Holiday Classic Wrestling Tournament, involving 28 teams from three states and nine counties within Pennsylvania, will be held Friday and Saturday, Dec. 27-28, at the Senior High in Alverton.
Southmoreland Athletic Director and Tournament Director Dennis Zieger said competition would begin on four mats at 10 a.m. Friday and continue until all but eight contenders are eliminated.
Wrestling will resume again Saturday morning, also at 10 a.m., and continue throughout the day on three mats until the field is cut to 28. Those 28 survivors will meet, starting at 6:45 p.m. to decide 14 champions and 14 runners-up.
Host Southmoreland will be joined in the tough, representative field by defending champion Forest Hills, which also won the District 6 championship last year, plus Laurel highlands, which is off to a 4-2 start already, including 3-1 in Section 2-AAA.
Out-of-state entries include St. Francis De Sales of Ohio and Frankfort, W. Va.
Completing the field are Bentworth, Beth-Center, Blackhawk, Blairsville, Burgettstown, Butler, Charleroi, Elizabeth-Forward, Girard (Erie County), Greensburg Central Catholic, Hampton, Hickory, Jeannette, Jefferson-Morgan, Meyersdale, Norwin, Penn-Cambria, South Allegheny, Steel Valley, Valley, West Branch, Woodland Hills and Yough.
Director Zieger said that “the field will also include eight returning tournament champions, two wrestlers who went on to be state champions last year, 21 who earned places at Southmoreland, nine who were state qualifiers and 41 who advanced to regional qualifiers.”
The preliminary round will begin at 10 a.m. Friday, to be followed by the second preliminary round (112 matches) and the first round of consolations, the quarterfinals (56 matches) and second round consolations, and the third and fourth consolation rounds, with 56 matches in each.
Zieger added, “I think those who like wrestling, especially tournament competition, are going to get all they want over the two days with the field we have entered here. It’s a very representative field.”
The Saturday competition begins at 10 a.m. with the consolation quarterfinals (28 matches), followed at 11 a.m. by the semifinals (28 matches on two mats). Consolation bouts resume at 1:30 p.m. with the semifinals (28 matches), followed at 3:30 by the consolation finals (28 matches).
The traditional Parade of Champions will begin at 6:30 p.m., followed at 7:45 by the championships.
Returning champions include West Branch senior Jared Ricotta, who will be seeking his third consecutive title. Ricotta went on from last year’s event to be regional champion and finish fourth in the state.
Other returning champions are seniors Cody Gallaher and Brian Angelotti of Forest Hills, Kerry Regner, Blackhawk; and juniors Jake Strayer, Forest Hills, who is also a defending regional and state champion; Larry Hall, Jeannette; Danny Lloyd, Valley, and Shane Datz of the host Southmoreland team, who went on to be regional champion and finish third in the state.
Other place winners returning include runners-up Justin Poole, Southmoreland and Joe Davis, Butler; among the third-place finishers are Art Moss of Forest Hills, who was also second in the regionals and sixth in the state; Jordan Sweeney, Beth-Center, fourth in regionals; Shane Valko and Jim Moss, Forest Hills.
Fourth place wrestlers back for another shot at the title include Aaron Beck, Beth-Center and Logan Downs, Valley; fifth-placers returnees include Gary Paronish, Penn-Cambria; Dave Sidun, Yough; A.J. Graves, Jeannette and Bob Gates, Blairsville
Sixth-place finisher Sean Kissel of Forest Hills will return as will seventh-place finishers Stush Demaske of Jefferson-Morgan and Mike Dunlap of Blairsville.