Southmoreland Holiday Wrestling Classic
Scotties and Rockets make quick work of first-round opponents ALVERTON – One point was quickly evident on opening night of the Southmoreland Holiday Classic Wrestling Tournament.
That point was that some of the Southmoreland and Jefferson-Morgan wrestlers didn’t believe in wasting any time once they got on the mat.
There were 24 pins posted in less than 30 seconds on opening night, and six of them – including the fastest one of the night – were posted by wrestlers from those two schools.
Shane Datz (Southmoreland) opened defense of his 189-pound championship by pinning Tony Piscitelli of Steel Valley in just 14 seconds. Then for an encore he needed only 24 seconds to deck John Brletic of South Allegheny in the second round.
These times, plus a 1:22 pinning of Garret Choby (Norwin) with a takedown and reverse headlock, in the quarterfinals, moved him into the final eight with a total time of two minutes on the mats. Choby advanced with a pair of major decisions.
Datz’s heavyweight teammate Justin Poole and Jefferson-Morgan’s John Hill (125) shared the second-fastest falls by local wrestlers, needing 23 seconds to plank their opponents. Poole did it twice, against Jason David (South Allegheny) in the opening round, and to Grant Johnson (Beth-Center) in the quarterfinals.
Hill planked Robert Patricelli (Jeannette), then went on to get another second round pin before losing in the quarters and dropping to the consolations.
Jefferson-Morgan’s Stush Damaske had a total of 59 seconds on the mat in his first two bouts, putting Bob Buzzard (Steel Valley) down and winging him over in :35, then getting Mario Cua of St. Francis DeSales (Ohio) in :24.
The second-fastest fall of the night was in 15 seconds, by Jeremy McCoy of Burgettstown (145) over Brandon DeCecco (South Allegheny), and the third fastest was Mike Dunlap’s (Butler, 135) 16-second planking of Josh Faust (Elizabeth-Forward).
After all the Friday action had ended, four other area wrestlers had joined Datz in advancing to the Saturday semifinals, including two more from Southmoreland.
215 – Steve Zubach advanced with an opening 3:14 pinning of Zack Adams (Penn-Cambria), followed by an 11-6 decision over Aaron Brown (Butler). Zubach led 5-2 after one, Brown escaped to start the second, Zubach put him down again, and he escaped to trail 7-3 into the third, where they traded reversals and Zubach added back points.
275 – After his two fast pins, Poole hammered Dane Watt (Penn-Cambria) into a 17-2 technical fall with :16 left in their bout. Poole led 2-0 into the second where he escaped and got a takedown and six back points, ending with three takedowns around two Watt escapes.
152 – Mike Morgan, Beth-Center (152) swept three opponents to reach the semis. He pinned Rocky Mancini (Hampton) in 1:04, routed Mike Shimko (Burgettstown) with a 19-8 major decision and nipped Cody Gallaher (Forest Hills), 3-1.
171 – Mike Myers, Jefferson-Morgan (171) advanced by pinning John Garner (Greensburg Central Catholic) in 1:32 and Matt Lucas (Charleroi) in 3:17, then decisioned Mark DeArmant (Hickory) 6-2. Myers had an opening takedown and led 4-2 into the third after the two traded reversals in the second. Myers was up to start the third and added back points to clinch the win.
A big surprise came at 152 where Demaske followed his two quick pins with a 10-3 loss to Justin Smith (GCC). Demaske had an opening takedown and Smith reversed, then took the lead for good in the second by escaping to start and adding a takedown at :12. Demaske escaped to open the third, but Smith took him down and added backs, with a near-side cradle at the final buzzer.
Smith said, “He came out strong early and caught me off guard, but once I got focused I was able to do what I had to do to win.”
Greg Hogan (Laurel Highlands) had a narrow escape at 112. He was losing 13-0 to Ray Harris (Penn Cambria), with just two more points putting him out as a technical fall loser. But Hogan suddenly got loose, caught Harris in a headlock, and put him down for the fall in 5:06.
MAT POINTERS: Billy Constantine and Tom Manns were the local representatives in the corps of officials who did a winning job of their own on the mat. …All involved with the tournament did a fine job in keeping the action going. With 28 teams involved and three upper bracket and three consolation rounds going, there was very little idle time. …Hardest working guy in the place was Southmoreland wrestling coach Jon Banko, who worked as tournament director, getting results to the statistical crew, and keeping one sports writer supplied with results, in addition to coaching the Scotties. …Banko and tournament coordinator Dennis Zieger (Southmoreland AD) deserve a long vacation after this week. …Joe Halasz of Monarch literally had a ringside seat. He had his own chair at matside to watch his grandsons, Shane and Eli Datz of Southmoreland. Joe said on the way out “good thing I didn’t blink my eyes when Shane was out there, I would have missed his two quick pins.”