Dec 28, 2003 By Jim Kriek For The 5 min read

Coleman Scott has navigated one tough road and now he’s ready to take a trip down a second one. In this case, Scott’s efforts are bearing out the old theory that if you want to be the best, then you have to beat the best. So far he has done just that.

Wrestling observers will tell you that of all the scholastic tournaments held from one end of this country to the other, two of the top five toughest competitions are the Beast of the East and the Powerade events.

The Beast tournament is rated toughest in the country, and Powerade fifth.

Scott worked his way through the Beast of the East lineup last weekend to be the “Best of the East” in the 125-pound class, and now he’s getting ready to defend the Powerade championship he won a year ago.

The 37th annual Powerade Tournament will be held Monday and Tuesday at Canon-McMillan High School with 32 teams competing.

Tournament Director Frank Vulcano said that the field would include nine new entries from last year, one of which will make the tournament literally a field that stretches “from sea to shining sea.”

Joining the eastern teams is Lake Stevens High, from the state of Washington, enabling the tournament to stretch from Virginia to Washington, from one end of the country to the other.

Other newcomers include Baldwin, Cincinnati Moeller, Ohio, Commodore Perry of Erie (Dist. 10), Greensburg Central Catholic, Hampton, Keystone Oaks, Southern Lehigh, Pa. (D-11) and West Greene.

Joining host school Canon-McMillan in rounding out the field are Connellsville, Albert Gallatin, Burrell, Cedar Cliff, Pa. (D-3), Chartiers-Houston, Chartiers Valley, Colonial Forge, Va., Fort LeBoeuf (D-10), Freedom, Mount Pleasant, Mount St. Joseph, Md., North Allegheny, Oxford, Pa. (D-1), Parkersburg, W.Va., Penn-Trafford, Seneca Valley, Solon, Ohio, State College, Pa. (D-6), Trinity, Walsh Jesuit, Ohio, Warren County, Va., and Waynesburg.

The opening round will go at 9:30 a.m. Monday, with the quarterfinals at 6:30 and consolation bouts in between.

Tuesday will start with the semifinals at noon, consolations, consolation finals at 5 p.m. and the championships matches at 7:10 p.m., which will be preceded by the traditional Parade of Champions.

Some of the wrestlers might seem a bit familiar to Powerade fans with the lineup including four defending champions from last year, six others who finished second and 44 who earned places overall in the two-day event.

Scott started his double-tough title quest last weekend when he won the 125-pound championship at the Beast of the East event in Newark, Del.

A year ago, he won the 112-pound title at Powerade, on the way to compiling a 40-1 record that included Western Regional and PIAA (state) championships.

Now he returns to bid for a repeat title to go with his Beast of the East honors.

Waynesburg had three other medallists at Newark while finishing 10th in the field with 117.5 points. Chris Neidermeier was third at 103, Bert Wylie finished seventh at 135 and Mark Throckmorton earned eighth at 130.

A year ago, Neidermeier was third in the Powerade, at 103, on his way to a 34-9 record, which included fourth in the regionals and qualifying for the state tournament.

Throckmorton wrestled at 130 in last year’s Powerade with his 21-8 record including third in the regionals and fourth in the state.

Connellsville finished 16th at the Beast Tournament with 91.5 points and had one medallist in Ashtin Primus, who took third at 130. Primus was third at 119 in last year’s Powerade with his 41-7 record also including a second in the regionals and fourth place in the state.

Along with Scott, there are three other returning Powerade champions looking to earn repeat honors.

Kyle Martin of Connellsville, 34-6 last year, was the 140 champion; Jordan Brown (36-5), earned 103 honors a year ago, along with second in regional and state competition, and Lou Thomas (39-4) of Parkersburg, W. Va., had a “grand slam,” of Powerade, regional, and state championships.

Other local wrestlers who will be competing at Powerade, and their records from last year, include:

-Jared King, Connellsville, second last year at 152, who then went on to win regional and state championships while earning a 44-3 record.

-Steve Bell, Connellsville (39-8), was fifth at 112, then finished third in the regionals and qualified for Hershey.

-Jon Bittinger, Albert Gallatin (30-8), took sixth place at 103 in the Powerade, then finished third in the regionals and qualified for states.

-Corbin Semple, Waynesburg (28-12), fifth at Powerade (152).

-Jim Tony, Connellsville (32-12 at 189), was sixth in Powerade.

On an individual basis, the Powerade Tournament is aptly named, with the “Power” including 27 wrestlers who competed in the Pennsylvania state tournament, four who were in the Washington state tournament, nine from the Ohio state tournament, 13 from the state of Virginia finals, seven from the West Virginia event, and three others who wrestled in the national prep school tournament.

On a statewide basis, the honors earned include:

Walsh Jesuit, defending Powerade champion and 2003 Ohio Division II state third place team; Colonial Forge, 2003 Virginia AAA state fourth place; Warren County, Va., sixth place in Virginia Double-A; Lake Stevens, 2003 Washington state third place team; and Parkersburg, 2003 West Virginia state AAA champions.

Five teams earned Pennsylvania state honors this year – State College third, Waynesburg fifth, Connellsville sixth, and Cedar Cliff eighth, all in AAA, plus Burrell was eighth in the Double-A field.