Mount Pleasant captures 2-A wrestling championship
CARROLL TOWNSHIP – Talk about literally “pinning” a loss on an opponent, and you have to look at the ending to the WPIAL’s 2-A wrestling championships Saturday – a finish that even O. Henry might have found tough to equal. Mount Pleasant – which might be returning to Section 2-AAA in another year – got pins in its last two bouts to come from behind and edge Burrell, 32-31, for the team championship, and a trip to Hershey next weekend for a shot at state honors.
A jubilant coach Mark Mears said, “This is the first wrestling championship that a Mount Pleasant team has ever won, and we sure did it the hard way.”
This was a rematch of Section 1-AA opponents with Mount Pleasant winning the championship, including a 39-35 decision over runner-up Burrell, and for a time, it looked like the Buccaneers would be reversing that loss.
With the pre-match draw setting the starting bout at 171, Burrell swept the four heavier bouts and led 21-0, but the Vikings (17-1) came back with Zach Holt’s (103) pinning of Ronnie Barr in 4:32, and Lee Vanella’s (112) 15-0 technical fall over Zack Pisano. When they met in the regular season, Barr decisioned Holt 7-5, and Vanella pinned Pisano.
Burrell got two more decisions by Joe Makara (119), 7-3 over Joe Geary with a takedown in each period, setting the pace, and Josh Shields (125) used a takedown and reversal in the first to start a 6-2 win over Mark Mondock.
Mount Pleasant offset those wins with Don Ament (130) escaping in the third to edge Jason Makara, and Preston Haines (135) got a takedown at :56 of overtime to nip Gino Lanzino, 8-6.
Jared Shields (140) used two takedowns and backs in the third to clinch a 16-7 major over C.J. Cavalcante, giving the Bucs a 31-17 lead, and it looked pretty dim for the Vikings at that point.
But Matt Neal got a takedown in the third to clinch a 6-3 win over Clayton Homa, leaving the Vikings down, 31-20.
Victor McCoy (152) took Chris Harkins down in the first, rolled him over and chested him down in 1:18 for the fastest win of the day, cutting the Bucs’ edge to 31-26, but they needed a pin to win.
Jeff Marker (160) took Ryan Walker down in the first, and when Walker escaped to start the second, Marker took him down again to lead 4-1 into the third. Marker chose a neutral start, kept looking for the right opening, and it came with just 15 seconds left when he got Walker down and into a cradle, wrapping up all at one time a win for himself, the overall win for the his team and the WPIAL championship for everybody.
A smiling Mears said, “We knew coming down to the last two bouts that we had to get pins to win, and they believed they could do it. As he went to the mat, I asked Marker if he still believed in Hershey, and he looked at me and said ‘relax, coach, we’re going.’
“Ament’s win was the turning point for us. It was a mighty big win for a freshman and it set the tempo for us. I must admit I was a little nervous after they got that big lead, but then when Holt got his pin, things started to look better. I thought before the match that the final score might be about 34-31.”
With a good nucleus of five freshmen and three sophomores on his team (he loses four seniors), Mears might be showing some of this strength in the future to his old Section 2-AAA opponents.
Reminded that the section missed his Vikings this year, he said, “In another year, we should be back in the section. We are going to have to move back up to 3-A again and could end up back where we were.”
And he will be bringing an experienced, championship lineup with him!