Mustang wrestlers defeat Leopards
Chris Pegg had this one “Pegg-ed” pretty good. Going into their Section 2-AAA wrestling match Wednesday night with visiting Belle Vernon, the Laurel Highlands coach observed, “There are four bouts that loom as crucial ones, and we have to win there, or at least get no worse than a split. Plus, we have to stay off our backs; we can’t give them pins.”
Well, the Mustangs split the four critical bouts, and of their six individual bout losses, two came on falls, with one forfeit, an injury default win, and two decisions. Everything else belonged to the Mustangs (5-2, 4-1) in a 42-30 win.
But it really wasn’t clear sailing. With four bouts to go, Laurel Highlands was leading 36-18. Then Belle Vernon (4-2, 4-2) ran off three wins, and closed the gap to six, 36-30.
Travis Dunn (130 pounds) started the run with a 7-4 edge over John Walters. They were tied 4-4 into the third, with Dunn reversing to start the second, then Walters reversed, and Dunn reversed again. Walters was down to start the third, and Dunn controlled the action from the top, tying up Walters and preventing his getting away for the go-ahead point. Then, in the closing seconds, Dunn rolled him over into a scissors and pressed his shoulders down for the three winning points at the buzzer.
Butch Derrickson (135) followed with an 11-5 win over Nick Sible, getting a takedown and back points to start, and closing with a takedown and backs in the third. A.J. Sayles made it three in a row with the fastest win of the night, a 1:14 pinning of Jarrett Bond, taking him down, winging him over from the right side, and into a clamp.
That left Belle Vernon within six points, 36-30, heading into the 145-pound windup. There were a couple of “ifs” involved here, but Buster Langeri made sure they wouldn’t be needed. He got the fastest Laurel Highlands’ win of the night, taking Dan Sauritch down and into a far-side cradle in 1:38.
Pegg added, “I can’t say enough about Langeri’s win. He’s a sophomore. I told him that under the old way of wrestling, before they started drawing to see where we start like they do now, that all the pressure would be on the heavyweights going into the deciding bout. I have been in that spot myself (ex-Fairchance-Georges heavy).
“We knew coming in that we were in for a dogfight, and both teams wrestled well. But we had some added incentives in that this was Senior Night, and we dedicated the match to our injured teammate George Belch. Plus we can’t afford to lose any more matches if we expect to reach the WPIAL team wrestleoffs.”
Seniors honored prior to the match were Mike Kopacko, Levi Harris and Bob Urban.
Going in, Pegg felt that the critical bouts were 112, 135, 152 and 171 pounds. The luck of the draw had action starting at 152, and Del Simpson got the Mustangs off to a flying start with a 4:28 pinning of Sean Gilmore. Simpson led 4-0 into the third, where they had a neutral start, and Simpson made it look like one big move, getting in low and registering a takedown, rollover and clamp.
Greg Hogan (112) won the second “big four” when he took Dave Kalvesmaki down and got six backs in the first, then put him down again from a neutral start in the second, for the fall in 3:20.
Pegg added, “We needed six right there and he got the big win. He’s tough with that three-quarter Nelson.”
Belle Vernon won the other two, Derrickson over Sible at 135, and Eric Zyske (171) taking Kopacko down and into a near-side cradle with four seconds left in the first.
Pegg felt that “overall, we wrestled pretty much as I hoped we would. We gave up some pins and some points, but the others took up the slack. They have accomplished a lot with hard work and they seem focused now on what they have to do.”
Other Laurel Highlands’ winners were Ryan Dicenzo (119) and Earl Moore (125), with forfeits, Levi Harris (160) and heavyweight Bob Urban.
Haris had to go overtime to nip Justin Brumley, 7-5. They were tied 2-2 into the third where Harris was down. He escaped and took Brumley down with 31 seconds to go. But Brumley escaped and got a takedown with two seconds left for the tie. Harris won with a takedown at 0:53 of OT.
Urban also had a close win over Joe Burns. He led 2-1 into the third, then escaped to tie, Burns took him down at 0:15 for a 3-3 tie, but Urban escaped with three seconds left to win.
Belle Vernon coach Kevin Corbett was disappointed with the loss, noting “Laurel Highlands came to wrestle, and I wish them all the luck in the wrestleoffs. I felt that 135, 215 and 275 pounds were key bouts, and we could win only at 135.”
Now the Mustangs head for Ringgold tonight and another big test, with Pegg adding, “We need a win to still have a shot at gaining the team wrestleoffs, something that hasn’t been done here in quite a while.”
You can bet that he will have this test “Pegg-ed” as well.