Connellsville wrestlers advance to semifinals
The Colts were corralled and Connellsville is on its way to the semifinals. After falling behind in an opening bout loss, Connellsville ran off four wins in a row to start a 48-18 win over Chartiers Valley, in a WPIAL Team Wrestling quarterfinal round bout last night at the CAHS gym. The win moved Connellsville (21-2) into the semifinals on Thursday at Gateway (6 p.m.).
Connellsville lost only four bouts in the match, and for the two tests they had last night, the Tommy Dolde-coached Falcons had a total of five losses in 28 bouts. Dolde and Colts coach Mike Johnson did a little maneuvering to start, but the Falcons came out ahead and stayed there.
The pre-match draw started action at 145, and Char Valley had its only lead of the night when Vince Minella outlasted Corey Fox, 3-2, with an escape to start the third and a takedown with :29 left.
With 152 coming up, the Colts decided to forfeit, and Aaron Bell picked up six the easy way as CAHS moved ahead for good. Then CV sent Dave Brown to the mat at 160, and Dolde bumped Jarrod King from his normal 152 spot to the 160 bout, and the result was a 1:15 pin for King.
Dolde observed “when they sent their regular 145 out, we knew we could bump Jarrod up. His win gave us six and really set the tone for the rest of the match.”
Jason Doppelheur (171) took Bob Brown down, over and chested him to the mat in 1:46, and Jim Tony got a pair of takedowns in the third, around three escapes, to nudge Brian Mox, 8-5, a win that Dolde called “a good match against a real good opponent.”
The Colts got their second win as Nick Hursky (215) got Brent Wilson into a near side cradle in 1:31, then the Falcons rebounded into a four-match string. Corey Hixson (275) started the run with a 6-5 edging of Adam McKnight, clinching with an escape to start the second and another get-away when McKnight took him down. Jonathon Knepper (103) got a takedown from a neutral start in the third, plus three backs, to clinch a technical fall (18-3) over Ross Ventrone, Steve Bell (112) used three takedowns in the third, around three escapes, to clinch a 15-6 major decision over Ricci Minella, and Ashton Primus (119) made it four in a row for CAHS with a forfeit.
Mark McKnight scored the third Colt win, 9-2 over Adam Bucci, clinching with a pair of takedowns in the third. Josh Martin (130) moved out with five points in the second on the way to an 11-4 decision over Alby Lowman, then the Colts got their final win when Sean Cote (135) turned Adam Knepper over and stacked him in 4:21. Kyle Martin wrapped up the card and the Falcon victory with a 4:17 cradling of Ryan Boynes.
Now the Falcons are headed for Gateway on Thursday, against McGuffey. But Dolde said “I told our guys not to worry about who they would meet, just concentrate on winning on Thursday.”
They did that and some yesterday.