Feb 27, 2005 By Jim Downey 5 min read

CONNELLSVILLE – The NBA was fooling around with the idea for its all-star game of splitting up the current greats between the world and American stars. That seemed to be the notion for Saturday’s Section 2-AAA wrestling tournament because 13 of the 14 finals featured Connellsville wrestlers with 10 taking home section trophies and a bid into this week’s WPIAL Class AAA Individual Wrestling Championship at Canon-McMillan High School.

Laurel Highlands and Albert Gallatin both had two section champions to round out the top step of the medal podium.

The Falcons advanced all 13 wrestlers that started the day to the district finals with 119 pounds the lone weight class not represented withJake Knepper opting out of the section tournament. The Colonials qualified eight wrestlers while the Mustangs will have four in the WPIAL tournament. Bobby Holt finished third at 140 pounds to be Uniontown’s lone representative.

Connellsville’s Josh Martin grabbed his share of Falcon wrestling history when he defeated Albert Gallatin’s Dave Bryson, 5-3, to win at 145 pounds for his fourth section title.

“I’m another one on the list of history as one of a few to win four. It’s a privilege,” said Martin. “I wanted to be aggressive and wanted them to make mistakes. A win is a win. I always want to improve and learn from my mistakes.”

The Colonial faithful had a couple of spirited bouts back-to-back with the end result two section champions.

The 152-pound bout between Albert Gallatin’s Lance Bryson and Connellsville’s Buddy Sines went into overtime tied at 1-1, and was nearing the end of the extra period when frustration overcame Sines and he was called for an illegal move as he jolted Bryson to the mat for one point and a Bryson victory.

The 160-pound bout also went to overtime with the Colonials’ Mark Brown pulling out a 2-0 decision over Connellsville’s Adam Knepper.

“Overall, I was pleased with the way things went. We had two section champions and eight out of our 10 wrestlers are moving on,” said Albert Gallatin head coach Duane Dupont. “I’m real proud of all the guys.”

The Falcons’ Steve Bell was returning after a knee injury in the 2004 tournament, but he’s healthy now and that was bad news for the field. Bell had few problems with Albert Gallatin’s Brad Zitney in the 125-pound title match, winning by a 28-11 technical fall.

“The day was alright. My main goal was to get out intact and not get hurt,” said Bell. “I’ve had no problems with the knee.

As for the success he and his teammates had in the sectional, Bell added, “It’s a real testament to how hard our guys worked this year.”

Ashtin Primus didn’t have to put much work in for his third section crown with the Connellsville junior pinning the Mustangs’ Nick Browne at 1:12 in the 135-pound final after a bye in the quarterfinals and a 28-second pin against Albert Gallatin’s Justin Loring in the semifinals.

“I hate byes. The more matches you get, the better you get,” said Primus. “It’s good to wrestle a lot of matches out there. I wrestled the way I was supposed to, the way I will at states.

“If you do what you’re supposed to do, you’ll impress them.”

Tyler Nicholson got the ball rolling for Connellsville with a fall at 3:08 over Ringgold’s Nathaniel Blackman.

Connellsville’s Kody Pujia and the Mustangs’ Cameron Muma met in a spirited bout at 112 pounds. The lead seesawed between the two until, with the scored tied at 5-all in the waning moments of the match, Pujia scored two points with three seconds remaining for the exciting 7-5 decision.

Josh Klink secured the first of two section titles for Laurel Highlands when he won a 9-6 decision against McKeesport’s Justin Liptak. Klink used a strong second period to build a 7-3 advantage.

“I had a pretty good day,” said Klink. “I took it out a little slow (in the championship) in the first period. I felt I was okay from the end of the first period on. He started relaxing in the second period and I was able to score.”

Greg Hogan scored two points late in the third period to give the Mustangs a second gold medal with a hard-fought 6-4 decision against Connellsville’s Eric McGinnis at 130 pounds.

“All in all, it was a good match,” said Hogan, a senior. “I had to capitalize on his mistakes. I wanted to prove that I could beat him and I wanted first. I was trying to get him to make the first mistake.”

The Falcons’ Zach Snyder picked up a point early in the third period and made the slim lead stand for a 3-2 decision over Ringgold’s Mitch Pankiewicz at 140 pounds. It was all Connellsville after the Brown win at 160 with Jason Doppelheuer (171), Alan Porter (189) and Josh Brewer (215) winning by decisions. Melvin Warrick pinned the Colonials’ Allen Myers for the 275-pound crown.

Brewer was trailing, but scored two points with one second remaining for a 3-2 decision.

Bobby Holt was the lone Uniontown wrestler to advance, pinning Thomas Jefferson’s Tyler Andres at 2:58 in the consolation finals.

“I wish I could’ve done better,” said Holt. “It’s tough going in (to section matches) knowing you’re going to lose. Now, you go for yourself. You go in and know you can win a match.

“We have a small team. It’s cool to know we had two in the medal (round).”

Connellsville head coach Thomas D. Dolde was obviously pleased with the day.

“The important thing is improving. Improving is the fun part of wrestling. We saw that today,” said Dolde. “This team has always responded this year.”