PIAA Class AAA wrestling championships
Mt. Pleasant’s Paul Snyder plans to be state’s top-pranked heavyweight HERSHEY – Just a couple of hours before 14 wrestlers stepped on the podium to receive their 2007 gold medals yesterday, one heavyweight wrestler from Mount Pleasant took a big step in the direction of the awards stand that will say 2008.
By placing third at heavyweight, one of the stronger weight classes in Class AA this year, Paul Snyder made it perfectly clear that he’ll be ranked preseason No. 1 in the state come next winter. For two reasons, really; one, because only three heavyweights in this year’s field of 16 will return and, two, because Snyder is that good.
How good? He defeated one of the Class AAA finalists, Steve Santia of Hempfield, twice this year.
Snyder was also the best of a small contingent of area placewinnners as Kory Bissett of West Greene placed seventh at 140 pounds and Ethan Virgili of Jefferson-Morgan was eighth at 189.
“I went from a qualifer (2005) to seventh place (2006) to third place this year, so next year my goal is to win it all,’ Snyder said.
Snyder won four straight matches by an aggregate score of 15-3 after losing a 6-5 heartbreaker Friday morning to eventual state champion Richie Smith of Pen Argyl. “I knew I couldn’t let that loss get me down,’ Smith said.
“I knew I had to do better than last year for college looks,’ Snyder said moments before a college coach introduced himself.
Snyder will hit the summer circuit again this year to defend his national Greco-Roman title and improve on his third-place national freestyle finish last year. “I look forward to doing that,’ he said.
“Those national tournaments that he’s in help him approach every match the the same,’ coach Mark Mears said. “And I think it’s easier to bounce back after a loss if you’re junior instead of a senior. Of the 28 kids that lost in the semifinals, they were 16-12 in the next consolation round.’
West Greene’s Bissett bounced back after a tough loss on Friday night to place seventh. He defeated Derek Schmelyun of Bermudian Springs by fall in 3:00; he had shut out Schmelyun 5-0 in the first round. Bissett closed his career with a 17-3 senior-year record in a season that didn’t start until mid-January because of a shoulder injury.
Jefferson-Morgan’s Virgili lost the takedown battle with Saucon Valley’s Brandon Palik at 189 by a 6-4 count to place eighth. He finished his junior season with a 33-11 record.
In yesterday’s finals before 7,720 fans, South Allegheny’s Chad Sorrentino at 152 pounds was part of a record-setting WPIAL performance. Never before in Class AA had the WPIAL crowned more than three champs in a single season. Six titles shattered that mark and Sorrentino’s role was a 4-2 win over Chad Sindoni of Athens. Not only was Sorrentino the first champion from South Allegheny, he was the school’s first state qualifier.
WPIAL wrestlers won four of the first five weights, starting with Shady Side Academy’s Frank Martellotti, a 4-3 winner over fellow freshman A.J. Schopp of Tyrone.
Dane Johnson at 112 then became Shady Side’s fifth state champion by working three, third-period takedowns to force his match with Northwest Lehigh’s Evan Yenolevich into overtime. Thirty seconds in, he nailed Yenolevich again for a 9-7 victory.
The third straight WPIAL crown was Troy Dolan’s third straight individual title. The Derry Area senior, soon off to Missouri, won a Southwest Regional rematch with Cody Myers of Southern Huntingdon, 6-1.
The western Pa. string was broken at 125 when Andrew Arnold of Northwestern Lehigh beat Warrior Run freshman Tyler Hain 5-4. But Burrell’s Jordan Shields trimmed Penn Cambria’s Ryan Link 4-3 at 130.
It looked as if Ridgway would net a champion at 135 in Colby Pisani, which would have helped ease the pain of the semifinals loss by defending champ Nikko Leitzel of Ridgway at 140. But Steve Waite of Fort LeBouef took down Pisani in overtime for an 8-6 victory.
Scott Davis of Lake Lehman, the son of longtime former Clarion State assistant wrestling coach Jack Davis, beat Joey Anceravage of Bloomsburg 4-2 at 140 pounds, and Jesse Byerly of Keystone Oaks held off Mifflinburg’s Micah Bollinger 5-4 at 145.
After Sorrentino’s win, Blairsville’s Matt Moore blanked Line Mountain’s Jon Fausey 3-0 at 160, and Cory Beaver of Littlestown became his school’s first champ when he took down Line Mountain’s Shawn Fausey at the final buzzer for a 6-5 win at 171.
Talented sophomore Zac Bennett of Westmont-Hilltop dumped Aaron Karns of Berwick 11-7 at 189, and the tournament’s Outstanding Wrestler, Kellen Harris of Sharon, pinned Bethlehem Catholic’s Ziad Haddad in just 28 second with a perfect cradle off a takedown.
Pen Argyl’s Smith surprised Keystone Oaks’ Myles Caragein at heavyweight with a second-period takedown that stood in a 3-1 win.
Reynolds won the team title over Shady Side Academy and Line Mountain.