Feb 23, 2008 By Jonathan Guth For The 3 min read

FALLOWFIELD TWP. -Of the 33 area wrestlers that started in the WPIAL Class AA Individual Wrestling Championships at Charleroi High School, nine still have an opportunity to claim gold. Jefferson-Morgan’s first round started off rather sour as No. 2 seed Brian Scritchfield was disqualified at 4:22 in his 103-pound match against Ian Thom of Jeannette. Scritchfield was penalized four times before the referee called the match.

“He just lost his head and composure,” Rockets coach Scott Rhodes said. “I don’t know if our guys were nervous, but they did not wrestle to their potential.”

Things looked bleak for Jefferson-Morgan when Ty Basinger (135) lost his first round match against West Greene’s Garett Johnston. Johnston picked up a 16-0 technical fall in the preliminaries before taking down the No. 4 seed.

Quincy Hathaway (152) won his pigtail match for the Rockets, but fell to No. 1 seed Matthew Cunningham via fall at 1:52. Ethan Virgili (189) gave Jefferson-Morgan one wrestler in the semifinals in winning his first round match against Jack Wise of Highlands, 4-2.

Zach Doman (285) won his pigtail match, but fell 7-4 to top-seeded Sam Miller of Washington.

“Ethan (Virgili) gave up an early takedown, but fought back, and Zach (Doman) wrestled his heart out and listened to the coaches,” Rhodes said. “Our kids have to wrestle their butts off if they want to make it to next week.”

Along with Johnston, West Greene has three wrestlers in the semifinals as Colton Blumer (119) and Patrick Morris (171) won their respective first round matches. Blumer had to win twice to reach the semis as he wrestled in the pigtails.

Tucker Conklin (160), the No. 2 seed, lost 3-2 in his first round match against Matt McKillop of Burrell.

Beth-Center came in with six wrestlers and two still have a shot at the gold.

Chris Stay (152) defended his No. 4 seed with a 7-3 decision over Keith Watson of West Greene. Watson won his pigtail match over Chuck Brown of Elderton via technical fall at 4:00.

“We have two in the semis and everyone is coming back tomorrow,” Bulldogs coach Charles Colburn said. “We wrestled well against some good kids, so I am pleased.”

Derry’s Nick Sofranko gave No. 3 seed Aaron Hrutkay all he could handle, but the Beth-Center grappler defeated Sofranko 1-0 in their first round battle.

“Aaron (Hrutkay) and Chris (Stay) wrestled well and smart.” Colburn said.

Freshman Jeff Tarley (215) won his pigtail match, but fell 3-0 to senior No. 1 seed Dan Conley of Burgettstown in the first round.

“Although, he lost, Jeff (Tarley) wrestled well against a tough kid,” Colburn said. “If we wrestle well tomorrow, I believe we have a chance to take at least five out of the six we brought to the next week.”

Mount Pleasant still has two wrestlers alive for WPIAL gold in Allen Park (125) and Colin Sheridan (130). Park had to win a pigtail and first round match to reach the final four, while Sheridan, the No. 3 seed, defeated Dylan Demain by fall in 1:00.

Southmoreland will look for Eric Frund (160) to provide it with a championship. Frund won a 17-1 technical fall in the preliminary round, and defeated Mike Kuhns of Valley 5-2. Kuhns came into the match as the No. 4 seed.

Wrestling will continue today with the first round consolations to begin at 9:30 a.m.