Connellsville wrestlers advance
CONNELLSVILLE – The Connellsville wrestling team won twice at home last night to advance to the semifinals of the WPIAL team championships Thursday at Trinity high school.
In a first round match, the Falcons used four straight pins in the upper weights to come from behind to eliminate Fox Chapel, 43-23. In the quarterfinal the Falcons got three big wins from the lightweights to down West Allegheny, 39-21.
The Indians advanced to the quarterfinal when they received four straight forfeits to eliminate North Hills, 43-25.
“West Allegheny is a tough team. I thought they wrestled well against us tonight,” Falcons head coach Tom Dolde said. “We had a hard time getting anything going against them. I felt we match up pretty good against them and took the wins we could. I’m real pleased with my lightweights. Jerry Cramer, Ryan Williams and Rain Garletts. They turned the match around for us.”
The match with West Allegheny started at 145 pounds. Slade Harvey threw a headlock on Mitch Cleric late in the match and put him on his back, to pick up five points to edge Cleric 7-5. Troy Raeghard came back with a pin for WA at 152 giving them a 6-3 lead.
Shawn Wendel got his first win of the season for the Falcons edging Mark Vuono 3-1 to tie the match at six.
The Falcons took the lead at 171 when Nathan Gaffney made a second-period escape hold up for a 1-0 win making the score 9-6.
Indians coach Mike Johnson made a move to slow down the Falcons’ heavier weights. He forfeited 189-pound match to Zack Benzio. He moved his 189-pounder Jacob Leninsky up to 215 pounds to get a pin against Justin Cole; however, Cole avoided the pin and lost a regular decision, 7-1, leaving the score at 15-9.
The Indians Jim Muraco moved from 215 up to 285 to meet Justin Haines. He did his job of not getting pinned as the Falcons moved out to an 18-9 lead.
“We lost at 145, 160, and 171 where had a chance to win, and that put us in a little bit of a hole,” Johnson said. “We bumped some people up to get the best match-ups we could .We just didn’t get it done tonight. We’ve had a good season, now we’ve got to get ready for the section, WPIAL and hopefully we can push some wrestlers through to the state tournament.”
The Falcon lightweights gave the squad a comfortable cushion. Cramer pinned Hunter Lang in 40 seconds at 103. Ryan Williams followed that with a tough 9-5 decision over Kenny Scott at 112, and in the 119-pound bout, Garletts pinned Tony Monaco in 48-seconds to seal the match for the Falcons. West Allegheny picked up three more wins when Aaron McKinney decisioned Jake Swink 5-0 at 125.
The Falcons forfeited to Dan Bruni at 130, and Zach Kelly edged Ethan Saylor 5-4 at 135 to make the score 33-21. Jared Dolde closed out the match for the Falcons, pinning Mitch Posel at the 1:41 mark of the 130-pound bout.
In the first round bout against Fox Chapel the heavyweights brought the home crowd to their feet. The Falcons were trailing 14-3, When Gaffney started the run pinning Stefano Geary in 1:43 at 171-pounds. At 189 Benzio turned Dean Smith in 38-seconds giving the Falcons a 15-14 lead. In the 215-pound match Cole followed that by stopping Dan Stabile in 1:30. At 285 Justin Haines stretched Mitch DePellegrini in 33-seconds, giving the Falcons a 27-14 lead.
Connellsville picked up four more team points when Cramer scored a major decision at 103 to make the score 31-14.
Carson Brooks edged Williams 6-4 in overtime before Garletts put the match away for the Falcons with first period pin over Mike Dunn.
“It’s nice to get back to the semifinals after missing out last year,” Dolde said. “It’s nice to have a big match against Canon-McMillan in the semis. It will be a good experience for our kids.”