Jolley wants continued success
Jack Jolley is looking for improvement.
Belle Vernon’s long-time assistant and head coach believes that if his team continues to work each day the rest will take care of itself.
The Leopards return five starters that qualified for the Class AAA regional championships after finishing in the top five out of Section 2-AAA last season.
Junior’s Nathan Russo and Adam Nicholson were two of those five qualifiers, and will be looked upon for key victories in the upcoming season. Russo was the champion at 103 and is looking at wrestling at 113 or even 120. Nicholson wrestled at 171 during his sophomore campaign, and was runner-up in the Section 2-AAA finals.
Brenden Hasson qualified for the WPIAL finals after a fifth-place finish at 112 and teammate Cody Lawson was fourth at 140 in the section qualifiers.
Senior Zack Weight was fifth at 152 to advance to the regional finals.
“We want to keep improving every day,” Jolley said. “We want to return this program to what it was and stay there. We have five regional qualifiers returning.”
Jolley also has some underclassmen in the mix as Nico Tasser and Cole Pierce enter the varsity ranks as sophomores.
“We could have a full lineup and we might have some holes in it as well,” Jolley said. “You can’t worry about what you don’t have in terms of numbers. You just work with what you do have and prepare you’re guys to be the best that they can be.”
The Leopards put in some work during the offseason with conditioning programs and had wrestlers competing in other sports.
“We did some work in the offseason and it was worthwhile,” Jolley said. “We also had some guys play football and we are trying to get some more football players on the team.”
This year also embarks on new weight classes as only 145, 152, 160 and 285 remain the same. Jolley doesn’t mind the new weights as 195 and 220 could attract bigger athletes.
“The bigger weights are well suited for most high school football players,” Jolley said. “I also like that the lightest weight class is 106 because there aren’t too many high school kids that weight 103 these days.”
Although the weights may affect some kids, the more dedicated grapplers will be able to make the weight and Jolley knows that.
“If a kid wants to go out there and wrestle a certain weight he can do it if he’s dedicated,” Jolley said.
Belle Vernon will compete in Section 2-AAA once again with area teams from Albert Gallatin, Connellsville and Uniontown. The Leps will also contend with Hempfield Area, Elizabeth Forward, Ringgold, Baldwin, Thomas Jefferson and West Mifflin.
Belle Vernon will take part in the Gateway and Westmoreland County tournaments.
“We really enjoy competing in the Westmoreland County tournament,” Jolley said.