J-M’s Teasdale wins Powerade crown
Holly Tonini
Jefferson-Morgan’s Gavin Teasdale wins 8-2 over Gavin Park in the 106-pound semifinals of the Powerade Wrestling Tournament Tuesday at Canon-McMillan High School.
Belle Vernon's Austin Bell (top) wins by a 3-0 decision over South Park's Greg Bulsak in the semifinals at the Powerade Wrestling Tournament Tuesday at Canon-McMillan High School.
CANONSBURG — Tuesday night could have been a significant milestone for the Belle Vernon Area wrestling team.
Leopards’ junior Austin Bell made it to the 170-pound finals of the prestigious Powerade Wrestling Tournament at Canon-McMillan High School and was poised to become the first champion from Belle Vernon.
But Daniel Bullard, the top-ranked wrestler in that weight class from Archer, Ga., obviously isn’t much for sentimentality. The two had quite a battle for two periods, with Bullard holding a 4-2 lead at that point. But the two-time Georgia state champion exploded in the third quarter, racking up a takedown and a pair of two-point near falls to put a 10-4 major decision on Bell.
Bullard improved his 2014 record to 32-1, while Bell dropped to 19-2.
“I’m not sure why, but I sort of slowed down after a pretty good first period,” Bell said. “I just didn’t wrestle as well after that and he took advantage of that. It was a long day and maybe conditioning was a bit of a factor, but that will get better.”
Even with all of that, Bell wasn’t throwing any bouquets in Bullard’s direction.
“I think I’m probably better than that kid,” Bell said without hesitation. “I’m sure I’ll see him again in the future.”
Bell said he’s still disappointed in himself from last year’s PIAA Tournament when he let a 5-1 lead slip away and lost 6-5 in a consolation bout to Latrobe’s Dom Scalise.
“Yeah, I’m disappointed with that, but it will be different this year,” Bell said. “This year I’ll get in.”
There was much better news for Jefferson-Morgan’s sensational freshman 106-pounder, Gavin Teasdale. He dominated another freshman, Patrick Glory from Delbarton, N.J., 13-3.
He got a quick takedown that seemed to settle his nerves, led 4-1 after one and then score seven third-period points to blow Glory away.
“I got a better warmup tonight,” Teasdale said when asked about the dominating performance. “I did a bunch of sprints and it just made me feel calm and I was able to keep the pressure on him.”
He had wrestled Glory twice in the past in national tournaments and beat him twice. And once he hit the finals at Powerade, the stage was not too big for him.
“Whether it’s the first round or this, it’s all the same,” Teasdale said.
The most excited he got was when he was asked how we was going to celebrate the title.
“We’re going out to eat some wings,” he said with a big smile.
Even his coach was impressed with the performance that raised his record to 17-0.
“I’ll tell you what,” Mike Lesko said. “He had looked a little sluggish in a few matches here but he showed everybody tonight why he’s No. 1. And yes, that first takedown had a lot to do with how the rest of his night went.
“He’s just so good on his feet, whoever he’s wrestling against better be really good defensively because Gavin’s going to take him down.”
Teasdale became Jefferson-Morgan’s 14th Powerade champion.
A testament to the strength of the WPIAL this year comes in the fact that 16 of the finalists Tuesday night were from the WPIAL.