Rockets soar at WPIAL Class AA meet
HEIDELBERG — It was a great two days for the Jefferson-Morgan wrestling team at the Class AA WPIAL Wrestling Championships at Chartiers Valley High School.
The Rockets will be well represented at the Southwest Regional Championships next weekend in Johnstown with eight wrestlers competing. But the Rockets almost provided a moment that would have put a damper on the Saturday night championship finals.
John Demaske, the class of the event at 126 pounds, suffered a pulled tricep in the semifinals and gave serious consideration to not competing in the finals. He said he didn’t realize he had hurt himself until afterward when he was relaxing.
“We talked about not wrestling, but my dad and I both thought that because I was undefeated and so was the other kid, I needed to wrestle. If that hadn’t been the case, I probably wouldn’t have,” the WPIAL’s most recent four-time champion said. “I really couldn’t be myself, not be as aggressive as normal. I just tried to go out and score some points and then hang on.”
That was definitely good enough to post a 6-0 victory in the finals.
“I guess that says I can do a lot more,” Demaske, who upped his record to 37-0.
Two champions, a pair of seconds, a pair of thirds and a fifth and a sixth was the total and all of those will be in Johnstown.
In addition to Demaske, 170-pounder John Bowlen pitched a shutout in the finals to beat surprising Nick Pattock of Burrell to win 5-0. Jason Miller (138) and Ryan Zalar (160) were pinned in the finals and Zalar showed the affects of his bad shoulder as he left, shouting loudly in pain.
Ian Wolfe (285) and Brendan Howard (113) finished third, Anthony Patterson (195) finished fifth and Trevor Kniha (152) finished sixth.
Coach Mike Lesko didn’t get the number of champions he’d hoped for, but getting eight into the tournament that will determine how many will advance to the PIAA Tournament the next weekend is a fairly good consolation prize.
“We’re definitely disappointed with we didn’t get more champions, but that doesn’t take anything away from how these kids responded and how some of the young kids came in, stepped up and made it to the regionals,” Lesko said. “That’s big for the program and big for them.”
Southmoreland’s young group did OK, too.
“We didn’t get a champion, but were sending four up there, three runnersup and one fourth-place finisher,” said coach Ryan Shaw. “At 113, it was the Austin (Griffiths) and Austin (McDermitt) show. We lost to him last year and then beat him in the regionals. Maybe that’s an omen and we’re just not supposed to beat him the in the WPIAL finals. McDermitt is a heck of a wrestler, it just wasn’t our night.”
Shaw surmised that sophomore Evan Myers may have gotten caught up in the moment in the finals against powerful Mike Carr of South Fayette. “Don’t forget we’re talking about a sophomore who’s just 16 years old. But I see a lot in this kid and he’s capable of going a long way,” Shaw said.
The Scotties’ 106-pounder, Cole Lambie, is, according to Shaw, the lightest 106-pounder in the world, “weighing in at a strapping 102 pounds.”
“Hey the kid was seeded sixth, knocked off the three and four seeds but showed all the heart in the world by wrestling well in the consolations before running into Andrew John in the third-place match and got pinned,” Shaw said. “What I liked from a couple of our kids was that one of the first things they said when they came off the mat was, ‘What do I have to work on to get better.’ “
Jake Beistel (285) made it to the finals, but was a 3-1 OT loser to top-seeded Allan Beattie of Burrell.
Beth-Center sophomore Tony Welsh had a great tournament at Chartiers Valley High School. He won all three of his bouts, which got him into Saturday night’s 145-pound final against Jason Nolf of Kittanning. Nolf, 36-0, was trying to become the 23rd wrestler in the history of the WPIAL to win four titles and did so with a pin over Welsh.
B-C’s Nico Brown won one bout in the championship bracket, added three more to get to the third and fourth-place bout. He ran into Mt. Pleasant’s Ethan Charlesworth and ended up losing, 3-1.
Both Welsh and Brown will wrestle next week in Johnstown.
West Greene had a tough weekend, advancing only one wrestler to next weekend. Two wrestlers won one match in the consolation rounds before being eliminated: 138-pound freshman Cole Hamilton and 152-pound junior Donovan Weaver.
West Greene’s one advancer to next week’s Southwest Regional at Johnstown is Jeff Isiminger, who won a pair of matches in the consolation bracket, including an 8-2 decision over John Wissinger of West Shamokin to grab the seventh and final spot in next week’s Regional in Johnstown.