Falcons top undermanned LH, 66-12
Will the Laurel Highlands Mustangs win many dual wrestling matches this season? Probably not. Lack of numbers force the Mustangs to forfeit too many weight classes.
That was the case Wednesday night when the Mustangs lost to Connellsville 66-12 in the Section 2-AAA match-up.
However, focusing on the six matches that were wrestled the Mustangs proved to be a tough out, falling 19-12 in those matches but racking up a couple of pins against the Falcons.
“The kids I have are working very hard,” LH’s Mike Zavada said. “Three of them spent the whole summer with me and as the season goes along I definitely think those three will be in the hunt for the WPIAL and hopefully a berth in the state tournament.”
The match started at 170 pounds. Jimmy Pierce, who qualified for the WPIALs last year, got the Mustangs off to a quick start, pinning Jules Stash at 1:38 of the first period.
The Falcons rebounded quickly with a win at 182. Tommy Provance muscled his way to a 6-1 lead over Austin Saletrik after two periods. In the third Provance started down and quickly escaped. He then started to rack up points, recording six takedowns in the third and then turning Saletrik for a two-point near-fall, getting a technical fall for the Falcons at 5:56.
“We had some good competition in the matches we wrestled,” Connellsville’s Tommy Dolde said. “I was impressed with their 195 pounder. He looks like the real deal. It was good to see Mason Franks win a tough match at 120. I think our kids went hard and wrestled well.”
The next match was at 195 pounds where the Mustangs’ Nate Ansell looked impressive, dispatching Jobi Cook in 40 seconds, giving the Mustangs a 12-5 lead.
Then the forfeits started coming. The Falcons picked up 24 points on four straight forfeits to take a 29-12 lead.
With action resuming at 120, Franks and Justin Mansberry, another returning WPIAL qualifier for LH, had the best match of the night. Franks struck first with a takedown to take a 2-0 lead after one. In the second, Mansberry started on the bottom and scored a reversal. Franks escaped. Mansberry came back with a takedown but Franks was able to get a reversal to take a 5-4 lead into the third period.
In the third It was all Franks. He started on the bottom and escaped. He was able to get a takedown and a two-point near-fall for the 10-4 win, increasing the Falcons’ lead to 32-12.
“Laurel Highlands has a good wrestling history but it’s getting harder to get kids to come out, so I work with what I have and they’re great kids,” Zavada said. “I’m at the point now where we want to do our best to get a couple of these guys to Hershey. They’re working hard.”
The Connellsville lead went to 50-12 on three more forfeits. Action resumed again at 145. The Falcons’ Bryce Butler used three takedowns and four three-point near-falls for an 18-1 technical fall over Jake Mikluscak. At 152 Connellsville’s William Bell won the final match wrestled, pinning Austin Bartos at 3:22.
“We’ve got a nice stretch coming up for us right now,” Dolde said. “We have a chance to get into the wrestling room to improve our conditioning over the holidays so we can try to make a run at some teams in January.”