Connellsville advances to quarterfinals of state wrestling tournament
DUBOIS — To pose with Hershey’s chocolate would be inaccurate, so Connellsville had to improvise.
Following Tuesday’s 57-18 victory over DuBois in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A Team Wrestling Championships, the Falcons posed with Mallo Cups and packs of tuna.
Since its inception in 1999, the state dual meet tournament was held in Hershey, but this season it was moved to the Altoona Area School District Field House, hence the packs of tuna. Mallo Cups are produced at Boyer’s factory in Altoona.
Connellsville coach Bill Swink was glad to celebrate with a Mallo Cup following the win, but he wanted to make sure his Falcons were focused heading into a dual meet that was do-or-die for the team portion of the season.
In previous years, teams that lost in the first round could wrestle back in the consolation rounds, but the PIAA changed the format this season. Wrestlebacks begin Saturday following Friday’s quarterfinal action.
Connellsville (12-2) was coming off a 32-25 setback in the WPIAL final to Franklin Regional, but the Falcons were zoned in, as Julian Ruggieri (145), Evan Petrovich (152) and Lonzy Vielma (160) won by fall before Cooper Lembo earned a 13-6 decision at 172 pounds for a 21-0 lead.
“Those guys put us in a good position,” Swink said. “We had a good practice Monday and we came here and did what we had to do. We are going to go up Friday to Altoona because we don’t wrestle until the evening. We lost that first-round match at the state tournament last year, so it was big winning in the first round this year, especially because they don’t have consolations until after the quarterfinals.”
The Beavers (13-4) got on the scoreboard with a fall by Carter Wilson at 189, and Kendahl Hoare won by injury default at 215 to cut the deficit to 21-12.
Tyler Gallis stopped the run for Connellsville with a fall at 285. Tommy Gretz pinned his opponent at 107 for a 33-12 advantage.
DuBois’ Mateo Gallegos earned a fall in 5:31 at 114. The freshman, who improved to 32-3 this season, was second at the Powerade tournament.
“They have two really good kids on their team,” Swink said. “We had some guys wrestle that don’t normally start, but we didn’t want to do anymore to keep our starters sharp for Friday.”
The Falcons’ Nolan Rice (121), Daniel Smith (127), Jake Lilley (133) and Kai Vielma (139) closed the match out with falls.
Connellsville will wrestle in the quarterfinals on Friday at 7 p.m. The Falcons will wrestle Council Rock South (18-2).
“We know we have to be ready to wrestle no matter who the opponent is,” Swink said. “We are going to follow our normal practice schedule the next two days and get ready for Friday.”