Family ties
Connellsville’s Vielma brothers, Waynesburg’s Stephenson family share WPIAL titles
CANONSBURG — The sport of wrestling involves all members of the family, and the finals of the WPIAL Class 3A Individual Wrestling Championships on Saturday at Canon-McMillan High School further proved that point as brothers, and a father, brother and son were involved in three titles.
Connellsville’s Kai and Lonzy Vielma, and Waynesburg Central’s Jake Stephenson earned individual championships.
Kai Vielma started the night off on the right foot for the Vielmas, as he pinned previously undefeated Dominic Ferraro of Pine-Richland in the 139-pound final for his first district championships.
Lonzy Vielma didn’t want to be upstaged by his younger brother, so the senior and West Virginia University recruit scored a takedown with 14 seconds remaining and hung on for a 6-5 victory over Thomas Jefferson’s Brayden White in the finals at 160.
Stephenson won his first WPIAL gold after a 7-1 victory over Central Catholic’s Nezumiiro Green in the finals at 189 under the watchful eye of his father, Bob, who is also the Raiders’ head coach.
“Wrestling is a family sport, so it’s great to have my dad in my corner,” Stephenson said. “When people hear that your dad is the coach, they tend to think it’s really bad, but my dad and I have a great relationship, and when he pushes me, I know he has my best interests at heart. My brother also sits in the corner during my matches.”
In the finals, Stephenson rode out Green in the second period before scoring an escape and two takedowns in the third to break a scoreless match.
“I just believed and trusted in my training,” Stephenson said. “I just went out there and wrestled my match and my pace.
The senior improved to 16-0 this year, but he was out nearly six weeks of the season battling through a concussion.
“I had a concussion during football season, but getting one in wrestling season was a setback,” Stephenson said. “However, I think, in a way, it may have been good for me because my body is not all beat up.”
Stephenson was excited to see teammates Brock Evans (3rd at 160) and Roan Tustin (5th at 215) advance to the PIAA Class 3A Western Regional, which will be held next week at Canon-McMillan on Friday and Saturday to determine who qualifies for the state tournament. The top five in each weight class will move on to Hershey.
“Obviously, we didn’t have team success this year, but that didn’t stop us from still working hard and coming into practice every day,” Stephenson said.
Lonzy Vielma came up short in last year’s final, but he was glad to earn a WPIAL title in his final opportunity.
“This season has been mainly just me getting over the hump,” Vielma said. “I took second last year, so it was good to get this one out of the way and finally win a WPIAL title.
“He (White) definitely made adjustments from the last time we wrestled, and a good wrestler is going to do that to try and find a way to win. I had to make a mid-match adjustment, and I finally got the takedown. I needed to make sure that I matched my brother after he won his title.”
Kai Vielma wasn’t overly concerned that Ferraro came into the finals undefeated, as the Falcons put themselves through a meat grinder of a schedule in the early part of the season, plus the sophomore’s record of 41-4 isn’t too shabby.
“We have a loaded schedule, so I felt like I was ready for the challenge, even though he was undefeated,” Vielma said. “I also had some blood in this match, and it initially came from warmups when I was wrestling with a friend. Then, it got hit and opened up in the match. They had to kind of put a wrap around my nose to stop the bleeding, but I am pretty well conditioned so that really didn’t affect me. I was second last year, so it was nice to get to the top of the podium this time.”
The Falcons’ Nolan Rice lost a 6-3 decision in sudden victory to Latrobe’s Leo Joseph in the finals at 121.
Teammate Tommy Gretz suffered an 11-0 setback to Peters Township’s Nicholas McGarrity in the finals at 107.
Connellsville’s Evan Petrovich couldn’t get past the takedown defense of Thomas Jefferson’s Maddox Shaw in a 1-0 loss in the finals at 152. The bout was scoreless after two periods after Shaw rode out Petrovich in the second before Petrovich allowed Shaw to escape in hopes of setting up a match-winning takedown but to no avail.
Gretz, Petrovich and Rice all clinched their spot in the west regional by advancing to the finals. Petrovich won his 150th career match in the semifinals Saturday morning.
The Falcons’ Zachary Franks was third at 114. Teammate Daniel Smith earned a berth in the west regional after placing seventh at 127.
Moving up to Class 3A hasn’t been much of a problem for Belle Vernon’s Elijah Brown, as the junior and University of Pittsburgh recruit defeated Kiski Area’s Cooper Roscosky, 6-4, in the 215-pound final for a second WPIAL championship. Brown won gold in Class 2A last season.
“I was able to get some near-fall points, and I think I am way better on top this year than last year,” Brown said. “There are good people everywhere, so you find that in 2A, but it is such a difference having the top four guys in the state all in one district. That is probably the biggest change.”
Brown defeated Roscosky for the third time this season. Many in attendance were anticipating Brown’s third match this year with Ringgold’s Jake Conroy but Conroy suffered a 5-4 setback to Roscosky in the semifinals.
Conroy, who battled back to finish fourth, is the only one to defeat Brown this season, as he earned a 14-10 decision in double overtime over Brown in a dual meet on Jan. 22.
Brown avenged the loss in the section finals a week ago by earning a technical fall. He wouldn’t be surprised if he faced Conroy at the regional tournament.
“I am not sure how they are going to seed the regional, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I saw Jake (Conroy) in the semis,” Brown said. “I really threw myself into training following that loss to Jake. He is a good wrestler, but I got super tired going into the second, so I have really been working on my conditioning and being tougher on top.”
The Leopards’ Deydon Soto (6th-139) and Kole Doppelheuer (7th-152) advanced.