Falcons make quick work of Shaler, Kiski Area in advancing to WPIAL semifinals
CONNELLSVILLE — Connellsville’s wrestlers and coaches must have made reservations at Bud Murphy’s … or perhaps it was The Paint Room Bar and Grill?
Whatever the reason, the Falcons needed a little over two hours to win dual meets over Shaler (57-12) and Kiski Area (52-22) in the first round and quarterfinals of the WPIAL Class 3A team wrestling championships on Wednesday at Connellsville Area High School.
The Falcons, who won their eighth district title last season, will wrestle Norwin (14-1) in the semifinals on Saturday at AHN Arena on the campus of Peters Township High School.
The first bout is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. The winner will advance to the final at 3 p.m., while the loser will battle the other semifinalist that lost in the consolation final. The top three states will qualify for the team state tournament.
“At the end of the day, it’s all about advancing at this point of the season,” Connellsville coach Bill Swink said. “It was a good effort with good energy, but we learned a few lessons. We had some good individual battles today. Overall, I am pleased with how we wrestled today.”
Connellsville (10-1) built up a 19-0 lead over the Titans (7-2) before losing at 133 pounds. The Falcons won the next three bouts to increase their advantage to 36-6, which clinched the dual meet following the action at 152 because the best Shaler could do was tie the dual meet if it pinned out, and Connellsville had the edge if the scoring went to criteria.
The Falcons’ Tommy Gretz (107), Zachary Franks (114), Nolan Rice (121), Luke Lilley (127), Kai Vielma (139), Julian Ruggieri (145), Evan Petrovich (152), Lonzy Vielma (160), Cooper Lembo (172), Nicholas Seese (189) and Christopher Cook (215) earned individual victories over the Titans.
Connellsville won the first seven bouts against the Cavaliers (14-5) for a 40-0 lead with six bouts to go. The Falcons clinched the dual meet because the best Kiski could score was 36 points.
Franks (114), Rice (121), Jake Lilley (133), Kai Vielma (139), Julian Ruggieri (145) and Petrovich (152) all won by fall, and Luke Lilley earned a 14-6 major decision at 127.
Lonzy Vielma recorded a pin at 160 to put the home team on top, 46-0.
The Cavaliers won the next four bouts, as Mario Hutcherson (172), Abraham Taylor (189) and Luke Geltz (285) won by fall, and Cooper Roscosky earned a 13-1 major decision at 215. Roscosky won his 100th-career match in Kiski’s 45-29 triumph over Latrobe in the first round.
“I thought we battled,” Kiski coach Chris Heater said. “They (Connellsville) have a lot of highly-ranked guys that are very talented. They are the defending champs and nobody’s beaten them yet, so until that happens, they’re king right now.
“I am absolutely proud of my guys. Big turnaround from a year ago to now. I didn’t have one senior in my lineup tonight.”