First Period
Stars and studs: How about a this for a first? An entire district gets a mention here. District 5 capped an incredible dual-meet season with a great three days of wrestling. Bedford won the team title - its fifth straight - on Saturday, but needed everything it had to get past Berlin Brothrsvalley in the quarterfinals on Thursday night and then Chestnut Ridge in the finals on Saturday. There will be more love for District 5 coming up in the Third Period. ... Somerset 285-pounder Jake Hayman definitely earned a spot on this list with his 3-1 overtime decision of Northern Bedford's Quinton Hixson, who was undefeated and has been No. 1 all year in the Pennsylvania Wrestling Rankings. To call Hayman a 285-pounder is really unfair - he weighed just 208 the night he wrestled the much bigger Hixson - but he's strong enough and athletic enough to confound much bigger wrestlers. And, despite rumors to the contrary, I'm told he'll be staying at heavyweight. ... Chestnut Ridge 113-pounder Trent Crouse makes it for the second week in a row for the same feat - beating Bedford's Ryan Easter. After Crouse beat Easter in the Thomas tournament, I was asked if it was a fluke. I couldn't say it was because the Ridge sophomore wrestled a solid six-plus minutes in the overtime win, but I also wasn't sure he'd beat the returning state placewinner again. Well, Crouse did, riding out Easter in the third period for a 1-0 win that bolstered the Lions' chances of upsetting Bedford.
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Upset-minded: This goes to another Chesnut Ridge wrestler. The fourth time proved to be the charm for 145-pounder Kyle Winegardner, who lost to Somerset's Landon Lohr three times before beating him in Saturday's dual meet. Lohr beat Winegardner by seven, four and six points - all in a six-day span - before the Ridge sophomore came up with a 7-3 victory on Saturday that helped the Lions reach the final round of the District 5 Dual-Meet Tournament.
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Second Period
On deck: It's a pretty light week, as teams didn't schedule much in case they ended up in Hershey for the PIAA Dual-Meet Championships, although Bedford's the only team that has to worry about that. Kittanning's match at Ligonier Valley on Tuesday could have featured a tremendous matchup of Jason Nolf vs. Josh Patrick, if the Ligonier wrestler hadn't suffered a serious elbow injury in December. Patrick was just cleared to wrestle last week and should be ready for the District 6 tournament next week, but he won't be facing the defending state champion tonight. The pickings are pretty slim on Wednesday, although North Star at Northern Bedford could have some interesting matchups. Thursday and Friday are clearly highlighted by Bedford's trip to Hershey, and Saturday's could be, too, should the Bisons advance that far. Saturday also brings the first-ever WestPAC Tournament at Meyersdale, which will be a pool tournament that should feature some good competition despite having just six teams.Tuesday
Somerset at Conemaugh Township, 7 p.m.
Berlin Brothersvalley at Everett, 7 p.m.
Central Cambria at Huntingdon, 7 p.m.
Kittanning at Ligonier Valley, 7 p.m.
Shade at Meyersdale, 7 p.m.
Portage at Penn Cambria, 7 p.m.
Altoona at Westmont Hilltop, 7 p.m.
Wednesday
North Star at Northern Bedford, 7 p.m.
Glendale at Portage, 7 p.m.
Thursday
PIAA Class AA Dual Meet Tournament
At GIANT Center, Hershey
Bedford vs. Western Wayne, 2 p.m.
Regular Season
Frankfort at Meyersdale, 6 p.m.
Northern Cambria at Cambria Heights, 7 p.m.
North Star at Shade, 7 p.m.
Friday
PIAA Class AA Dual Meet Tournament
At GIANT Center, Hershey
Bedford vs. TBA
Saturday
PIAA Class AA Dual Meet Tournament
At GIANT Center, Hershey
Bedford vs. TBA
At GIANT Center, Hershey
Bedford vs. TBA
Saturday
PIAA Class AA Dual Meet Tournament
At GIANT Center, Hershey
Bedford vs. TBA
WestPAC Tournament, at Meyersdale, 9 a.m.
The conclusion was this is probably the deepest District 5 field there has ever been, certainly in terms of quality dual-meet teams, and possibly in terms of individual placewinners.
That argument was bolstered over the weekend, when Burrell captured the District 7 (WPIAL) title. The Buccaneers were beaten 51-20 by Berlin Brothersvalley, which was the eighth seed in District 5 and didn't make it out of the quarterfinals, although the Mountaineers nearly shocked eventual champion Bedford.
I believe Burrell did have some injuries when they wrestled Berlin at the Pittsburgh Central Catholic Dual s, so I analyzed how the lineups compared between that match and Saturday's WPIAL championship dual with Jefferson-Morgan.
Here's what I came up with:
Either way, you could certainly make the argument that District 5 is stronger this season than District 7 is this season, at least in terms of dual-meet teams. Jefferson-Morgan, the WPIAL runner-up, also finished behind Chestnut Ridge and Bedford at the Thomas tournament.
Unfortunately, according to Joe Tuscano's blog, that might not be the case for long. The Prexies are thinking of dropping the program altogether. No matter what a school's history, I hate to see it drop wrestling, because the odds aren't very good of it every returning, but it's especially disheartening to see this former power in such a sad state.
Former Wash High standout Chris Tarr is spearheading a campaign to save the program. If you're interested in lending a hand or spending a few dollars to help try to save wrestling at this former powerhouse, you can contact Chris at cwtarr@hotmail.com.
I know that there are hundreds of huge wrestling fans that read this blog. And while I know we're all facing economic difficulties, if you can find a way to scrounge up a few bucks, it could end being a life-changing investment for some Washington wrestlers. I know I'm going to see what I can do to join the fight to save the program. I hope some of you will, too.
Third Period
Five comes alive: As promised, it's time for some more love for District 5. I wrote a pretty lengthy article about the rise of District 5 for The Tribune-Democrat, which you can read some of here. If you're a District 5 fan (or conversely, a D5 hater), I think it's worth definitely worth a read. I did plenty of research for it, from compiling a list of every District 5 wrestler to win a state medal to interviewing legendary D5 coaches Bill Creps, Jan Clark, Jim Clark and Ken Warnick.The conclusion was this is probably the deepest District 5 field there has ever been, certainly in terms of quality dual-meet teams, and possibly in terms of individual placewinners.
That argument was bolstered over the weekend, when Burrell captured the District 7 (WPIAL) title. The Buccaneers were beaten 51-20 by Berlin Brothersvalley, which was the eighth seed in District 5 and didn't make it out of the quarterfinals, although the Mountaineers nearly shocked eventual champion Bedford.
I believe Burrell did have some injuries when they wrestled Berlin at the Pittsburgh Central Catholic Dual s, so I analyzed how the lineups compared between that match and Saturday's WPIAL championship dual with Jefferson-Morgan.
Here's what I came up with:
Vs. Berlin Vs. Jefferson-Morgan
106 Jason Roberts Jason Roberts
113 Forfeit Logan Fitzmaurice 3-8
120 Forfeit Austin Denk 2-5
126 Carl Samuels Zack Wolford 3-3
132 Steven Edwards Steven Edwards
138 Phillip Marra Phillip Marra
145 Corey Falleroni Corey Falleroni
152 Zachery Smith Kevin Best
160 Kevin Best Hayden
Greenwald 7-0
170 Derrick Beattie Derrick Beattie
182 Dakota DesLauriers Dakota
DesLauriers
195 Cory Klems John Davidson 6-0
220 Corey Arabia Cory Klems
285 Joseph Naviglia Joseph Naviglia
The names in bold are the wrestlers that weren't in the lineup against Berlin and are followed by their season records. The five new faces are a combined 21-16. That's not a bad winning percentage, but I don't know if it's enough to make a 31-point difference between the schools.
Either way, you could certainly make the argument that District 5 is stronger this season than District 7 is this season, at least in terms of dual-meet teams. Jefferson-Morgan, the WPIAL runner-up, also finished behind Chestnut Ridge and Bedford at the Thomas tournament.
Overtime
If you're like me and on the wrong side of 30, chances are you remember when Washington High had an excellent wrestling team. Like my athleticism, those days are long gone. But, just like I keep telling myself I'm going to get back to doing P90X regularly, I'd like to believe that Wash High might have a chance to return to its glory days.Unfortunately, according to Joe Tuscano's blog, that might not be the case for long. The Prexies are thinking of dropping the program altogether. No matter what a school's history, I hate to see it drop wrestling, because the odds aren't very good of it every returning, but it's especially disheartening to see this former power in such a sad state.
Former Wash High standout Chris Tarr is spearheading a campaign to save the program. If you're interested in lending a hand or spending a few dollars to help try to save wrestling at this former powerhouse, you can contact Chris at cwtarr@hotmail.com.
I know that there are hundreds of huge wrestling fans that read this blog. And while I know we're all facing economic difficulties, if you can find a way to scrounge up a few bucks, it could end being a life-changing investment for some Washington wrestlers. I know I'm going to see what I can do to join the fight to save the program. I hope some of you will, too.
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