PIAA Team Wrestling Playoffs – Day Three Recap

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, February 13, 2016 | 4:35 PM

WPIAL champion Belle Vernon (20-2) finished in third place at the PIAA Class AAA Team Wrestling Championships by winning the consolation final over Nazareth, 30-28, on Saturday afternoon at the GIANT Center in Hershey, PA.

The match began at 106 pounds with Belle Vernon’s Jacob Dunlop, ranked #7 in the state, winning a key match over #6-ranked Sean Pierson, 3-1. The Blue Eagles’ Tyson Klump, a returning state champion, then tied the match with a 12-6 decision over Logan Seliga at 113 pounds. Ryan O’Grady gave Nazareth, the District 11 runner-up, its first lead of the match, 8-3, with a technical fall victory over Jake Fine at 120. A decision victory by Tyler Seliga (126) and a pin at 132 pounds by Zach Hartman resulted in a 12-8 Belle Vernon advantage. The Leopards elected to forfeit to Nazareth’s Sammy Sasso, ranked #2 in the state at 138 pounds, and then Brock Wilson (145), ranked #5 in PA, scored an impressive 11-0 major decision over Brock Godzin to put the Blue Eagles in front, 18-12.

With senior Derek Verkleeren out of the lineup for Belle Vernon at 152 pounds, head coach Mike Doppelheuer had to move some of his wrestlers up in weight and it hindered the Leopards’ effort. Ricky Fornaciari (152) extended the Nazareth lead to ten points with a major decision, 14-3, over Scott Joll. Jarod Verkleeren, #2 in PA at 145, had his hands full as he bumped all the way up to 160 pounds to face #4-ranked Travis Stefanik, who rolled to an 8-1 decision to increase the Blue Eagles’ lead to 25-12. Mitch Hartman, ranked #5 at 160, lost 3-1 to Cade Wilson at 170 pounds to run the Nazareth lead to a match-high 16 points.

Austin Bell, #1 at 170, stopped the bleeding for Belle Vernon with a fall at 182 pounds to cut the Nazareth lead to 28-18. Milton Kobaly contributed a second straight fall for the Leopards at 195 to bring his team to within striking distance, 28-24, with just two bouts remaining. The Belle Vernon big men did not disappoint, both winning by razor-thin margins. Hunter Ferrara won at 220 pounds, 1-0, over A.J. Vlasaty and Billy Korber captured the heavyweight bout, 2-0, over Antonio Novielli to give the Leopards the come-from-behind triumph.

Belle Vernon advanced to the consolation final with a 36-26 win over Kiski Area (23-3) in fourth round consolation action. The Cavaliers won three of the first four bouts to jump out to an 11-3 lead. Isaac Reid (285) got things started for Kiski Area with a 1-0 win over Billy Korber at heavyweight. After Belle Vernon’s Jacob Dunlop edged Darren Miller, 1-0, at 106 pounds, Kiski Area got a decision win by Cam Connor (113) and a technical fall from Noah Levett (120). The Leopards then leapfrogged the Cavaliers with four straight victories of their own. Logan Seliga (126) and Brock Godzin (138) pinned their opponents while Zach Hartman (132) and Neiko Kuntz (145) recorded decision victories to help Belle Vernon build a 21-11 lead.  The Cavaliers’ Danny Starr then won at 152 to cut the Leopards’ advantage to seven points, but that’s as close as Kiski Area would get the rest of the way. Belle Vernon piled on the bonus points as Jarod Verkleeren (technical fall at 160), Mitch Hartman (major decision at 170), and Austin Bell (fall at 182) clinched the victory for the Leopards.

The morning’s competition began with a third round consolation match between WPIAL runner-up Canon-McMillan (12-4) and third place finisher Kiski Area. The Cavaliers won the rubber match between the two squads, defeating the Big Macs, 32-22. The two teams met twice earlier this season, with Canon-McMillan winning 27-25 in the WPIAL semifinals last Saturday and Kiski Area recording a 35-20 non-section victory on December 22^nd. In a key turn-around from the teams’ previous encounter, Tyler Worthing clinched the victory for the Cavaliers with a 29 second pin of Canon-McMillan’s James Zeremenko at 182 pounds. Zeremenko pinned Worthing early in the first period of last weekend’s WPIAL semifinals to lead the Big Macs to that victory. Chad Kuhn (220) recorded a fall and Noah Levett (120) notched a technical fall victory to also pace Kiski Area.

AAA NOTES: Bethlehem Catholic (20-1) won the first seven bouts, all by regular decision, on its way to a state championship final win over Boyertown (22-1), 37-12. It’s the fifth state title for the Golden Hawks, but its first one at the AAA level. Bethlehem Catholic moved up in classification from AA last season, finishing third in the state.

AA NOTES: The Class AA championship match featured a battle of undefeated teams as Brookville (29-0) defeated Saucon Valley (26-1), 33-24. It’s the second state title for the Raiders. Brookville won the Class AA crown in 1999, the first year the PIAA held team championships. Reynolds defeated Boiling Springs in the third place consolation final, 45-21.

Belle Vernon Leopards 30 – Nazareth BLue Eagles 28

Belle Vernon Leopards 36 – Kiski Area Cavaliers 26

Kiski Area Cavaliers 32 – Canon-McMillan Big Macs 22

Tags: Belle Vernon, Canon-McMillan, Kiski School