Alle-Kiski Valley wrestling notebook: Kiski Area goes undefeated at Moon Duals

By: Greg Macafee
Tuesday, December 17, 2019 | 7:48 PM

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Even though Kiski Area is the three-time defending WPIAL Class AAA wrestling team champion, the Cavaliers are still out to prove that they are the team to beat.

So far through the 2019-20 season, that’s exactly what the Cavaliers have done, and this past weekend they continued to do so as they went undefeated at the Moon Duals, earning five wins.

None of the teams they faced scored more than 25 points. Beth Center and Connellsville came the closest, scoring 22 and 21 points, respectively. The Cavaliers kept Bethel Park, Ambridge and Quaker Valley in single digits.

Kiski got solid performances up and down the lineup. Seniors Jack Blumer and Nick Delp led the way with wins in every match.

Blumer earned pins in four of his five matches and his fifth victory was a 6-0 decision over Quaker Valley’s Connor Redinger, who has won WPIAL titles the past two years. Delp earned three pins, one decision and a major decision.

Another senior, Dom Giordano, was also a standout performer. He earned two pins and two decisions. His fifth match against Quaker Valley was a forfeit win. Jack Dilts also won all five of his matches, three coming by pin and two by forfeit.

The Cavaliers will have two more opportunities this week to prove themselves even further. They travel to Penn Trafford on Wednesday before hosting Seneca Valley, Canon-McMillan and Hempfield on Friday in the Kiski Area Quad dual. They’ll also compete in the Powerade tournament on Dec. 27-28 at Canon McMillan.

A-K Valley shines at Armstrong

Five Alle-Kiski Valley wrestlers came home from the Armstrong Winter Classic with gold medals in hand this past weekend.

Plum’s Vinny Citrano won the 113-pound weight class with a 17-2 tech fall victory over Meadville’s Javan Gray at the 4-minute mark of their match. His older brother, Jared, earned a third-place finish in the 160-pound bracket.

The Knoch Knights turned in quite the performance as well with three wrestlers winning their weight class. Kam Grassi won the 145-pound bracket by pinning Montour’s Nick Reconnu. Guy Deleonardis pinned Armstrong’s Noah Cooper to win at 160 pounds. Knoch heavyweight Eli Reese also took first, earning a 10-8 sudden victory win over McKeesport’s DJ Moehring in the finals.

Logan and Landon Harmon, who attend and play football for Apollo-Ridge but wrestle for Armstrong as a part of a co-op agreement, continued their hot start to the season.

Logan won the 195-pound bracket with a 20-5 tech fall victory over Meadville’s Rhoan Woodrow at the 3 minute, 13 second mark of the championship match. It was his eighth victory of the season.

The younger Harmon brother, Landon, pinned Cranberry’s Daniel Wry at the 2:51 mark of their third-place match. Landon lost to Montour’s Aiden DeLuca earlier in the tournament.

Continuing to climb

Over the past few years, the Highlands Golden Rams have continued to build their program from the bottom up, and they are starting to see the fruits of their labor.

This past weekend at the North Hills Duals, Highlands furthered its progress. They won three of their four matches, holding Gateway and Central Catholic to a total of six points. They also bested North Hills, 52-30.

Highlands’ only loss came against Pine Richland, but the Rams still put up a good fight. Pine Richland beat Highlands, 53-24.

Greg Macafee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Greg by email at gmacafee@triblive.com or via Twitter .