Burrell wrestling team snaps Kiski Area’s winning streak

By: Jerin Steele
Wednesday, December 14, 2022 | 9:46 PM

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In a sense, it was a welcome-to-varsity-wrestling moment for Julian Bertucci.

The freshman 121-pounder found himself in a spot to clinch the match for Burrell and end a 10-match winning streak for Kiski Area in the battle of Alle-Kiski Valley rivals.

Bertucci said there were some nerves, but he dug deep and finished off a third-period pin of Amari McNeil.

The win gave the Bucs the lead, and a forfeit victory for Cooper Hornack at 133 pounds made it official. Burrell snapped Kiski Area’s long winning streak with a 36-34 victory in a nonsection match Wednesday night.

“It was a lot of pressure leading up to it, but in the end, you just have to put the work in to see the results,” Bertucci said. “Even though there was a lot of pressure with the match on the line, I was doing it for my team. And I got the job done.”

Bertucci was close to recording a pin a couple of times in the first two periods, but time ran out on him. Nevertheless, he persisted and got the six points Burrell needed.

“It was frustrating, because either the period would end or we’d go out of bounds,” Bertucci said. “I knew there was still a lot of time left in the match, so I knew I could get it done with a pin and secure the win for Burrell.”

Niko Ferra (139) started off the night with a first-period pin over Kiski Area’s Bella Devito, and Anthony Barbieri received a forfeit at 145. Then the Cavaliers went on a four-match victory run.

Riley Shearer (152) earned a third-period pin against Shawn Oden. Logan Bechtold (160) got a sudden victory in overtime over Nico Zanella. Mark Gray (172) won a 7-4 decision in a spirited match with Isaac Lacinski, and Cooper Roscosky (189) scored a 10-0 major decision over Cameron Martin.

Then, Luke Boylan (215) got some momentum back for the Bucs. Boylan got a second-period pin over Donavin Harbison to give the Bucs an 18-16 lead.

“That was a huge win for Luke,” Bucs coach Josh Shields said. “Then it was a big moment for Julian as a freshman. That’s a big match for him. We have seven freshmen on our roster, and we started four of them. This was our first big competition of the year where a match means a lot. You never know how freshmen are going to respond. Some had good days, and some had bad. We’ll reevaluate from here, but anytime you beat Kiski, you’re happy.”

Jack Crider (285), Noah Henry (114) and Ryan Klingensmith (127) earned pins for Kiski Area. Cam Baker (107) received one of the three forfeit victories for Burrell.

Despite the loss, Cavaliers coach Chris Heater was pleased with his group’s performance. The Cavaliers had a couple of injuries and were unable to fill three weight classes.

“I thought we wrestled great,” Heater said. “I haven’t lost here much, but if you can be proud of a loss, I’m certainly proud of the way we wrestled. I don’t like to lose. Nobody does. They got 36 points, and we gave 18 to them. They had good guys at those spots, so they might have got the points anyways. It hurts to give those up. We just needed two matches to not get pinned and we win, but that didn’t happen.”

Jerin Steele is a freelance writer

Tags: Burrell, Kiski Area