Chartiers Valley wrestlers hitting their stride at right time

By: Ted Sarneso
Sunday, January 26, 2025 | 11:01 AM

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When speaking about his wrestlers and the season they’ve been having, Chartiers Valley coach Bill Evans brought up a quote he recently read:

“Your culture is not words on a website or posted on the wall. It’s how your people feel on Sunday night.”

The quote references how the members of a work group feel on the eve of another work week and how the culture is affected by whether they feel great or awful about the prospect of another weekly grind.

Evans is ecstatic that his players belong to the former category.

“They love the sport, love being here, and sometimes I have to kick them out of the practice room,” he said. “I’m very happy, very proud with how hard they work.”

Evans had been looking for a change in culture around Chartiers Valley wrestling after the past couple of seasons when the team didn’t finish with a winning record.

At the beginning of this year, it looked like more of the same for the Colts. After losing their first two dual meets and the first three meets of a duals tournament at North Hills on Dec. 14, the team had an 0-5 record.

“Our first two matches of the year, against North Allegheny and Canon-McMillan I purposely scheduled for the beginning of the season,” Evans said. “I wanted to give our guys a wake-up call. If we started the year against two cake teams, it would have taken our guys a long time to regain their focus after a loss.”

Whatever the message was, Evans’ wrestlers responded by winning the next three matches at North Hills, then won five of their next seven meets to sit at 8-7 on the season and 1-2 in Section 2-3A.

The team also placed sixth out of 20 teams at the Bo Wood tournament at IUP and were 11th out of 34 teams at the Burgettstown Invitational.

“Those first few matches definitely got our guys to focus, and it helped us build our stride and showed us who was serious about this year,” Evans said.

One wrestler who has taken the season seriously is junior Michael Lawrence who, at 172 pounds, began the season 21-0 and finished second at the Bo Wood tournament for his first loss. He also finished third at Burgettstown after his second loss, when he dinged his shoulder halfway through his first match. He didn’t want to forfeit but lost a close bout after trying a reversal.

“In the end, he went for something big and gave up some points,” Evans said. “He’s a tough kid, super athlete, gritty. In the second half, we’re going to see what kind of extra work he puts in to take things to the next level. He’s got to find that last gear and if he does, he’ll be hard to beat.”

Lawrence finished third at the Burgettstown Invitational and has gone 3-2 since for a 24-4 mark. He has 40 career pins.

Another standout for the Colts is Saint Vincent commit Logan Connolly. The senior has split his season wrestling at both 133 and 139 and has compiled a 24-7 record. He placed third at Burgettstown.

“He’s had a couple interesting losses, some of them due to some poor decisions where he put himself in some bad spots,” Evans said. “That’s the thing about Logan: He’s such a smart, talented kid, he always tries something new and even if it doesn’t work out, he learns from it.”

Evans sees both Lawrence and Connolly as being in the best positions right now to make deep runs come the postseason.

Two more wrestlers who could make some noise are senior Howard Clellan and freshman Cooper Knorr.

“Howard’s having a nice year,” Evans said. “He’s a hard-working, strong kid. Everything he does, he goes hard at. He just swore to the Marine Corps and reminds you of a private. A lot of ‘Yes sir, no sir,’ and, ‘I’ll run through a brick wall.’ He’s just that kind of kid. He deserves all his success.”

Clellan has a 14-11 mark and has made significant strides to better his record from last year (13-14). He wrestles at 189 and 215. He also placed second at Bo Wood.

Knorr has been a pleasant surprise for the Colts. Coming into the season, Evans admitted that his team was still looking for wrestlers to fill the 107 and 114 spots in the lineup. Knorr has locked down 107.

“He reminds me of the Penn State wrestlers that just let it fly,” Evans said. “He’s a wild man, not afraid to scrap. Sometimes he gives up bad points, but it doesn’t matter. He’s a freshman just out there letting it go. As time goes on, he’s going to be the reason people come to watch CV wrestling.”

With three more meets left before playoffs, Knorr has a 20-7 record.

Other young wrestlers who have made strides include freshmen Ahmed Riawi (127) and Wyar Alozie (189) and sophomores Maksim Rybalko (145) and Tilek Sadyrbekov (133).

“Ahmed is from Syria and new to the sport, but he’s built like a tank and picks things up very quick,” Evans said. “We weren’t sure what we were going to get from Wyar at first, but he’s packed on muscle and slimmed down and commits himself to work with the older guys.

“Maksim has a lot of judo in his background but is transitioning nicely. Tilek has been banged up this year, so we’ve been sitting him out lately to get him healthy for the postseason. His younger brother, Musabek, is blocked by Lawrence, but has been getting a lot of time in tournaments. He’ll be a strong kid in the future.”

After defeating section rival South Fayette on Jan. 15 to get over the .500 mark, the Colts have one more section meet against Waynesburg to try to get to .500 in section competition.

“It’s always good to beat South Fayette,” Evans said. “You want to win those border wars. Winning that one and hopefully getting the win over Waynesburg are important to close the year. They set the tone for the guys returning next year.”

The Colts close out the regular season against Connellsville and Baldwin as they tune up for the postseason.

“We just need to go out there and wrestle with the same gritty attitude we have all year,” Evans said. “Wrestle the position, not the guy. We also want to make sure we continue to have fun along the way.”

Tags: Chartiers Valley