Fort Cherry’s Braedon Welsh stars at Southmoreland Holiday Classic

By: Dave Mackall
Saturday, December 28, 2024 | 9:33 PM

A long and tedious stay in Westmoreland County was well worth it for Fort Cherry senior wrestling star Braedon Welsh, who claimed his second individual championship and won the Outstanding Wrestler Award on Saturday at the Southmoreland Holiday Classic.

Welsh, the top Class 2A 189-pounder in the Trib HSSN rankings, needed just 1 minute, 19 seconds to dispose of Central Catholic junior Nezumiiro Green and earn the tournament’s top wrestling honor.

“First time wrestling him. Really didn’t know anything about him,” Welsh said. “I try not to look too much at the kids I go against. I just go out and wrestle.”

Welsh was joined by Frazier junior Jackson Angelo at 172 as WPIAL top-ranked wrestlers to secure victories in the finals.

Angelo, who trailed Mason Savitz of District 10 Corry for much of the match, rallied in the third period and scored a pin at 5:50 before triumphantly bouncing to his feet and celebrating.

After his hand was raised in victory, Angelo frantically raced into a hallway leading from the gymnasium at Southmoreland High School and out of sight.

Following a long first day Friday — the schedule ran roughly 12 hours — it was short work Saturday for Welsh, a Brown commit who was making his second appearance in the annual event that attracted 33 teams and turned away 15 others.

“The last couple years, we’ve really pushed to make this tournament something bigger and better,” said tournament director Dan Boring, the former Southmoreland wrestling coach. “In my opinion, it’s probably top tier in terms of holiday tournaments in the state. A lot of teams wanted to come in that we just couldn’t accommodate.”

Running concurrently with the more renowned Powerade Wrestling Tournament at Canon-McMillan, the Southmoreland Holiday Classic completed its 25th season, the past eight under Boring.

Valley principal Jon Banko, another former Southmoreland wrestling coach, founded the event in 2000.

“A lot of these schools need a place to go over the Christmas break,” Boring said. “We ran 600 bouts on Friday. It’s not Powerade, but it’s been around a long time.”

Welsh, who competed at the Powerade Wrestling Tournament last season, won his first Southmoreland Holiday Classic championship as a sophomore at 172 pounds in 2022, pinning Brice Hall of Lexington (Va.) Rockbridge County in 2:25.

“This is a great tournament, and any tournament you go to, you’ve got to change your approach,” Welsh said. “This type of thing wears you out. You’ve got all these matches, and you’re not eating your best. In dual meets, you only have one match, one kid you have to worry about. We were here 12 hours (Friday).”

Welsh, like others mainly from the western reaches of the WPIAL and beyond, opted to remain overnight in a hotel rather than travel back and forth to their homes.

Four wrestlers won their second championship in as many years Saturday, including two from WPIAL schools.

Santino Slaboda of Butler, the top-ranked Class 3A wrestler at 127, won at 114 in 2023. He followed up Saturday with a pin of Fox Chapel’s Landon Funk at 127.

Ramil Islamov of Baldwin won at 139 in 2023 before major decisioning Josef Garshnick of District 6 United at 145.

Islamov, who dropped back one weight class, is ranked No. 2 at 152.

He said no matter where he lands in the lineup, his routine for the day doesn’t change.

“I wake up and usually get a nice, warm shower,” he said. “But, of course, I want to start off with a good night of rest, because these tournaments are long. Once I get here and get weighed in, you need to rehydrate properly and don’t eat a bunch of junk, so you can perform well.”

Mission accomplished for the senior 145-pound — Or is it 152-pound? — senior.

Other back-to-back winners were Cyrus Hurd of District 10 North East, who major decisioned Bentworth’s Drake McClure at 133, and Rowan Holmes of District 5 Somerset, who pinned Jonah McCoy of District 6 Westmont Hilltop at 215.

Four other WPIAL winners were Butler’s Nick Savannah at 107, North Catholic’s Victor Wagner at 114, Plum’s Trent Reese at 152 and Fox Chapel’s Joseph Geller at 215.

Savannah won by decision against Kayden Braun of Freedom, as did Wagner against Alex Medlen of Beth-Center.

Reese benefited by a forfeit victory over Cody Proper of Corry, whereas Geller brushed aside Corry’s Kael Albers by major decision.

Other championship winners were Lucas Smith of District 5 Berlin-Brothersvalley, who pinned Rockey Kowle of North East at 121; Gideon Bracken of United, who scored a technical fall against Plum’s Owen Campbell at 139; and Jaelen Culp of Lancaster (S.C.) Indian Land, who by major decision at 160, surprised top-ranked Class 2A Owen Ivcic of Bentworth.

Tags: Southmoreland