Wrestling notebook: Greensburg Salem coach Randy Parsley set for family reunion at Delaware tournament

By: Paul Schofield
Tuesday, December 10, 2019 | 7:33 PM

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When the Greensburg Salem wrestling team goes to the Milford (Del.) Invitational on Saturday, it will be a special time for the Parsley family.

It’s the first time that Randy’s Golden Lions will face the team his brother Don coaches, the Milford Buccaneers.

The Bucs have won six consecutive Delaware High School Division II state titles and a total of eight since 1993. Parsley has coached six of those teams and two others were runners-up.

“We’ve always wanted to get together, and this year it worked out,” Randy Parsley said. “It will be nice to go. They’ve held this tournament for more than 20 years.

“I’m excited to see how the things go, and I want to see how the team performs.”

The Golden Lions competed in the Erie McDowell Tournament on Dec. 7 and had three champions: Ian Ewing at 152 pounds, John Meyers at 220 and heavyweight Bill McChesney. The team placed fourth.

“It was a good tournament,” Randy Parsley said, “Reynolds was there, Fort LeBoeuf, McDowell and Saint Vincent-Saint Marys from Ohio. It was good for the team. It gave us something new.”

Greensburg Salem went to Ohio for tournaments in previous seasons.

ON THE MEND

Two PIAA champions missed the start of the season.

Mt. Pleasant sophomore Dayton Pitzer is dealing with an injury and first-year coach Zach Snyder is hopeful he’ll return by the Powerade Tournament.

Pitzer was the Class AA WPIAL and PIAA champion at 182 pounds and finished his freshman season with a 43-1 record.

The Vikings opened the season by going 2-3, and Snyder said if Pitzer would have be in the lineup, the team would have been 4-1.

The other sidelined state champion was Canon-McMillan senior Gerrit Nijenhuis, who missed the Cumberland Valley Tournament with an illness. He wasn’t the only Big Mac to miss the tournament. State qualifier Tanner Rohaley was ill.

Nijenhuis was the 170-pound champ and finished the 2018-19 season with a 44-3 record.

Washington heavyweight Gerald Comedy, who was a PIAA qualifier, is dealing with an injury from football and may miss the season.

STRONG SHOWING

Seneca Valley had a great showing at the Cumberland Valley tournament.

Two-time PIAA champion Alejandro Herrera-Rondon won the 132-pound title by edging Manheim Central’s Will Betancourt, 1-0, and Antonio Amelio grabbed the 145-pound title by beating Shikellamy’s Cade Balestrini, 5-4.

Two other wrestlers reached the finals only to lose close decisions.

Hunter Swedish fell, 4-2, to Downingtown West’s Dom Findora at 106 pounds and PIAA runner-up Dylan Chappell fell to Cumberland Valley’s Ben Monn, 2-1, at 120.

The Raiders had three wrestlers place third. They were Chanz Shearer (138), Drew Vlasnik (152) and Liam Volk-Klos (170).

Canon-McMillan, minus Nijenhuis and Rohaley, had two second-place finishers. They were Jacob Houpt at 113 and heavyweight Giomar Ramos.

THIS AND THAT

McGuffey went 5-0 in winning the John Marshall Duals in West Virginia. … Two-time PIAA and three-time WPIAL champion Frazier senior Thayne Lawrence and PIAA placewinner Latrobe senior Gabe Willochell reached the century mark in wins. Lawrence now has 101 and Willochell 103. Riley Kemper of Burgettstown also reached the 100-win mark by winning the Chartiers-Houston Tournament. … Latrobe had four champions at the Hickory Tournament, including two freshmen: Vincent Kilkeary at 106 and Nate Roth at 120. The other winners were Willochell at 138 and Jack Pletcher at 152.

LOOKING AHEAD

There are numerous tournaments this weekend that 40 WPIAL teams are involved in.

The three biggest are Ironman at Stow, Ohio, Panther Holiday Classic at Mount Aloysius College in Cresson, and King of the Mountain at Central Mountain High School in Mill Hall near Lock Haven.

Heading to Ohio are Frazier, Seneca Valley and Waynesburg.

Going to the Panther Classic are Ligonier Valley, Mars, McGuffey, Mt. Pleasant, North Allegheny and Valley.

Teams at the King of the Mountain Tournament are Burrell, Canon-McMillan, Chartiers Valley, Franklin Regional, Penn-Trafford, Thomas Jefferson and Trinity.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Canon-McMillan, Frazier, Greensburg Salem, Latrobe, Mt. Pleasant, Seneca Valley, Washington, Waynesburg