Penn-Trafford wrestlers looking for strong individual performances in postseason

By: HSSN Staff
Monday, February 26, 2018 | 11:00 PM

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For the Penn-Trafford wrestling team, it was never about numbers. It was all about heart. Sending seven wrestlers — and on a good day eight — to the mat all season, Warriors coach Rich Ginther focused on developing each individual wrestler.

The big-picture approach paid dividends last Saturday at the WPIAL Section 1-3A individual championships at Kiski Area. The Warriors advanced four out of seven wrestlers to this weekend's WPIAL Class AAA Southwest Regionals at Canon-McMillin.

“It's a win,” said Ginther about his wrestlers' performance. “We had (Tony Zona and Lucas Paszek) that came one match away and were going for that fifth-place spot. They were a point or two shy and came up in some tough brackets.”

Three of those four advancing to this weekend's regionals also wrestled for first place. Senior Job Chishko (31-6) went into the day ranked No. 6 in the state and earned the No. 2 seed in the 145-pound bracket behind Kiski Area's Cam Connor (33-5). Connor is ranked fifth in the state according to PaPowerWrestling.com. Chishko held a 0-2 record this season against Connor when the two met for the 145-pound championship match. Chishko pulled off a reversal to get the match's only points and pull out a tight 2-0 decision over Connor.

“That's a real big win for him,” Ginther said. “This is the time of the year where we want to be peaking, and he's heading in the right direction.”

Not many section tourney's in the state can make the claim of having four No. 1-ranked wrestlers, but WPIAL Section 1-3A can.

Junior Nick Coy (23-6) earned a No. 2 seed in the 132-pound bracket. The seeding put Coy on a path to face the top 132-pounder in the state, Franklin Regional's Colton Camacho (33-2). Camacho lived up to his No. 1 ranking by coming away with a 5-2 decision, but Coy didn't make it easy. Coy was looking froward to the matchup.

“It's honestly nice having an opponent like Colton in the finals,” Coy said. “Everytime I wrestle him, I feel like I get a little better. It prepares me for what is to come, WPIAL's and states.

“Some people say it's unfortunate to have a kid like that in your section. I love it. Win or lose, we're still moving on, and I get prepared for the next tournament. It's Pennsylvania (Class) AAA and the finals. There is no easy road.”

Junior John Bachar's road was smooth having been seeded second at 182 pounds. Bachar (22-10) advanced to the championship match against top seed Logan Pollick (30-5). That's when the road got a bit bumpy. Bachar was on the wrong end of a 2-0 decision to Pollick. However, Bachar learned a few things from the loss.

“I was too hesitant toward my offense, and I need to try to be more solid on my feet,” Bachar said after the loss.

Ginthers son, Brett, gutted out a tough tournament showing while being hampered by a nagging thumb injury he suffered during the regular season. Brett (11-11) pinned Hempfield's Tyler Williams in the first round of the 120-pound bracket but lost to Latrobe's Enzo Angelicchio, 6-4, in overtime. Ginther went on to lose to to Norwin's Frankie Gill (20-12), 9-4, in the third-place matchup.

“The thumb's been tough, and it is what it is,” Rich Ginther said. “The doctor said if you want to try it, it's going to hurt. Again, it's all about advancing into next week.”

For Ginther, the season has been survive and advance. Survive the team portion of the season and advance through the individual competition.

“Next week's another advancement tournament, and it's all about advancing into the next week,” Ginther said. “The ultimate goal is the podium at the end of the year in Hershey.”

William Whalen is a freelance writer.