PIAA Individual Wrestling Results – Day One Recap

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, March 5, 2015 | 10:50 PM

The WPIAL opened the AAA PIAA Championships by showing why they are the strongest region in the state. They opened the Preliminary round by having their fourth place qualifiers go 9-5, while their third place qualifiers went 8-1. That momentum carried into the quarterfinals, with 30 of the 56 WPIAL wrestlers remaining in the winners bracket.

AAA WPIAL wrestlers in the quarterfinals include:
*-Devin Brown of Franklin Regional (113)
*-Gage Curry of North Hills (113)
*-Zach Hartman of Belle Vernon (120)
*-Spencer Lee of Franklin Regional (120)
*-Joe Blumer of Kiski Area (126)
*-Ethan McCoy of Latrobe (126)
*-Luke Pletcher of Latrobe (132)
*-Jake Hinkson of North Allegheny (132)
*-AC Headlee of Waynesburg (132)
*-Sam Krivus of Hempfield (138)
*-Dom Giannangeli of Franklin Regional (138)
*-Cameron Coy of Penn Trafford (138)
*-Michael Kemerer of Franklin Regional (145)
*-Jarod Verkleeren of Belle Vernon (145)
*-Vincenzo Joseph of Pittsburgh Central Catholic (152)
*-Josh Maruca of Franklin Regional (152)
*-Brendan Burnham of Pine Richland (160)
*-Josh Shields of Franklin Regional (160)
*-Paul Dunn of Bethel Park (160)
*-TeShan Campbell of Penn Hills (170)
*-Austin Bell of Belle Vernon (170)
*-Jake Shaffer of Latrobe (170)
*-Kellan Stout of Mount Lebanon (182)
*-Drew Phipps of Norwin (195)
*-Tyler Worthing of Kiski Area (220)
*-Fred Mantsch of Hempfield (220)
*-Stephon Peake of Hopewell (220)
*-Tyler Mears of Latrobe (285)
*-Zach Jablonski of Montour (285)
*-Louis Mauro of Connellsville (285)

Out of the wrestlers who dropped down into the consolations, many of the WPIAL wrestlers won to keep their wrestling season alive. Out of 56 wrestlers in the PIAA AAA Championships, the WPIAL had 9 wrestlers get eliminated on Thursday. The most notable came at 106 pounds, where WPIAL Champion Caleb Morris of Waynesburg was eliminated. Morris lost his first match to Sean Redington of Bethlehem Catholic by major decision, 9-0. In the consolations, Morris would drop a 3-2 decision to Stefhen Caple of West Scranton.The remaining eight WPIAL wrestlers to get eliminated on Thursday were 4th place finishes in their weight class a week ago.
 

The WPIAL opened the day in AA and were also impressive. Overall 31 of the 36 wrestlers the WPIAL brought to Hershey remained alive after Thursday’s action. Of those 31 wrestlers still alive, 18 remain in the winners bracket in the quarterfinals.

AA WPIAL wrestlers in the quarterfinals include:
*-Gavin Teasdale of Jefferson Morgan (106)
*-Brendan Howard of Jefferson Morgan (120)
*-Stone Kepple of Derry (126)
*-Kody Komara of Freedom (132)
*-George Phillippi of Derry
*-(132), Mike Carr of South Fayette (138)
*-GioVonne Sanders (145)
*-Jake Wentzel of South Park (152)
*-Jared Walker of South Fayette (160)
*-Greg Bulsak of South Park (170)
*-Anthony Welsh of Beth Center (170)
*-Brett Beltz of South Fayette (182)
*-Bill Bowlen of Jefferson Morgan (182)
*-Luke Fournier of Elizabeth Forward (195)
*-Jacob Robb of Kittanning (220)
*-Ian Wolfe of Jefferson Morgan (285)
*-Jacob Beistel of Southmoreland (285)
*-Al Beattie of Burrell (285)

Not many upsets occurred in AA for day one. Only three region champions out of a possible 56 lost in the first round on Thursday. Two of those though came at the hands of WPIAL wrestlers. The first was at 170 pounds, where Anthony Welsh of Beth Center defeated Northwest Champion Michael Millero of Reynolds 7-1. Millero would win in the consolations to stay alive. The second was at 195 pounds, where Luke Fournier of Elizabeth Forward knocked off Northeast Champion Zac Faust of G.A.R. Memorial by fall of 5:58. Things did not get much easier for Faust in the consolations, where Faust would drop a 3-1 decision to Robert Scherer of Burrell to be eliminated from the tournament. The final upset happened at 285, where Northwest Champion Jack Karsten of Cameron County lost to Nathan Gardinski of North Schuylkill 4-2. Karsten would win in the consolations to remain in the tournament.