Trib HSSN Wrestler of the Week: Mt. Pleasant’s Dayton Pitzer

By: Doug Gulasy
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 | 4:48 PM

WRESTLER OF THE WEEK: Dayton Pitzer, Mt. Pleasant, fr.

The fantastic frosh continued his dominant season with a PIAA Class AA Southwest Regional title, one week after winning a WPIAL championship.

Pitzer, who has just one loss all season, pinned his first three opponents in the 182-pound bracket — including Freedom’s Bryson Miller, a defending regional champion — to reach the finals, where he overcame an early deficit to beat Ellwood City’s Austin Walley, 9-6, in a rematch from the WPIAL finals.

OTHER NOMINEES

Dom DeLuca, Derry, sr.: DeLuca nailed down his 150th career victory along with the 220-pound championship at the PIAA Class AA Southwest Regional. After getting a pair of pins in the first round and quarterfinals, DeLuca notched two hard-fought decisions — 3-9 over Central Cambria’s John Croft in the semifinals and 3-2 over Chestnut Ridge’s Duane Knisely in the title bout.

Joey Fischer, South Park, so.: The 106-pounder remained undefeated on the season as he won his first PIAA Southwest Regional title. Two major decisions and a decision took Fischer to the finals, where he used two takedowns to get a 4-3 decision over Chestnut Ridge’s Kai Burkett. Fischer was a regional runner-up last season.

Darren Miller, Kiski Area, sr.: Miller won a showdown with Franklin Regional’s Colton Camacho in the 126-pound final of the Section 1-AAA tournament, earning his third section championship. He earned a hard-fought 4-3 decision over Camacho, also a two-time section champion.

Gerrit Nijenhuis, Canon-McMillan, jr.: He began the week by announcing a commitment to Purdue and ended it with his third section championship in as many seasons at the Section 4-AAA tournament. Nijenhuis did it with two pins, spending just over two minutes on the mat combined.

Ryan Sullivan, Shaler, sr.: The defending state champion began the individual Class AAA postseason by winning his third career title at the Section 3-AAA tournament. Sullivan got to the finals with a pin and technical fall, then outlasted Pine-Richland freshman Kelin Laffey for a 2-0 decision in the finals.

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review Staff Writer. You can contact Doug at 412-388-5830, dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

Tags: Canon-McMillan, Derry Area, Kiski School, Mt. Pleasant, Shaler, South Park