Trib HSSN Wrestling Team of the Week: Freedom

By: Doug Gulasy
Tuesday, February 26, 2019 | 4:50 PM

TEAM OF THE WEEK: Freedom

The Bulldogs had about as efficient a performance as possible at the PIAA Class AA Southwest Regional tournament at IUP.

Freedom sent five wrestlers to regionals, and all five earned top-six finishes and a berth at next month’s PIAA championships in Hershey. The five state qualifiers marked the most of any WPIAL team, and Freedom finished fourth in the team standings.

Trent Schultheis led the way with a championship at 152 pounds, while Bryson Miller placed third at 182 pounds, Z.J. Ward fourth at 126 and Kenny Dushek and Jake Pail fifth at 138 and 145 pounds, respectively.

Other nominees:

Canon-McMillan: The Big Macs took a bite out of the Section 4-AAA tournament, with four of their wrestlers winning titles and 10 advancing to the WPIAL tournament thanks to top-five finishes. Costa Moore, Jimmy Baxter, Kenny Hayman and Gerrit Nijenhuis all won championships.

Connellsville: The Falcons hosted the Section 2-AAA championships, and four of their wrestlers enjoyed the home-mat advantage by winning titles. Lightweight wrestlers Mason Prinkey (106), Jared Keslar (126), Joshua Maruniak (132) and Dylan Ross (138) won their respective weight classes.

Kiski Area: The Cavaliers will send a dozen wrestlers to this weekend’s WPIAL Class AAA tournament after a powerful performance at the Section 1-AAA tournament. Six Kiski Area competitors won section titles, with senior Darren Miller getting his third, senior Cam Connor and junior Nick Delp their second and senior Hunter Dilts, junior Jack Blumer and sophomore Brayden Roscosky their first.

Mt. Pleasant: The Vikings don’t have a full roster, but that matters little in the individual postseason. Three Mt. Pleasant wrestlers earned top-six finishes at the PIAA Southwest Regional, qualifying for the PIAA championships. Freshman Dayton Pitzer led the way with a title at 182 pounds, while 120-pounder Noah Teeter (third place) and 106-pounder Luke Geibig (fifth) also made it through.

Seneca Valley: Four of the Raiders’ wrestlers began the individual Class AAA postseason by winning titles at the Section 3-AAA tournament. Sophomore Alejandro Herrera-Rondon, the defending WPIAL champion, led the way with his second section title at 113 pounds, and he was joined by Dylan Chappell (106), Antonio Amelio (145) and Nick Montalbano (152).

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, Connellsville, Freedom, Kiski School, Mt. Pleasant, Seneca Valley