Bethel Park wins P-R duals
Bethel Park wrapped up the team portion of the wrestling season with convincing victories against Thomas Jefferson, 46-25, and Butler, 49-21, and won the championship during the Pine-Richland Duals.
The Black Hawks, who finished the regular season with a section title and a 19-3 overall record, are now prepared to pursue individual goals. The quest for WPIAL and PIAA championships begin with sectional action set for Feb. 24 at South Fayette High School.
In addition to Bethel Park, wrestlers from Baldwin, Canon-McMillan, Chartiers Valley, Moon, Mount Lebanon, Peters Township, South Fayette, Trinity, Upper St. Clair, Waynesburg Central and West Allegheny will vie for berths in the district finals. The top six finishers in each weight class at the sectional advance to the Southwest Regional, which doubles as the WPIAL Championships, to be held March 1-2 at Canon-McMillan High School. The top four finishers move on to the PIAA championships set for March 7-9 at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Coming on the heels of two tough, one-point losses to Trinity and Franklin Regional in the WPIAL Class 3A team championships, BP coach Tyler Nauman was pleased with how his Black Hawks recovered to finish the regular season strong, complete with the team title at Pine-Richland.
“The results spoke volumes about the growth of our team in regard to their talent and mentality,” Nauman said. “Sometimes it’s challenging to rebound after a loss, not to mention two losses and being so close to a goal, but this team did just that.
“The wrestlers weren’t going to be denied. They wrestled hard and smart and secured the championship. All we ever ask as a staff is that our guys go out to fight and give their all.”
During the duals, BP wrestled without key starters, including Mason Kernan, Pierce Reinhart and Ryan Walsh. A member of the Century Club with 112 career wins, Kernan is a West Virginia wrestling recruit while Walsh is a Virginia Tech baseball recruit.
“The depth of the team showed and many of our wrestlers stepped up,” Nauman said. “The team never once worried about not having those guys.”
During the duals, the Black Hawks dispatched West Mifflin, 67-6, and Mars, 69-6, before slipping past Greater Latrobe, 31-29. Bethel Park then defeated Kiski Area, 45-21, and Penn Hills, 66-12, to reach the finals. For the championship and team crown, the Black Hawks beat the host Rams, 42-21.
Nauman noted that facing the Wildcats and Cavaliers in back-to-back matches “wasn’t the easiest” thing to do, particularly since both teams finished among the Top 10-16 teams in the WPIAL.
“Our dual with Latrobe was a barn burner,” he said. “Latrobe was very good at limiting our bonus points where we needed. We stayed poised and got that close win and used that to roll into the Kiski dual. We picked up a nice win there as well.”
In the finals against the Rams, BP won eight matches, four by falls and one each by tech fall, major, decision and forfeit. Colton Fisher (121), Aiden Bench (133), Landon Hartman (215) and Michael Gibson (285) posted the pins. Seth Miller had the tech. fall at 127 and Ian Bucheli the major decision at 152. Jaden Palomino won, 6-2, at 107 and Ethan Higgins was awarded the forfeit at 145.
“Pine Richland made for another tough test,” Nauman said.
“We wrestled very smart, technical matches that led to these wins. We are beyond proud of these guys and their efforts. It’s been an awesome team season,” he added.
The Black Hawks acknowledged their senior grapplers in their match against Butler. Among them were: Kernan, Bench, Cordon McDonnell, Michael Nelson, AJ Tomaino and Hartman.
Baiano wins 101
Jonny Baiano from South Fayette entered the Century Club during the Montour Duals held Feb. 10. After winning by forfeit, the senior recorded four consecutive falls against Ethan Chacon from Montour, Shawn Bruzzese from Hopewell, Adrian Werner of North Hills and Nischal Dahal from Belle Vernon to raise his career record to 101-28.
Baiano is 28-2 with 18 falls this season. Earlier this winter, he won the 120-pound weight class during the Allegheny County championships.