Upper St. Clair opens mat season under new leadership
With the commencement of the WPIAL dual meet season Dec. 14, Upper St. Clair hopes to build upon its recent success with new leadership. Joshua Mollica takes over the controls since Sean O’Rourke has taken a leave of absence this school year from his position as high school English teacher.
Mollica knows about mat matters. Since he was 7, he has wrestled or coached in the sport. He competed at Fort Cherry High School and wrestled for Ron Headlee at Waynesburg University, graduating in 2010. He cut his coaching teeth at his alma mater and spent five seasons at South Fayette, where the Lions have been successful.
“We did very well there,” Mollica said of his tenure at SF and then outlined his hopes as Panthers’ mat boss.
“I hope to continue the success here at USC and try to get them to the next level. They have always been a competitive program with rich tradition,” he added. “With my staff and knowledge, we can take it one step further.”
After competing successfully in the Chartiers-Houston Tournament this weekend, Mollica takes the first step toward securing a playoff berth for his Panthers in the WPIAL tournament. Section action was to commence with USC visiting Peters Township but the match has been moved to January. The Panthers instead will compete in the North Hills Tournament this weekend.
“Our toughest match will be Peters,” Mollica predicted. “We wrestle them first and I’m expecting a good match. I think it’s possible we could match up well with them.”
That’s because the Panthers return eight veterans to the starting line-up.
Eli Grape headlines the list. The Lehigh recruit is coming off an eighth-place finish at states and a 30-2 record.
“My expectations for him are very high as are my expectations for everyone, but Eli I expect a bit more this year,” Mollica said. “Obviously a state title is what we are shooting for but I would be happy seeing Eli in the top three at states.”
USC has four other top wrestlers, all of whom posted 20 wins last season. Among them are: Grant Walnoha (24-11 at 132); Thomas Kyle (22-15 at 138/145); Jake Slinger (31-11 at 220) and Jay Pollock (25-9 at 285). Other returnees include: Sean Martin (145-152) and Jack Burton (195-220). Though he did not wrestle last year, Aaron Fultineer is back out for the sport this season. He will compete at 138 or 145.
“I expect all of these guys to do well in every tournament and all advance to the WPIALs at the end of the year, as well as be my go to guys in dual meets,” Mollica said.
Mollica also anticipates input from freshman Dan Kyle, sophmores Harvey Rauch and Quinn Murray.
“They could be guys to watch,” he said. “All three have great potential and I expect them to make great strides as the season progresses.”
Even before the 2016-17 campaign progresses too far, Belle Vernon, which won the WPIAL team title last winter, is expected to dominate the division along with Connellsville. Nevertheless, USC plans to make a push for a playoff spot.
“Our section is very competitive and balanced,” Mollica said. “Obviously the top team is Belle Vernon and Connellsville is always very competitive along with Peters but I feel we will do a good job at being competitive with the hopes of making it to the team tournament again this year as in years past.”
To do the Panthers will rely on their strength in the upper weights. “We have experience there with two of the three seniors all having 25 wins or over. We will look to those guys to give us major points throughout the dual meet season. But we have to make up for our lack of numbers with the lightweights and our youth.”
Mt. Lebanon
Youth is on the side of Mt. Lebanon as the Blue Devils kick off the dual meet season paying a visit to Canon-McMillan on Dec. 14.
The Blue Devils return Turner Gray at 160 as well as Sean McKenney, Mickey Kail and Brian Perri to their starting line-up. Gray was 28-9 last season and is on the verge of his 100th career win. McKinney and Perri each won 19 matches last winter and Kail had 16 victories.
“All of these wrestlers have the capability to wrestle with the best kids in the WPIAL and they all should be focused on trying to get to Hershey,” Lebo skipper Marc Allemang said.
New to the line-up are Luke Stout and Jackson Gray. Though freshmen, they have been wrestling for a number of years. Allemang “expects” them to do well this season.
“We are a young group with a lot of ninth and 10th graders but most of them have experience,” Allemang said. “With the guys who have never wrestled a varsity match, we need to get them thinking that they can wrestle with anyone and stay mentally positive with themselves.”
As a team, Allemang has a positive outlook. He anticipates the Blue Devils having a winning record and competing with every team in the section.
“We feel like we have the bodies in the room to be able to compete with anyone. It’s a really strong section with Waynesburg and Trinity in that group with Canon-Mac, which we know has a strong team,” Allemang said. “We have a lot of strong teams on the schedule but we told our guys that we need to make sure that we are training just as hard as any of the teams that we will face this season. We will have to continue to work hard and focus each practice but we are excited to wrestle.”
South Fayette
Though they also compete in a strong conference with Burrell, Freedom, Derry and McGuffey, the Lions are equally excited about achieving their goals, which are to contend for a section and WPIAL title.
“We have the depth and athletic ability,” Rick Chaussard said. “We just need the mental toughness. And, we need to improve fundamentally.”
For that improvement, South Fayette relies upon veterans such as Colin Dunn, Gary Loeffler, Mike Cusick, Camdon Hoover, Joe Bastaroli, Cort Blatz and Mark Kurchena. Dunn and Cusick each won 30 or more matches last season.
“The team will lean of those guys for leadership on and off the mat,” said Chaussard, who is pleased that the group has demonstrated that so far this young season.
Additionally, the Lions will rely upon Jake Walker, who sat out last season, Noah Broyles, Eli Brinsky, Nick Carter, Mike Gates, Michael Dedi,Eamon and Eoin Horowitz, Quentin Franklin, Shane Dunn, David Gubinsky, Kirt and Rory Hegarty, Dalton Hirt and Brady Malazich.
The Lions open action Dec. 14 hosting Avonworth.