close

Mt. Lebanon energized for WPIAL team wrestling tournament

By Eleanor Bailey almanac Sports Editor ebailey@thealmanac.Net 4 min read
article image -

Now that Mt. Lebanon reached the big show that is the WPIAL wrestling team tournament, the Blue Devils cannot afford a performance such as their 50-30 loss to Connellsville in the Section 2-AAA championships on Jan. 23 at Thomas Jefferson.

“Our fight and energy wasn’t there. I’m not sure if it was nerves but we were flat,” Lebo mat boss Marc Allemang said. “We’ve got to be ready to go and fight hard. We want to win the match. We don’t want our guys being satisfied just to have gotten here. That doesn’t do anything to advance the program. We want to show something. We want to demonstrate progress and show that we are improving and the program is moving in the right direction.”

Whether the Blue Devils win on Jan. 23 against Waynesburg to advance to the WPIAL quarterfinals, they did exhibit hope for the future when they recovered from their loss to the Falcons and defeated Peters Township, 36-32, in the consolation bout to finish third in the section.

“It’s easy to feel defeated and think things are over,” Allemang said about the Connellsville defeat, where the Falcons posted seven pins, one tech fall and a major decision, “but we needed to forget it. We needed to have a short memory and get that next win.”

Starting at 182, the Blue Devils flexed their muscles against the Indians, whom they had beaten by three points back on Jan. 16 for the Sub-section 2B title. Luke Stout opened with a major decision, 13-2, against Jeff Markert at 182 then Regis Wintermantel (195), Thomas Griffin (220) and Nathan Hoaglund (285) followed with falls.

“Obviously Luke getting us started with the win was big but the pin at 220 was huge,” Allemang said.

That was because the Indians rebounded to narrow Lebo’s 22-0 advantage to two points with back-to-back falls from Amber Wilkes (106) and Jack Kail (113) as well as a tech fall from Bryce Wilkes at 120 and a 12-7 decision by Will Kail at 126.

However, Lebo earned the win in the middle, widening its margin to 36-20, with Darvish Kapitonov’s 4-1 decision at 132, Mickey Kail’s tech fall at 138 and Luke Iovino’s pin at 145.

“We had a great effort through the middle,” Allemang said. “We needed guys to step up and those guys did.”

Despite defeat, Jackson Gray stepped up a weight class to battle Donovan McMillon at 150 and freshmen Mac Stout as well as junior Everett Lefever competed well before falling to PT’s veterans Colton Jezioro and Brandon Matthews at 160 and 170.

“We knew putting some people against their people was a solid strategy and other places we had to do a little damage control,” Allemang explained about his line-up shifts. “We got the win and placing third is better than fourth,” he added because of seeding purposes in the WPIAL team tournament. “Regardless, we want to win the next match. The goal is always to win the match that is in front of you.”

Chartiers Valley and South Fayette joined Lebo and Peters in the WPIAL team tournament but Upper St. Clair did not. The Panthers lost their play-in match to West Mifflin, 35-30.

The Lions finished fourth in Section 4-AAA. After losing to Waynesburg, 56-18, SF lost the consolation match against Trinity, 48-36.

CV won its play-in match by edging West Allegheny, 39-37. Freshman Ashton Sadowski sealed the victory with a pin in the last bout of the match.

SF, CV and PT will play in the preliminary round of the team competition on Jan. 28. The Lions will face Indiana at 6 p.m. The Colts will also face off at 6 p.m. against Hampton. The Indians will take on Franklin Regional at 7:15 p.m. All matches will be wrestled at Canon-McMillan High School.

CUSTOMER LOGIN

If you have an account and are registered for online access, sign in with your email address and password below.

NEW CUSTOMERS/UNREGISTERED ACCOUNTS

Never been a subscriber and want to subscribe, click the Subscribe button below.

Starting at $/week.

Subscribe Today