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Change of venue suits Chartiers Valley wrestlers

By Eleanor Bailey almanac Sports Editor ebailey@thealmanac.Net 5 min read
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A change of environment was just what the Chartiers Valley wrestling team needed. The Colts traveled to Ohio the last weekend of January and competed successfully in the Buckeye Local Panther Classic.

“It was fun to get out of our area and face some out-of-state competition,” said CV coach Bill Evans.

CV finished with three champions, a bonze medalist and four additional place winners. As a squad, they took fourth in the team standings.

Dylan Evans dominated the competition, winning Outstanding Wrestler honors after beating the returning Ohio state runner-up, Dominic Paterra, by major decision, 23-9, in the 157-pound championship match. Earlier in the event, Evans pinned three opponents (Torsten Foreman, Makkah Newlun and Aaron Lara) in a minute or less.

“Dylan definitely had a fantastic tournament,” said Coach Evans, who also doubles as Dylan’s dad.

Evans improved to 24-3 on the season. A Pitt recruit, he has a 126-27 career record. He is defending WPIAL and PIAA champion.

Brady Joling topped the podium in the 120-pound weight class.

After posting three, first-period falls against Liam Westfall, TreFeist Winsland and Gabe Chaplin, Joling defeated Salvatore Palmisano, 5-1, in the semifinals. He bested Dylan Ward, 9-2, in the finals.

“After those three fall, Brady had two nearly flawless victories,” said Evans.

After the showing, Joling was four wins away from entering the Century Club. A Davidson recruit, he stood at 96-43 overall for his career and 23-5 on the year.

Tyler Glover captured the 215-pound bracket. He opened with a tech fall, 15-0, against Logan Baker then pinned Antonio Aguirre (0:58) and Alias Pugh (1:40) to reach the finals. In the championship bout, Glover defeated Levi Heath from Jefferson Morgan, 8-2.

“Tyler is one of the great stories of our team this year,” said Evans.

Glover hadn’t wrestled since fifth grade but he came out his junior year to build upon his football skills. A Division I football recruit, he owns a 17-5 record with 13 of those victories being by fall.

“Tyler has been phenomenal,” said Evans. “His heart definitely is on the field, but we are loving him on the mats this season.”

Michael Lawrence grabbed the bronze in the 138-pound weight class. He pinned Westinghouse’s Santiago Bradbury in the first round but fell to Hunter Spitznogle in 3:46 to fall into the consolation bout. There he pinned Caden Ellison in 1:53.

“Michael had a great tournament,” Evans said. “Minus one — let’s call it a freshman mistake — he was basically perfect.

“He was beating the No. 1 seed pretty handily, until he got a little too aggressive with a cradle and caught himself on his back in the semifinals,” Evans noted. “Every other match was in his favor.”

Other place winners for the Colts were: Logan Connolly (126) and Anthony Trout (144), both fifth; Howard Clean (175), seventh; and Aubbek Muradov (113), eighth.

The Colts finished fourth overall in the team standings with 187.5 points. Fairmont (W.Va.) won the event with a 326 score followed by Martins Ferry (Ohio) and Indian Creek with 192.5 and 191 points, respectively.

“It was a tight race for second through fourth place so to be within six points of second was nice because aside from Dylan, Brady and Tyler, we mostly start sophomores and freshmen. They are making some mistakes here and there, but they are competing hard and learning every day.”

Evans also acknowledged the efforts of freshmen Morgan Silberman and Travis Schoonover.

“I really like how they wrestled,” he said. “Those are two names to watch over the next few years. They will be key players for what is shaping up to be a very strong team in the next two years.”

Bethel Park (7-4) dropped a narrow decision, 34-28, against Fox Chapel during preliminary round of action in the WPIAL Class AAA team wrestling tournament.

The Foxes held a 7-6 edge in matches, winning four bouts by falls. The Black Hawks posted two pins and two tech falls. Both teams won two weight classes by regular decisions but the Foxes had one major.

Winning by falls for BP were heavyweight Landon Hartman in 12 seconds and Aden Stout in 3:01 in the 133-pound bout.

Aiden Bench (121) and Mason Kernan (139) won by tech falls. Seth Miller and Ethan Higgins scored decisions at 127 and 145.

That string of victories vaulted BP into the lead, 28-22. However, the Foxes recorded back-to-back pins at 152 and 160 to close out the victory.

The Foxes (11-7) went on to face Waynesburg (11-2)and succumbed to the defending WPIAL and PIAA champions, 54-9.

In other first-round WPIAL team tournament action, Butler eliminated Peters Township, 41-26.

Darius McMillon (133), Issac Meyers (114), Noah Schratz (145) and Chris Cibrone (152) recorded wins. John Radnor(127) won by forfeit to complete PT’s scoring.

While the team finals were held Feb. 4 at AHN Arena in Peters Township, the quest for individual glory commences with section tournaments on Feb. 25.

South Fayette will host the South Section in Class AAA. Among the 12 teams competing will be Baldwin, Bethel Park, Canon-McMillan, Chartiers Valley, Moon, Mt. Lebanon, Peters Township, the host Lions, Trinity, Upper St. Clair, Waynesburg and West Allegheny.

The top six finishers advance to the South West Regional set for March 3-4 at Canon-McMillan. The top four finishers advance to the PIAA championships to be held March 9-11 at the Giant Center in Hershey.

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