Sports

Last Updated on Wednesday, 13 February 2013 21:10

Peters Township Takes First Place
By Paul Chasko

This year Ringgold High School hosted the Tri-County Athletic Directors Association Wrestling Tournament, and a total of 19 teams from Washington, Fayette, and Greene counties participated in the event.

Ringgold’s Doug Gudenburr (top) works on Hunter Fry of Fort Cherry (106# match).

The tournament began Friday, January 11 and ran through most of Saturday, January 12, finishing up late afternoon. There were a total of 362 matches between 191 wrestlers ranging over the 14 set scholastic weight divisions.

Four matches were ongoing at any given time, and the computerized system for scheduling and scoring the matches worked flawlessly. The brackets were provided to officials, coaches, and attendees beforehand, and scores for the matches were available in real time. Amenities for attendees including adequate parking, rest areas, and an open cafeteria were appreciated and security officers were on hand throughout the two-day event. Officiating was excellent with very few scoring complaints. Medical technicians were present to handle injuries. Ringgold proved to be up to the complex task of running the event, thanks to a dedicated administration and staff.

Peters Township Wrestling Team and coaches gather around the TRICADA School Championship trophy.

The Peters Township Wrestling Team won the first place tournament trophy with a team score of 162.5 points. Waynesburg came in second place with 157.5 points, followed by Canon-McMillan with 147.5 points. Chartiers-Houston came in at 146.5 points, and Jefferson-Morgan was fifth with 134.5 team points. Following the top five were McGuffey at 134 and Ringgold at 124.5. The individual champions are listed below by weight class:

106#, Brendan Price, Canon-McMillan
113#, A. C. Headlee, Waynesburg
120#, Dalton Macri, Canon-McMillan
126#, Ty Buckiso, Peters Twp.
132#, Italo Merante, Peters Twp.
138#, Nick Gavazzi, Charleroi
145#, Shane Piper, Waynesburg
152#, Bo Hampson, Waynesburg
160#, Sammy Minor, Canon-McMillan
170#, David Kincaid, Char-Houston
182#, Dustin Conti, Jeff-Morgan
195#, Garrett Vulcano, Char-Houston
220#, Jake Temple, Avella
285#, Evan Seaman, Trinity

Taylor Bass (Ringgold) at left and Mason Shumaker (Bentworth) discuss the tournament while cooling down after their match. Bass won by a decision 2-1 in overtime.

Ringgold’s Coach Bob Bove has a cadre of talented young wrestlers, including junior Devin Fallenstein (160#), freshman Doug Gudenburr (106#), sophomore Jake Gerard (126#), and junior Brandon Heinzelman (145#). Another surprise at the heavyweight end is sophomore Taylor Bass, now wrestling at 285 lbs. After an initial loss in this tournament to McGuffey’s Austin Johnson, Bass won his next five matches to take third place in his weight class, winning two by falls. Ringgold Athletic Director Ron McMichael commented, “Ringgold doesn’t now have just a wrestling team but a viable wrestling program.” Six members of the Ringgold squad medaled in this tournament, and the team has secured a spot in the playoff matches.

Local winners are listed below in bold type.

Weight Class 106 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	Brendan Price	Canon-MacMillan
2	Brendan Howard	Jefferson-Morgan
3	Doug Gudenburr	Ringgold
4	Austin McDermitt	Burgettstown
5	Gage Nicolella	McGuffey
6	Cole Rush	Waynesburg

Weight Class 113 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	A.C. Headlee	Waynesburg
2	Zach Swarrow	Beth Center
3	Phillip Mary	Peters Twp.
4	Aaron Harris	McGuffey
5	Jake Rothka	Bentworth
6	Josh Minor	Canon-McMillan

Weight Class 120 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	Dalton Macri	Canon-McMillan
2	Shaun Wilson	Waynesburg
3	Ryan Yocum	Trinity
4	Richie McGinnis	Chartiers-Houston
5	Matt Vickless	Bentworth
6	Will Valentine	Albert Gallatin

Weight Class 126 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	Ty Buckiso	Peters Twp.
2	Vince Vahaly	Bentworth
3	Jake Gerard	Ringgold
4	Josiah Hritsko	Canon-McMillan
5	Terry Victor	Waynesburg
6	Trevor Kniiha	Jefferson-Morgan

Weight Class 132 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	Italo Merante	Peters Twp.
2	Gage Downer	Ringgold
3	Wade Blackmon	West Greene
4	Trevor Wood	Bentworth
5	Stephan Kotouch	Burgettstown
6	Erik Whitfield	McGuffey

Weight Class 138 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	Nick Gavazzi	Charleroi
2	Jason Miller	Jefferson-Morgan
3	Tony Welsh	Beth Center
4	Michael Heasly	Waynesburg
5	John Ivaschenko	Peters Twp.
6	Tyler Harris	McGuffey

Weight Class 145 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	Shane Piper	Waynesburg
2	Tanner Sutton	Chartiers-Houston
3	Matt Johnston	West Greene
4	Jason Stay	Beth Center
5	Jeff Miller	Trinity
6	Ryan Zalar	Jefferson-Morgan

Weight Class 152 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	Bo Hampson	Waynesburg
2	Evan Sherrieb	Trinity
3	Jake Caputo	Peters Twp.
4	Allen Pritchett	Ringgold
5	Matt Riggle	Beth Center
6	Jake McKee	Burgettstown

Weight Class 160 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	Sammy Minor	Canon-McMillan
2	Devin Fallenstein	Ringgold
3	Bill Bowlen	Jefferson-Morgan
4	Derek Hull	Chartiers-Houston
5	Matt Abbott	Burgettstown
6	Mike Macaleavy	Peters Twp.

Weight Class 170 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	David Kincaid	Chartiers-Houston
2	Zac Herrle	McGuffey
3	Branden Dice	Albert Gallatin
4	Dalton Wildman	West Greene
5	Jesse Lesko	Canon-McMillan
6	Mac Obershelp	Peters Twp.

Weight Class 182 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	Dustin Conti	Jefferson-Morgan
2	Brent Blacharczyk	McGuffey
3	Robert West	Trinity
4	Jimmy Saieva	Chartiers-Houston
5	Zach Simonelli	Avella
6	Brad Roberts	Burgettstown

Weight Class 195 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	Garrett Vulcano	Chartiers-Houston
2	Cody Jacobs	West Greene
3	Derek Allen	Avella
4	Brandon Hucik	Burgettstown
5	Anthony Patterson	Jefferson-Morgan
6	Jake Fordyce	Bentworth

Weight Class 220 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	Jake Temple	Avella
2	Josh Kraushaar	Chartiers-Houston
3	Ryan Steinstraw	McGuffey
4	Chris Hlatky	Albert Gallatin
5	Christian Phelps	Peters Twp.
6	Ryan Pendeville	Burgettstown

Weight Class 285 lbs.

Place	Wrestler	School
1	Evan Seaman	Trinity
2	Lucas Cervanak	Peters Twp.
3	Taylor Bass	Ringgold
4	Trevor Bedilion	West Greene
5	Austin Johnson	McGuffey
6	Alex Paulina	Canon-McMillan