CM, SF third in wrestling tournaments
Cody Wiercioch controls Patrick Coover with one arm. The Canon-McMillan senior scored an 8-1 decision over Coover in the semifinals of the Powerade Tournament but lost the 170-pound title in overtime, 3-2, to Chance Marsteller from Kennard-Dale.
Connor Schram decisioned Trinity’s Ryan Diehl, 3-1, and then won the 126-pound crown at the Powerade Tournament when Michael Kemerer defaulted in the second period of the championship bout.
Canon-McMillan and South Fayette took third places in holiday wrestling tournament action.
While the Big Macs brought home the bronze in the prestigious Powerade Tournament, the Lions staked third in the Steve Daugustino Classic held at West Mifflin.
The premier bout at the Powerade event pitted CM’s Cody Wiercioch against Kennard-Dale’s Chance Marsteller.
Both were two-time PIAA champions as well as Powerade gold medalists.
Only after the 170-pound final, which was the last match of the tournament, Marsteller had his third Powerade title. He edged Wiercioch, 3-2, in overtime.
The two marque wrestlers in the state traded escapes in regulation then again in the tiebreaker periods. Masteller used an escape in the ultimate tiebreaker period to secure his 97th career victory against no defeats.
When the match between the No. 1 and No. 2 grapplers in the state ended, the crowd of more than 3,000 stood and applauded its approval.
“I wanted to give the crowd a good match,” said Wiercioch, “and that’s what we did.”
Marsteller agreed and praised his adversary. “That was the best high school match given me since early in my freshman year,” he said.”It was an exciting match.”
The Marsteller-Wiercioch match was wrestled nearly in its entirety in the neutral position. Only 12 seconds were spent with the wrestlers in the down position. Three times Marsteller managed to get in on Wiercioch for a single-leg shot and three times Wiercioch fought it off to the roar of the crowd.
Wiercioch hit a single-leg in the third period that forced Marsteller to defend it by doing a split to fend it off. He held it for about 12 seconds before a stalemate was called. Wiercioch nearly had a takedown along the edge of the mat with a spin-around move with about 40 seconds left, but Marsteller fought it off.
While Wiercioch lost his match, the Big Macs did have a champion as Connor Schram earned a second title. In his third career Powerade final, the Stanford recruit won by default over Franklin Regional’s Michael Kemerer. Thirty-five seconds into the second period of the 126-pound final, Kemerer hit his head on a takedown and was unable to finish the match, which Schram had led 4-2 over the returning champion.
“I felt bad. It’s not a great way to win it,” Schram said.
“I felt I was wrestling well,” he added. “I thought I was dominating the match.
While Blair Academy of New Jersey took the team title with 299 points and Moeller, Ohio followed in second place with a 161 score, the Big Macs rolled up a 160 team total thanks in part to Dalton Macri, Brendon Price, Angelo Broglio and Alex Campbell, all placewinners.
Macri decisioned Brandon Thompson of Solon, 8-2, to take the bronze medal at 120. While Price and Broglio finished seventh at 106 and heavyweight respectively, Campbell took fourth at 220.
Garrett Vulcano finished fourth at 195. The Chartiers-Houston senior dropped his consolation final to Good Counsel’s Spencer Neff, 5-2.
His teammate, Tanner Sutton also earned a medal when he secured sixth place at 145.
Meanwhile, in the tournament at West Mifflin, South Fayette rolled up 161 points to finish behind champion North Hills (203) and runner-up Belle Vernon (201).
The Fetchet brothers led the parade to the podium for the Lions. While Grant pinned Tyler Heasley of Fox Chapel to claim the 152-pound weight class, Mike decisoned Mt. Lebanon’s Kellan Stout, 3-2, in oveterime to secure the 170-pound crown.
Seth Carr and J.J. Walker finished runners-up at 120 and 160 respectively.
Nick Zanetta registered the only other local title. The Keystone Oaks grappler edged Drew Walker from North Hills, 4-3, to take the 132-pound title.
Zanetta’s teammate, Brett Beltz lost a tough match, 4-3, to Hopewell’s Flippo Crivelli and finished runner-up at 138.
In addition to Stout, Sean Perri earned runner-up honors for Lebo at 126.
Also helping the Blue Devils to a fifth-place finish were: Kevin Kinyua, fourth at 113; Zeynul Zaynullayev, fourth at 285; Blacke Stewart, sixth at 220; and Sam White, seventh at 120.
Finally, Jarrod Browne from Upper St. Clair took home the silver medal when he finished runner-up to Belle Vernon’s Adam Nickelson at 182.
Observer-Reporter assistant sports editor Joe Tuscano contributed to this story.