Newell ends SV drought
JACKSON TWP — Joe Montalbano set up a photo Tuesday night at the OMP Wrestling Club in Cranberry Township to connect the generations of Seneca Valley wrestling.
Montalbano, who coached the Raiders’ varsity squad in the early 2000s, brought in former wrestler Bart Wylie to meet current wrestler Louis Newell.
Newell, a 106-pound freshman, is the first Seneca Valley wrestler to reach the PIAA Class AAA Wrestling Championships since Wylie qualified at 119 pounds in 2002.
Newell will open up the first round of states at 4 p.m. today when he takes on Penn Manor’s Jordan Harsh at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Montalbano, who is the Raiders’ middle school and OMP coach, coached Newell at the youth level and remained close with Wylie.
“We’ve been in contact through the years and with having such a long drought, I thought it would be cool,” Montalbano said. “Louie was the torch-bearer for the youth program. He was the first youth kid to qualify for states as a 10-year-old.”
Newell was unaware of the drought for state qualifiers from Butler County’s oldest wrestling program. He snapped the drought by placing third at WPIALs.
Newell also finished second at the Section 3-AAA tournament and has compiled a 31-6 record.
Being able to talk to Wylie, he felt, was a good opportunity.
“He said this is the weekend that counts, not last weekend,” Newell said. “He told me to wrestle hard like I did last weekend. Be smart and not give up anything.”
Intelligence on the mat is something Seneca Valley coach Kevin Wildrick noticed early in the season. During practice is where Newell’s strengths were normally demonstrated.
He typically wrestled against Alex Lynch (113), Ben Lynch (120) and Ty Gross (126).
Newell was matched against heavier wrestlers to try and make him more aggressive at his weight.
“How he naturally hit certain moves stuck out,” Wildrick said. “As you go to say it, he’s already doing it.”
In addition to high school practice, Newell goes to club practice once or twice a week. Montalbano thought size was going to be his biggest issue at varsity.
“We were worried he was small for 106,” Montalbano said. “He started the season barely breaking 100 pounds. He’s still growing into it, but he has speed and great technique.”
Newell’s biggest improvement, Wildrick believes, is his confidence. After losing in the quarterfinals at districts, he had to win at least three more matches to qualify.
Newell won four, including a 5-4 win over Canon-McMillan’s Logan Macri in the third-place match. Macri eliminated Newell from the Pennsylvania Junior High State Championships the year before.
“After I lost, I got a little discouraged,” Newell said. “But I knew I could compete with those kids. I had more offense going through the season. I attacked those kids instead of waiting for them to come for me.”
Newell hopes to continue building on history. He’d like to be the first state place-winner since Shawn Cully placed fifth at 125 pounds in 2001.
“I’d like to place and win a couple matches,” Newell said. “I need to wrestle aggressively like I did last week. It doesn’t matter who the kid is.”
