Butler frosh produce in win

By JOHN ENRIETTO Eagle Sports Editor

December 09, 2004 Last Updated: January 06, 2005 12:14 PM High School

BUTLER TWP - Forget about Butler's freshmen growing into the wrestling program.

There's no time for that.

Golden Tornado freshmen Rob Runyan, Ken Rosenbauer and Ian McLaughlin recorded pins at 103, 112 and 119 pounds, respectively, Wednesday night against Seneca Valley.

Those matches completed a string of five successive Butler pins and fueled a 44-18 season-opening win over the Raiders (1-2).

"You'd like to be able to say these guys are just freshmen and they're going to get better, so on and so on, but we can't afford that," Butler coach Scott Stoner said.

"We have nothing but freshmen through the 130-pound weight class. We're counting on those guys to anchor our lineup at the lighter weights."

Seneca Valley coach Leo Mullett said his wrestlers are also young and inexperienced in those lighter weights.

"Some of those kids have only been involved in wrestling at all for a year or two," he said. "We have a lot to learn there."

Butler 189-pounder Ryan Eck and heavyweight Marcus Hough began the run of pins by recording falls at 1:05 and 3:06. Wednesday's competition started with the 152-pound match

Hough's pin came against an inexperienced Ian Whittaker, as returning starter Phil Mignanelli was suited up but did not compete for the Raiders.

"I have no comment on that," Mullett said as to why Mignanelli didn't wrestle.

Hough was wrestling in his first varsity match as well.

"I had butterflies - definitely nervous," Hough said. "We're a young team. We have only two seniors, so we know we have to work harder. It was nice to see it pay off tonight."

Stoner said Hough has shed 20 pounds in the past three weeks.

"He's getting into wrestling shape," the coach said. "This win tonight is big for him. He'll build off it."

"We had a nice crowd tonight and our younger kids fed off that enthusiasm. We rode some momentum and I appreciate everybody coming out."

Butler's quickest pin of the night belonged to Rosenbauer, who put Tyler Baldauf to the mat in 42 seconds.

Seneca Valley didn't record a pin on the night. Veterans Pat Coyne, Frank Snyder and Lee Layton all won by decision.

"That's big, too," Stoner said. "All of those guys can get pins and I figured we might lose a couple of those matches big. But it didn't happen."

Butler's Tom Hollerman - one of the Tornado's two seniors - scored a 10-1 decision over Frank Mullett at 140. Mullet entered the match 2-0.

Coyne at 125 and Mike Bianco at 215 improved to 3-0 on the young season for the Raiders.

"I thought this would be a much closer match, especially the way we wrestled over the weekend," Coach Mullett said. "But this wasn't the same team I saw on Saturday."

The Raiders split a pair of duals Saturday, defeating Chartiers-Houston 45-29 and losing to South Side Beaver, 37-28.

A moment of silence was observed before the match in memory of George "Doc" Phillips, a longtime Butler wrestling supporter and former University of Pittsburgh wrestling star who died over the summer.

Butler is hosting a 20-team junior varsity tournament in Phillips' name Saturday. Matches begin at 10 a.m.

Butler 44, Seneca Valley 18

103 pounds-

Rob Runyan (B) pinned Nick Minton, 3:01

112-

Ken Rosenbauer (B) pinned Tyler Baldauf, :42

119-

Ian McLaughlin (B) pinned Danny Huang, 1:25

125-

Pat Coyne (SV) dec. Alex Evanoff, 12-3

130-

Frank Snyder (SV) dec. Jon Sanko, 5-0