North Allegheny pins down Butler

By SAM TALLARICO Eagle Staff Writer

January 05, 2006 Last Updated: January 05, 2006 01:35 PM High School

BUTLER TWP — In Wednesday's wrestling match against North Allegheny, Butler kept it close and was getting closer.

The Tigers, however, knew their strong suit was coming up and were able to close the door.

After winning three consecutive decisions pulled Butler to within seven points with five matches to go, the Tigers won out, thanks to three pins and a forfeit to post a 46-12 victory in a Section 3-AAA match.

"It's always the same with Butler every year," said Tigers coach Jamie Kyriazis. "Every match is a good, solid match. We were just looking for the win. I didn't know what the final score would be.

"At that point, there were a lot of swing matches, then, with our big guns coming up, we sealed it up," Kyriazis added.

With North Allegheny (6-0, 5-0) holding on to a 19-12 lead, Karl DeCiantis (152 pounds) and Rob Waltko (171) recorded first-period pins over Aaron Pascazi and Sam Lentz, respectively.

The Tigers' Joel Nellis (189) followed with a 5-0 decision, then Zach Watts (215) pinned Marino Quercio at 3:09.

Rory Dahl closed out the match at heavyweight on a forfeit win when Butler coach Scott Stoner decided not to send out Marcus Hough, who is still nursing a shoulder injury.

"There for a while, we didn't give up a couple of good pins," said Stoner. "I feel whatever we did, we weren't sharp.

"Every year, I think back at some time we didn't execute well, or didn't flurry well. I think that's where we need to get better," Stoner added.

The Tigers jumped out to a quick 9-0 lead after Joe Waltko (103) won a 6-1 decision over Rob Runyan before NA's Steve Sebreen pinned Davey Jaillet in 51 seconds.

"I knew Robbie had a tough one and, obviously, throwing Davey in that spot put us down 9-0, which was on the better side of what I thought," said Stoner.

"Joe Waltko was a good place to start," said Kyriazis. "It's always good when you start with a win."

Brian Nicelli picked up a 6-3 win for Butler (7-3, 2-3), but the Tigers grabbed the next three matches by decision, the first a 14-4 decision by David Cawley over Ian McLaughlin at 125, to open a 19-3 lead.

Butler clawed its way back into the match as Jon Sanko (140) won 6-1 over Ryan McCollough, Josh Pascazi (145) won 2-0 over Brett Landenfeld and Josh Coburn (152) won 7-2 against Bill Landenfeld.

"Jon Sanko continues to wrestle fairly well," said Stoner. "He got to the point where he was sick of losing."

For the rest of the match, the Tigers took over what had been an evening of close matches.

"We were hoping somewhere to get a pin," said Stoner.

The Tornado return to the mat next Wednesday at North Hills. The junior varsity team will take part in Saturday's Pine-Richland Tournament.

North Allegheny 46, Butler 12

Match started at 103

103 pounds —

Joe Waltko (NA) dec. Rob Runyan, 6-1

112 —

Steve Sebreen (NA) pinned Davey Jaillet, :51

119 —

Brian Nicelli (B) dec. Rick Peluso, 6-3