Butler pair earn berths in semis
CANONSBURG — Cole Baxter and Mike Crawford are where they want to be on Saturday: in the semifinal round of the WPIAL Class AAA Wrestling Championships.
The Butler juniors earned their spots by taking quarterfinal victories Friday while five other Butler County wrestlers will compete in the second-round consolations.
Baxter (35-0) pinned Belle Vernon's Adam Nickelson at 4:59 of the 171-pound division and will face Kiski Area freshman Matt McCutcheon (37-4) in the semifinal round.
Crawford (30-3) eked out a 3-2 decision over Hempfield's Domenic Testa 3-2 in the 140 bracket. He will face Canon-McMillan's Sam Lombardo Saturday.
"Cole, it was no big deal," said Butler coach Scott Stoner. "He just chugged right along. I was watching other guys like (Central Catholic's) Perry Hills and McCutcheon.
"Mike was in a battle. He wrestled well. This is the kind of place all you have to do is win by a point and Mike did that," Stoner added.
"I just wanted to try and get the first takedown and get the lead," said Crawford. "I was able to get a 3-0 lead, then he was able to get a reverse late in the second period.
"In the third period, I took neutral and just wanted to ride it out. Usually I take the top, but he's tough on top," Crawford added.
Baxter went undefeated during the regular season and the WPIAL meet to claim the Tornado's first WPIAL title last year at 145 pounds.
Bumping up three weight classes hasn't deterred Baxter.
"I feel like I'm in my comfort zone," said Baxter. "Obviously, the guys are a lot stronger, but they're not as quick. It has its pros and cons.
The long season has given Baxter enough time to settle into the new weight class.
"At the beginning of the year, I noticed that the other guys were bigger," Baxter noted. "You wrestle your match and do the things the way you know how do and not get pushed around."
Crawford was hampered by shoulder injuries last year and he had two surgeries last summer."Early in the year I was worried a little about my shoulder. ... Now, my shoulder feels great, about 100 percent," Crawford said.Stoner knows both will need to be ready for what awaits them in the semifinals."McCutcheon isn't going to see Cole was 33-0. He's coming in to win that match and Cole will just go about his business," the coach said."With Mike, we're hoping, obviously, to get him to the finals. But Canon-McMillan kids are tough. They went to the state semifinals as a team and no one expected that from them this year. Those kids find a way to win," Stoner added.Friday night saw four other wrestlers drop quarterfinal matches, which will place them in Saturday's second-round consolations.All must win three matches on Saturday to reach the consolation finals, where a win would give them the third and final state qualifying berth.Seneca Valley's Nate Cully (145) fell to Albert Gallatin's Patrick Palmer 5-4. Cully (31-4) trailed 5-2 after two periods and managed two more escapes, but he couldn't generate much offense."You just come back Saturday and fight another day," Cull said. "All through the season my goal was to be WPIAL champion. After that goal goes, the other is to go to states."Knoch's Grayson Hixon (119) dropped a 22-6 technical fall decision to top-seeded Nico Megaludis of Franklin Regional while Central Catholic's Eric Nutter recorded a 5-0 decision over Butler's Eric Tuck (135) and Ringgold's Neal Rands picked up a 6-2 decision over the Tornado's Chris White (215).Besides Crawford and Baxter, the only other Butler County wrestler to win Friday was Butler's Blake Caudill in the first-round consolations at 103, where he scored a 9-1 major decision over Peters Township's Devan Evanovich and moved on to the second-round consolations.Butler's Zach Reges (119), Dillon Weston (145) and Matt Pribis (160), and Seneca Valley's Jake Perri (103) and Jason Hildum (130) all lost first-round consolation matches Friday and were knocked out of the tournament.<B>Notes:</B> Session 3 of the WPIAL Championships were slated to begin with Saturday's second-round consolations at 10:30 a.m. followed by the semifinals and third-round consolations at noon and the fourth-round consolations at 2 p.m. for a total of 140 matches. The fourth session will begin with the consolation finals at 5:30 p.m., followed by the Parade of Champions at 6:50 p.m. and the championship finals at 7 p.m.
