Forfeit by Foxes helps them take down Tornado

By JOHN ENRIETTO Eagle Sports Editor

January 10, 2009 Last Updated: January 10, 2009 02:09 PM High School

Butler's Cody Hartman tries to break the hold of Fox Chapel's Mike Dunn during their 130-pound match Friday. Hartman took a 5-3 decision, but the Foxes edged the Golden Tornado 31-30.

BUTLER TWP— From the opening match, lineup jockeying went on all night.

The turning point of the Fox Chapel-Butler dual wrestling match Friday night occurred when Foxes coach Ron Frank found the perfect opponent for Butler's unbeaten Cole Baxter: no one.

Fox Chapel forfeited to Baxter (15-0) at 145 pounds, putting itself behind 30-12 on the scoreboard, then closed the night with a decision, two pins and a major decision to snare a 31-30 victory.

By forfeiting to Baxter, Frank was able to close the dual by sending seniors Dave Benedetto (19-4), Nick Letters (23-0), Justin Mahon (18-3) and Aaron Barker (21-1) to the mat.

"We have a pretty good kid at 171 in Stefano Geary,"Frank said. "He's got a winning record, but he's young. I wanted to go with my four seniors.

"I've never done anything like that before. Giving up that forfeit ... I would have looked like a fool if this didn't work out."

But it did.

"It crushed us,"Butler coach Scott Stoner said of the forfeiture. "It gave us tough matchups the rest of the way."

The one-point victory gave the Foxes (21-2, 4-0) the Section 3-Atitle and the right to host the section championship quadrangular Jan. 21. Butler slipped to 7-2 overall, 2-1 in the section.

The Golden Tornado will be in that section quad if they win at Seneca Valley Wednesday night.

After the Baxter forfeit, Benedetto decisioned Dakoda Collins 12-6 at 152 pounds and Mahon pinned Matt Pribis. When Letters pinned Derek Hays at 171, Butler's lead was 30-27 with one match remaining.

"We put Derek in that match because he has more experience than Mike (Scialabba),"Stoner said. "He just got turned the wrong way. Make one mistake against a kid like Letters and it's trouble."

Neither coach could figure out which team would win the dual match tiebreaker had the night ended in a draw.

Barker ended any such drama when he took down Chris White with seven seconds left in their 189-pound match, enabling Barker to win by a 13-5 major decision.

"I've never been in a dual this tight,"Frank said, despite his team edging North Allegheny 31-30 earlier this season. "We couldn't figure out the tiebreaker, so to be safe, Aaron had to go for that last takedown."

Fox Chapel would have won the tiebreaker had the team score wound up 30-30. It would have come down to the seventh criterion, which is most near-fall points.

"(Greg Severyn) is a veteran official and he didn't know,"Stoner said. "We had to look it up in the (rule) book. That's how close this thing was.

"Our kids knew they had to get after it tonight and that's what they did. Big crowd, great atmosphere — this was still a great night for Butler wrestling."

The Tornado received pins from Zach Reges at 119 pounds and Marino Quercio at heavyweight. The dual match started at 215 pounds and Stoner immediately switched Quercio with regular heavyweight Alex Truman.

"People don't realize the mixing and matching coaches do in a match like this,"Stoner said. "Fans are cheering and screaming and we're sitting there trying to figure out where the team points are four or five matches down the road."

Butler freshman 103-pounder Brandon Bauer won in double overtime over Conor Whelan, who just returned to action from a broken hand. The Tornado's Cody Hartman won by decision at 130 when he scored a reversal with 17 seconds left.

Sophomore Dillon Weston won a 10-3 decision at 135. Mike Crawford, another sophomore, (13-2) won a 4-2 decision at 140 over Thom Caldwell (19-3).

"We won some close ones against quality kids tonight,"Stoner said. "Mike has shown he's made the adjustment to winning at 140 after making the jump from 119.

"Everyone keeps talking about Cole Baxter, but Mike's only a win behind him."

"We've got some young kids and competing in this type of setting will, hopefully, bode well for them down the road,"Stoner said.

Fox Chapel 31, Butler 30103 pounds: Brandon Bauer (B)dec. Conor Whelan, 6-5 in OT;

112: Sam Molina (FC)pinned Nick Sutton, 3:58;

119: Zach Reges (B)pinned George Marsico, :46;

125: Carson Brooks (FC)dec. Eric Tuck, 4-2;

130: Cody Hartman (B)dec. Mike Dunn. 5-3;

135: Dillon Weston (B)dec. Shane Bialowas, 10-3;

140: Mike Crawford (B)dec. Thom Caldwell, 4-2;

145: Cole Baxter (B)by forfeit;

152: Dave Benedetto (FC)dec. Dakoda Collins, 12-6;

160: Justin Mahon (FC)pinned Matt Pribis, :48;