Knoch takes big step

By SAM TALLARICO Eagle Staff Writer

March 02, 2007 Last Updated: March 02, 2007 01:22 PM High School

Knights pair snag pigtail match wins

NORTH HUNTINGDON — The Knoch wrestling program was making its first appearance at the WPIAL Southwest Regional Wrestling Championships on Thursday.

Coach Mark McLaughlin couldn't have imagined a better start.

His two qualifiers — freshmen Dylan Leslie (103 pounds) and Grayson Hixson (112) — earned pins in their pigtail matches to send them to the preliminary matches.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the good times for Butler County wrestlers.

Three others lost their pigtail matches to eliminate them, then the eight who had preliminary matches all lost to drop them into today's first-round consolations.

None of the 11 wrestlers reached the quarterfinals, which means those still competing will have to win five consecutive matches over the next two days to grab the third and final PIAAClass AAA qualifying spot.

Leslie and Hixson were among those eight, but there was no denying what they had already accomplished for the program.

"I thought they did a fabulous job," said McLaughlin. "A lot of the time freshmen, even upperclassmen, are overwhelmed by it all.

"Those two guys responded well,"he added.

Leslie (12-8) made quick work in pinning Norwin's Michael Urch in 1 minute, 54 seconds while Hixson (4-2) soon followed with a fall in 4:55 against Hopewell's Shane Dusch.

"Grayson wrestled Dusch, and (Dusch) has been around wrestling a long time," said Dusch. "That's a big accomplishment. Grayson weighed in at 105.3 and Dusch wrestled at about 113, 114 pounds."

In the prelims, Hempfield's Chris Mongelluzzo (29-8) scored a 12-1 major decision over Leslie and No. 1 seed Greensburg Salem's Ken Trumbetta (32-2) pinned Hixson in 1:04.

It's a long way through the wrestlebacks, but not as far as the Knights program has progressed this season.

"It's an even playing field now," said McLaughlin. "They're wrestling beyond their experience.

"I said all through the season I don't want them buying into the fact we're a first-year program. It's a built-in excuse. I want them to think, 'So what if I'm a freshman?'"

Seneca Valley's Grant Evans (112) dropped an 8-1 decision to Montour's Steve Fallwood, Butler's Alex Evanoff (145) was decisioned by Greensburg Salem's Steve Jones 7-2, and the Tornado's Marion Quercio (215) was pinned by Kiski Area's Justin Delaney in 5:19 in the pigtail matches.

That left Nate Cully (125), Pat Coyne (145), Dave Kovach (160), Ryan Scheller (189) and Zack Eckstrom (285) of Seneca Valley and Josh Pascazi (152) of Butler in the preliminaries, but none was able to win.

Coyne and Pascazi suffered losses in the closing seconds, preventing them from reaching the quarterfinals.

Coyne (27-5) led 3-1 after two periods, but Latrobe's Adam Heydorn (25-12) earned an escape with 1:42 left and secured a takedown with 12 seconds left to pull out the win.

"(Coyne) had beaten him during the regular season," said Seneca Valley coachLee Mullett. "It was his first time there, and he said he was a little tentative."

Pascazi (28-6) was tied at 3 with Kiski Area's Jordan Moore (24-12), but the Cavaliers senior recorded a takedown with seven seconds left to grab the win.

"(Moore) made a couple of attempts to get Josh down ... and Josh was able to defend it, but he couldn't get out of bounds," said Butler coach Scott Stoner.

When Quercio trailed 5-2 after one period, he used a takedown and three back points to help take an 8-5 lead before the officials stopped the clock for the hold.

Delaney was able to regroup and pinned Quercio in the third period.

"We'll give him a little time and we'll talk to him, but there's not any time to work on anything," said Stoner. "One match at a time is the thing you need to do here."

Cully (19-8) fell 6-0 to Waynesburg's Brian Knapp (29-9) and Kovach (21-10) lost a tough 13-11 decision to Upper St. Clair's Robert Hill (20-10).

Scheller (22-10) was pinned by Kiski Area's Jon Moore (28-7) and Zack Eckstrom (9-9), the Section 3 champion, lost by a 17-2 technical fall to Waynesburg's Robert Gregg (23-12).

Friday's quarterfinals and first-round consolations will run from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Saturday's second-round consolations will run from 10 a.m. to noon, followed by semifinals and third-round consolations from noon to 2:15 p.m. and the fourth-round consolations from 2;15 to 3:30 p.m.

That evening, the consolation finals will be held at 6 and the champion matches will be at 7:30 p.m.

WPIAL resultsPigtail matches

103 —

Dylan Leslie (Knoch) pinned Michael Urch (Norwin, 1:54

112 —

Grayson Hixson (Knoch) pinned Shane Dusch (Hopewell), 4:55

112 — Steve Fullwood (Montour) dec.

Grant Evans (Seneca Valley), 8-1

145 — Steve Jones (Greensburg Salem) dec.

Alex Evanoff (Butler), 7-2

215 — Justin Delaney (Kiski Area) pinned

Marino Quercio (Butler), 5:19