Moving on up

By SAM TALLARICO Eagle Staff Writer

March 03, 2006 Last Updated: March 03, 2006 02:31 PM High School

Butler's Ian McLaughlin takes control of Moon's Ryan Taylor in their 119-pound match Thursday at the WPIAL Class AAA Wrestling Championships. McLaughlin had an 8-0 lead after two periods when an injury prevented Taylor from continuing.

Defaults help Butler pair advance

NORTH HUNTINGDON — You can call it a short day at the office, but Butler's Ian McLaughlin and Marcus Hough certainly won't mind clocking into the quarterfinals.

At the WPIAL Class AAA Championships at Norwin High School Thursday, the two wrestlers were credited with wins in the preliminary round.

McLaughlin (31-4) held an 8-0 lead after two periods in the 119-pound bracket, but his opponent, Moon's Ryan Taylor, had a back injury and couldn't continue.

Hough never got the chance to go on the mat as Norwin's Dan Sudsina defaulted before the heavyweight matches began.

McLaughlin led 2-0 before scoring six points in the second period to open up the match.

"He took the kid down right away and kept going," said Butler coach Scott Stoner. "Ian is in a position where much of the time he feels he has to pin his guy. If not, he feels rushed."

McLaughlin worked a cradle well, which led to the win and to Taylor's demise.

"There's been two or three kids this year who defaulted off the cradle," said Stoner. "He gets in there tight and cranks on it."

For Hough (16-7), a shoulder injury hindered him during the season, but Stoner isn't sure if getting a free pass will be beneficial.

"He now gets the No. 2 seed (Penn-Trafford's Ryan Tomei (34-3). I don't know if there's any advantage to wrestling a match or not. The top two heavyweights are pretty solid."

The only other wrestlers who picked up victories where Butler's Josh Coburn (152) and Seneca Valley's Nick Perri (160) in the pigtail matches.

Coburn (31-7) pinned Montour's Jim Meyers at 5:03 before losing his preliminary match to Fox Chapel's Brian Letters, the No. 1 seed, 7-2.

Perri (5-4) rolled to a 9-0 major decision win against Connellsville's Kaitan Smiley but then dropped a 14-4 major decision to Latrobe's Kameron Zitelli.

"The first win is the biggest here," said Seneca Valley coach Lee Mullett. "When you look ahead, that's when you get hurt.

"Nick took over a couple of weeks ago and took third in the (sectionals). He's doing a great job," Mullett added.

The Raiders' other competitor, Frank Mullett, was scheduled for a pigtail match, but he was bumped up the preliminaries as a replacement. He lost to Norwin's Dennis Fix 7-0.

"Frank's wrestled against him before. He did a lot better job this time," said coach Mullett.

Butler's Rob Runyan (103), Stewart Rapone (130), Alex Evanoff (135) and Josh Pascazi (145) also lost their preliminary matches.

Runyan lost a tough 11-9 decision to Connellsville's Jake Swink, Rapone was pinned by Waynesburg's Dustin Henderson at 5:36, Evanoff lost a 20-7 major decision to West Mifflin's James Fleming and Pascazi lost to Connellsville's Andy Snyder 7-3.

Rapone held a 5-0 lead in the second period before Henderson mounted a comeback. Rapone still held a 5-4 lead in the third period before Henderson scored the fall.

Rapone tweaked his knee in the match and has defaulted in Friday's first-round consolations to end his tournament.

Butler's Dave Coburn (171) lost his pigtail match 6-0 to Uniontown's Jason King and was eliminated from the tournament.

Today's quarterfinals and first-round consolations will run from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.

The following are the Butler and Seneca Valley qualifiers' matches today:

Quarterfinals

119 pounds—

Ian McLaughlin (Butler, 31-4) vs. Jason Rider (West Allegheny, 33-6)

Hwt —

Marcus Hough (Butler, 16-7) vs. Ryan Tomei (Penn-Trafford, 34-3)

First-round consolations

103 —

Rob Runyan (Butler, 30-7) vs. Stefan Chaussard (Chartiers Valley, 14-16)