Mars diver strikes WPIAL gold

February 25, 2006 Last Updated: February 25, 2006 03:01 PM High School

Eric Crowley was a bit nervous as he waited his turn at the WPIAL Class AA boys diving championships.

One time on the board fixed that.

The Mars senior successfully defended his district title with a score of 477 Friday at Pine-Richland High School.

"It was about 20 minutes before I got my first dive in," said Crowley. "I was starting to get a bit nervous."

But after that first time in the water, which was a front dive with one and one-half somersaults, Crowley was on his way to besting the field.

"I wasn't nervous any more after that," he said.

Crowley moved to a couple of back dives during his optional routine, which included one with two full somersaults.

"It's a dive that I was pretty bad in until recently," said Crowley. "But I've been working on it a lot in practice.

"I was really excited when I found out I won," he added. "This was one of my best meets ever and I'm proud of it."

Mars wrestlers Matt Perri (119 pounds), Dave Pisarcik (189) and Pete King (215) all will enter Saturday with a chance to win a WPIAL Class AA Championship.All three received first-round byes in Friday's action at Charleroi High School, then won a quarterfinal match to keep their district title hopes alive.Perri managed a 9-3 decision over Mt. Pleasant's Allen Park.Pisarcik moved his season record to 39-0 with a pin of Burgettstown's Dan Conley, the same wrestler he defeated last week for the Section 3-AA title.King also defeated an opponent for the second time in a week by disposing of Fort Cherry's Matt Deveaney, 10-2.Logan Giger (145 pounds) went 1-1 in Friday's action, while Luke Salter (103), Marek Romatowski (152) and Matt Whittington (275) all lost their first match. But all four will return Saturday, needing to finish in the top six in their respective weight classes to move on to the Class AA Southwest Regionals.Following are the complete results for all seven of Mars' wrestlers from Friday's action:First Round103 pounds- Andrew Dyson (Yough) major dec. Luke Salter (Mars), 12-0119- Matt Perri (Mars) received a bye145- Logan Giger (Mars) pinned Martin Walker (South Park), 1:20152- Aaron Hrutkay (Beth-Center) major dec. Marek Romatowski (Mars), 9-0189- Dave Pisarcik (Mars) received a bye215- Pete King (Mars) received a bye275- Alex Humphries (South Allegheny) dec. Matt Whittington (Mars), 10-4Quarterfinals119- Matt Perri (Mars) dec. Allen Park (Mt. Pleasant), 9-3145- Matt Longshore (South Side Beaver) major dec. Logan Giger (Mars), 13-2189- Dave Pisarcik (Mars) pinned Dan Conley (Burgettstown), 3:47215- Pete King (Mars) major dec. Matt Deveaney (Fort Cherry), 10-2

Sean Foust scored 15 points and A-C Valley (20-5) advanced in the District 9 Class A playoffs with a 38-30 victory at Smethport Friday night.Ryan Jackson had seven rebounds for the Falcons and Garrett Greathouse had four steals.A-C Valley won the game despite sinking only nine field goals. Smethport (18-5) missed 12 of 16 free throws."They were real deliberate offensively and we didn't shoot the ball well," A-C Valley coach Jim Marron said. "But we were patient with them and played well defensively."Zach Kossack had 11 points and Sean Parkes had eight points and 14 rebounds in a losing cause for Smethport.A-C VALLEY 38Sean Foust 2 9-10 15, John Kaufman 1 3-4 6, Ryan Jackson 2 2-6 6, Shawn Courson 2 0-1 5, Garrett Greathouse 2 2-3 6. Totals: 9 16-24 38SMETHPORT 30John Petruzzi 0 0-1 0, Justin Smith 1 4-6 6, Zach Kossack 4 0-3 11, Sean Parkes 4 0-3 8, Max Sims 2 0-1 5, Matt Johnson 0 0-2 0. Totals: 11 4-16 303-point goals: Foust 2, Kaufman, Courson; Kossack 3, SimsWednesday: A-C Valley vs. Elk County Catholic @ Clarion UniversityElk County Catholic 89, Union 53 — Jesse Bosnik scored 28 points and Kevin Genevro added 20 for unbeaten ECC (25-0) in this District 9 Class A playoff contest. The pair conbined for 10 3-pointers.Kyle Hilliard paced three Union players in double figures with 18 points.Toby Painter and Gary Cooper added 12 points each for the Knights (16-10).UNION 53Kyle Hilliard 6 4-6 18, Billy Burns 0 1-2 1, Toby Painter 5 0-1 12, Nate Boltz 1 2-3 4, Gary Cooper 3 6-6 12, Neil Scott 1 1-3 3, Colby Davis 0 1-3 1, Spencer Varner 0 1-2 1, Colton Davis 0 1-2 1. Totals: 16 17-28 53ELK COUNTY CATHOLIC 89Dan Scutella 1 0-0 3, Mahoney 2 2-2 6, Kevin Genevro 8 0-1 20, Brad Meholic 2 3-3 7, Jesse Bosnik 9 4-4 28, Jim Higgins 2 0-0 4, Josh Salter 2 0-0 6, Matt Fritz 0 5-6 5, Tony Lecker 5 0-0 10. Totals: 31 14-16 893-point goals: Hilliard 2, Painter 2; Bosnik 6, Genevro 4, Salter 2, Scutella