Tigers take down Butler

By JOHN ENRIETTO Eagle Sports Editor

January 06, 2005 Last Updated: January 06, 2005 01:56 PM High School

NA grabs OT win from Butler

WEXFORD — The final score looked respectable. In Scott Stoner’s mind, the match wasn’t.

North Allegheny won seven consecutive matches after falling behind 9-0 at home Wednesday night to defeat Butler, 34-20, in high school wrestling.

“That final score is misleading,” the Tornado coach said. “It doesn’t show the way North Allegheny controlled this match.

“We had too many kids wrestling not to lose. We were overly cautious against a big-time program,” he added.

The Tigers (12-0) are shooting for their fifth consecutive Section 3 championship. Butler (7-2) has never beaten them in a dual match.

“I felt like we had a chance tonight. We just didn’t get after it,” Stoner said.

North Allegheny is unbeaten despite starting eight freshmen and sophomores this year. The Tigers won only one match by a pin when senior Derek Schmidt (11-4) got the better of Aaron Pascazi 1:58 into their 171-pound match.

The Tigers won by a number of solid decisions, however. Only one of their seven wins by decision was by fewer than four points — R.J. Parks’ 6-3 win at heavyweight — and Butler’s Marcus Hough didn’t register a takedown in that match.

“We didn’t show much offense,” Stoner admitted.

The Tigers have nine wrestlers with at least 10 wins already this season.

The Golden Tornado did get a pin out of Tom Hollerman (9-4) at 140 pounds and major decisions from freshmen Rob Runyan (10-5) at 103 and Alex Evanoff (6-6) at 130.

The closest match of the night was at 119 pounds, where Tornado sophomore Decker Hubbs (6-1) took down Tigers sophomore Ryan Troiano (11-7) with 35 seconds left for a 7-5 decision.

“It doesn’t matter how experienced they are or who they’re up against, Butler is always gonna give you a scrap,” NA coach Jamie Kyriazis said.

The match began with the 135-pound bout, where Butler’s Stew Rapone scored an 8-2 decision. Hollerman’s pin followed for the 9-0 Tornado lead.

But Butler trailed 28-9 before it could win another match.

Stoner adjusted his lineup toward the end after deciding to forfeit the 160-pound match to sophomore Rob Waltko (19-2).

“I hated doing that to that kid, but Waltko is a state-caliber wrestler and we had no one who was gonna stay with him,” Stoner said. “Part of my job as coach is to maneuver our kids to give us the best chance to win the match.”

That included letting Hubbs wrestle at 119 and pitting freshman Ian McLaughlin (13-1) against NA senior Rob Cawley (14-4) at 125.

Cawley handed McLaughlin his second loss of the year, 12-6.

McLaughlin had a 2-0 lead on a first-period takedown and Cawley tied the match with a reversal. During the reversal, McLaughlin was signaling to the referee for injury time.

“He got a bad cramp and couldn’t feel his leg,” Stoner said. “The referee should have stopped action right there and awarded their kid the back points.”

Instead, the match continued, Cawley scored three back points and an enraged Stoner rushed to the mat to tend to his wrestler.

McLaughlin was OK and finished the match, but not before Stoner protested vehemently to the official.

“That’s the first misconduct I’ve taken in 12 years as a coach,” Stoner said. “I was concerned for my wrestler’s well-being. It was wrong to not immediately stop the match. It could have resulted in further injury.”

Butler hosts North Hills Friday night.

North Allegheny 34, Butler 20

103 pounds-Rob Runyan (B) dec. Jason Turner 10-2

112-Steve Sabreen (NA) dec. Ken Rosenbauer 6-1

119-Decker Hubbs (B) dec. Ryan Troiano 7-5

125-Rob Cawley (NA) dec. Ian McLaughlin 12-6

130-Alex Evanoff (B) dec. Justin Wang 11-2

135-Stew Rapone (B) dec. Jeff Wolf 8-2

140-Tom Hollerman (B) pinned Ryan McCullough, 3:01

145-Bill Landefeld (NA) dec. Dave Coburn 4-0

152-Karl DeCiantis (NA) dec. Josh Coburn 8-4

160-Rob Waltko (NA) by forfeit