19 county matmen battling in WPIALs

By John Enrietto Eagle Sports Editor

February 28, 2013 Last Updated: February 28, 2013 12:55 PM High School

Butler's 132-pound Cody Houston, involved in a match against West Allegheny here, is one of 10 Golden Tornado wrestlers competing in the WPIAL Tournament this weekend at Norwin High School. Seneca Valley, Mars and Knoch also have wrestlers competing.

The message seems clear for the 19 Butler County wrestlers in this weekend's WPIAL Tournament.

No margin for error.

Twelve of the 19 are involved in the “pigtail” round that opens the tournament at 5:30 p.m. today at Norwin High School. Wrestlers in those matches must win just to advance to the 7 p.m. preliminary round.

Butler has five matmen in those bouts — Xavier Bennett at 138 pounds, Will Bortmas at 160, Zach Weaver at 182, Nick Gibson at 195 and Damian Wheeler at 285.

“We're underdogs in as couple of those matches and Wheeler wrestled his kid before in a match decided by one point earlier this year,” Butler coach Scott Stoner said.

“We're trying to max out some of our kids this weekend, hopefully get them into the tournament and win a couple of matches in wrestle-backs.”

All three of Seneca Valley's WPIAL qualifiers — Alex Lynch at 106 pounds, twin brother Ben at 113 and Austin Leon at 145 — are in pigtail matches. So are both of Knoch's qualifiers, Blaine Elliott at 132 and Ben Nowicki at 170. Elliott missed part of the regular season with an injury.

Two of Mars' four qualifiers — Richie Boeh at 126 and Ryan McMahon at 160 — are in pigtail bouts as well.

The Planets have Austin Bitzer (15-4) at 195 pounds and Johan VanWyke (18-7) at 220 in preliminary round matches.

“Austin's the only one of our four who didn't go last year,” Mars coach Zach Maisner said of the WPIAL tourney. “When you walk in for the first time and see how big it is, knowing it's the step to get to states ... guys can get the deer in headlights look sometimes.”

Bitzer, McMahon and VanWyke are all seniors. Boeh is a sophomore.

“Richie can sneak up on people and surprise them with his style,” Maisner said. “All of our kids have a chance to advance.”

Butler has five of its 10 qualifiers in the preliminary round in Connor Foust ( 26-9) at 113, Blake Caudill (32-5) at 120, Korey Caudill (32-5) at 126, Cody Houston (32-8) at 132 and Ryan Hannon (30-3) at 170. Hannon, a section champion, is the highest seed of any local wrestler at No. 5 in his weight class.

“Ryan and Blake are probably our best chances of getting me to head east (for the state tournament) next weekend,” Stoner said.

Despite reaching the PIAA tourney last year, Blake Caudill is only seeded eighth at 120 pounds in the WPIAL tourney. Only the top three placers in each weight class advance to Hershey.

“Blake has a tough road,” Stoner said. “That 120-pound group is the toughest weight division in this tournament. The committee took two hours to seed those kids fairly.”

Foust, Korey Caudill and Houston were section runner-ups. Foust is a sophomore and Houston a junior.

“Korey hasn't committed to a college yet and I know he wants to wrestle,” Stoner said. “This could be a big tournament for him in that regard.

“He's got strong grades, so he could get some academic money from a Division III school, too.”

The WPIAL tournament continues at 5:30 p.m. Friday with the quarterfinals and first-round consolations. Second-round consolations begin at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Semifinals and third-round consolations are at noon Saturday, followed by fourth-round consolations at 2:15 p.m. The consolation finals are at 6 p.m.

The Parade of Champions begins at 7:15 p.m. with the finals slated for 7:30 p.m.

Area wrestlers opening matches

Pigtail Matches

106 pounds-Alex Lynch (Seneca Valley) 25-12 vs. Cole Rush (Waynesburg) 17-15

113-Kris Demorest (Hempfield) 13-7 vs. Ben Lynch (Seneca Valley) 23-11

126-Richie Boeh (Mars) 16-11 vs. Dustin Winkle (Hopewell) 24-12

132-Blaine Elliott (Knoch) 15-5 vs. Jake Ardellitz (Kiski Area) 25-12

138-Xavier Bennett (Butler) 23-11 vs. Koree Rodriguez (Central Valley) 15-12

145-Austin Leon (Seneca Valley) 26-11 vs. Travis Grando (Montour) 12-12

160-Nate Painter (Franklin Regional) 20-16 vs. Will Bortmas (Butler) 13-11

160-Ryan McMahon (Mars) 18-9 vs. Marcus Pizzi (Waynesburg) 14-14