Bonus points key Falcons鈥� 30-29 setback in PIAA championships
HERSHEY 鈥� When a coach says, 鈥淓very point counts,鈥� in a dual wrestling meet it may appear as a cliche, but don鈥檛 tell that to Connellsville coach Bill Swink, who witnessed his team suffer a 30-29 setback to Wilson West Lawn on Thursday in the first round of the PIAA Class 3A dual meet championships at the Giant Center.
The Falcons (13-3) were riding high coming into the state tournament after earning a 33-32 victory over Trinity to win their eighth WPIAL Class 3A team last Saturday, but swallowed a tough pill at around 9:30 in the evening.
鈥淚t was not a great effort,鈥� Connellsville coach Bill Swink said. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e (Wilson West Lawn) good but beatable.鈥�
Connellsville鈥檚 Evan Petrovich had a 9-2 lead over Dominic Delgado at 145 pounds but didn鈥檛 get the major decision, and teammate Kolton Turek had a 3-2 lead in the third period but lost the advantage and was pinned.
鈥淲e knew what the score was and were telling Evan the whole time he needed another takedown,鈥� Swink said.
The Bulldogs (21-2) had a 30-13 advantage heading into the final three bouts after 285 was contested.
The Falcons鈥� Tommy Gretz (107) won by fall in 1:02 to cut the deficit to 30-19 before Nolan Rice (114) earned a 4-0 major decision over Isaac Eidle, which was not what Connellsville wanted because it needed a technical fall to tie the bout.
Rice did everything he could to turn Eidle, who was penalized three times for stalling. A fourth stalling call would have ended the bout in a disqualification. Eidle took recovery time with 24 seconds remaining in the third period.
鈥淵ou knew when he (Eidle) went out, they were told just to not give up the pin,鈥� Swink said. 鈥淣olan did everything he could, and one more stalling call would have ended the match in a disqualification, but weren鈥檛 ready to wrestle tonight.鈥�
Zachary Franks won by forfeit at 121 but the dual meet was already clinched for Wilson.
The Falcons鈥� Kai Vielma won by fall at 133 and Lonzy Vielma earned a 19-4 technical fall in 4:25 at 160.
Wilson鈥檚 Blaise Eidle (172), Ethan Brownback (189), Ryan McMillan (215) and Logan Kurzweg (285) won the four straight individual bouts that extended the Bulldogs鈥� advantage to 17.
Connellsville wrestles Cathedral Prep (13-4) this morning at 10:30 in the first round of consolations.
鈥淲e will tell the kids to get a good night鈥檚 sleep and they need to show up ready to wrestle,鈥� Swink said.