Fear the Leopard
Belle Vernon's Jarod Verkleeren turns Mount Lebanon's Sean Perri in the 145-pound bout Wednesday night in the semifinals of the Section 2-AAA team tournament at Belle Vernon.
Lori C. Padilla
Left: The 120-pound bout in Wednesday鈥檚 WPIAL Class AAA quarterfinal match at Belle Vernon was tough bout between Waynesburg Central鈥檚 Cole Rush (top) and Belle Vernon鈥檚 Zach Hartman.
Fear the Leopard.
Some sage advice for wrestlers and wrestling teams who will cross paths with Belle Vernon High School this winter.
Second-year coach Mike Doppleheuer鈥檚 team is loaded with 12 starters returning from last year鈥檚 team that finished 22-3, nearly beat powerful Franklin Regional in the WPIAL Team Tournament finals and finished fifth in the PIAA Team Tournament.
鈥淭his team is filled with talent and the sky is the limit,鈥� Doppleheuer admitted. 鈥淭here鈥檚 not only unlimited potential here, but these are great kids. They鈥檙e always very accepting of coaching, too. We have our goals, like making a run at the WPIAL title and beyond.鈥�
An interesting side note about this team: There are six sets of brothers 鈥� the Dunlops, Evans, Hartmans, Fines, Verkleerens and Seligas 鈥� on the roster.
On a team loaded with stars, the brightest of those is Jarod Verkleeren, a junior who finished fourth at states last year at 145 and had a spectacular summer highlighted by winning a Cadet freestyle world championship in Bosnia.
He was one of five Leopards to qualify for states last March. Senior Austin Bell finished third at 170 pounds and sophomore Zach Hartman was seventh at 120. Senior Milton Kobaly (182) and junior Michael Fine (220) also qualified but didn鈥檛 place.
BVA will be a matchup nightmare for opposing teams. To start, junior Jacob Dunlop will be at 106 pounds for the third straight year. 鈥淗e has a couple years starting experience there and it鈥檚 a big relief having a kid like that,鈥� Doppleheuer said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not an easy weight class to fill.鈥�
Logan Seliga (113) and brother Tyler (126) solidify the lightweights.
Then Zach Hartman (138), Jarod Verkleeren (145), Mitch Hartman (152) and Derek Verkleeren (160) pose a mine field test in the middle of the lineup.
And the cherry on top of the sundae comes when Bell (170) and Kobaly (182) go back-to-back, setting up Hunter Ferrera (195), Mike Fink (220) and Billy Korber (heavyweight) for the finish.
鈥淲e definitely have the talent,鈥� Doppleheuer said. 鈥淲e have more depth and we鈥檝e improved our schedule. We have a chance to be a lot better. We鈥檙e older and more experienced. We鈥檙e going to have some tough wrestle-offs.
As loaded as the Leopards are, Doppleheuer knows there is a group of teams capable of making things difficult.
鈥淟atrobe, North Allegheny, Kiski Area and Canon-McMillan are all good teams,鈥� he said. 鈥淏ut I鈥檒l match my team up against any of them and think we鈥檒l do OK. We know coming into the year we have the target on our backs. And we also know we have to be ready to wrestle night in and night out.鈥�
The Leopards enter the season ranked second in the state according to papowerwrestling.com. That鈥檚 nice, but Doppleheuer said he pays little attention to rankings and polls.
鈥淧reseason rankings mean nothing,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou have to go out and show who is the best. I know we have a good team, but if the kids don鈥檛 go out and wrestle like they can, rankings don鈥檛 mean anything. Do I think we鈥檙e going to end up with six state champions in March? No, but we definitely have guys who are capable of winning, that鈥檚 for sure.鈥�
March is a long way away and lots can happen between now and then. But with a veteran group that鈥檚 in place at Belle Vernon, there鈥檚 a good chance the lofty expectations will be met.
鈥淭he kids couldn鈥檛 wait to get started, they鈥檙e excited to see what they can accomplish,鈥� Doppleheuer said. 鈥淭his year鈥檚 team is one of the best ever that Belle Vernon has seen and there鈥檚 a great deal of success to be had.鈥�