The best high school wrestling in the nation takes place at the PIAA wrestling tournament in Hershey.
The Saucon Valley Panthers and Burrell Buccaneers will square off in a high-noon showdown today for a killer, quarterfinal matchup in the 2019 PIAA state wrestling championships. Saucon Valley (18-0) is the District XI champs while Burrell (10-2) lead the way out of District VII. Burrell’s losses have come at the hands of Kiski Area and Waynesburg Central. Kiski #2 and Waynesburg #13 are ranked “big” schools in the AAA classification.
We did the best we could with available information primarily taken from www.pa-wrestling.com, but Burrell is from the Pittsburgh burbs and the distance, of course, inhibits a lot of interaction between the teams and their wrestlers. There is not a whole lot of apples to apples or even apples to oranges comparisons available. There just isn’t a whole lot of history to be found between the Panther and Buccaneer wrestlers. Nonetheless, we will pass along what we could compile on short time. What seems clear, though, is that not a whole lot separates these two teams.
106
- SV’s Connor Nicholas Fr. (9-4) v. Shawn Szymanski Fr. (8-4)
- It looks like the Panthers Chris Arciuolo (17-3) remains sidelined with injury time, but Nicholas is growing up fast. Nicholas and Szymanski are both freshman and don’t appear to have any common opponents to compare. Szymanski did drop a 3-0 decision yesterday to Newport’s Ganon Smith while Nicholas packed his Muncy opponent with a first period pin. Nicholas is riding high.
113
- SV’s Cael Markel Fr. (19-10) v. Nicholas Salerno Fr. (18-5)
- Once again no common opponents exist. Salerno had a tech-fall yesterday, while Markel had a :25 second pin. This looks like great competition.
120
- SV’s Kevin Dyer Jr. (8-12) v. Ian Oswalt S0. (29-2)
- Tough draw for Dyer. There are three common opponents. Dyer is 0-3, while Oswalt is 3-0.
126
- SV’s Ryan Gilbert Fr. (4-13) v. Trent Valovchik Jr. (20-10)
- No common opponents here, but Valovchik has experience and owns a twenty-win record. Gilbert is progressing, but is a rookie to the sport.
132
- SV’s Josh Jones Sr. (27-4) v. Bryan Gaul Sr. (11-5)
- Jones is a perfect 5-0 vs. the five common opponents. Gaul is 3-2. Gaul, however, is a tough customer who may hang around for awhile. Jones is a returning PIAA silver medalist.
138
- SV’s Thomas Spirk Jr. (25-5) v. Anthony Corrado So. (21-5)
- Both Spirk and Corrado faced Council Rock South’s L.J. Kahn back in December. Spirk pinned Kahn in 4:07. Corrado won by a 1-0 decision. This should be a competitive contest.
145
- SV’s Nick Rosengrant Sr. (22-7) v. Noah Linderman Jr. (21-10)
- This looks like it is going to be a battle. No history between them, but they have similar records. Linderman defeated Newport’s Devon Blose 6-4 in sudden-victory yesterday. Rosengrant is wrestling well and had a good 7-2 win of Muncy’s Christian Good.
152
- SV’s Ty Csencsits Fr. (13-8) or Dante Mahaffey Fr. (13-9) v. Dominic Holmes Jr. (7-10)
- The Panther freshmen both lost yesterday, but they limited bonus points to their senior opponents. Holmes also fell in a 4-2 decison to Newport’s William Davis. It looks like a great opportunity for either Csencsits or Mahaffey to rebound.
160
- SV’s Matt Arciuolo Jr. (27-4) v. Austin Mele Sr. (25-5)
- Like Rosengrant v. Linderman this is a matchup that catches your eye. Two excellent wrestlers pushing toward a 30-win season. Mele was a state qualifier last year. This is going to be good!
170
- SV’s Jarrett Hirschbeck Sr. (12-8) v. Daniel McCarthy Sr. (13-7)
- This matchup lacks the high profile numbers in the win column, but they do share similar records. This bout is another competitive matchup in the making.
182
- SV’s Braydyn Lugardo Jr. (17-8) v. Ricard Feroce Jr. (22-8)
- Both are juniors and both sport very good records. Lugardo held on for a solid 5-3 decision over Muncy’s Ethan Gush (28-6) yesterday while Feroce pinned Newport’s Matthew Godbout.
195
- SV’s Dane Csencsits Jr.(23-6) v. Zach Rupert Sr. (7-5)
- Once again, no history to draw from. Both wrestlers had tough losses yesterday. Csencsits fell 7-2 to Muncy tough guy Mike Kustanbauter (31-4) and Rupert lost 11-9 in overtime to Newport’s Brenden Leach(26-8).
220
- SV’s Jared Harka Sr. (11-8) v. Mason Slahtovsky Sr. (13-12)
- Harka is 2-0 against the two common opponents, while Slahtovsky is 1-1. They both pinned Frank Huang of Faith Cristian Academy last year. Harka decisioned Charlie Crews of Williamsport 3-1 while Crews pinned Slahtovsky in 4:13.
285
- SV’s Nick Warnke Jr. (24-3) v. Jacob Bell Jr. (8-7)
- This appears to be a big mismatch once again for Saucon’s big fella. There is one common opponent in Brookville’s Colby Whitehill. Whitehill defeated Warnke last year 9-0 and pinned Bell in under a minute back in December.
Good luck Panthers, the Source is with you!