jtuscano@observer-reporter.com
CANONSBURG - Brian Knapp has had some memorable victories in his scholastic wrestling careers. But none was as satisfying as the one he had Friday night.
Knapp, a senior at Waynesburg High School, recorded the 100th victory of his career when he took an 12-0 major decision from Nolan Greenwald of Burrell in the consolation round at 130 pounds in the Powerade Christmas Wrestling Tournament.
The victory pushed Knapp's career record to 100-36 and kept him alive for a third-place medal in this rugged tournament.
"I wasn't really counting it down," said Knapp, who has competed in four Powerade tournaments. "I had four years to get to this point. Wrestling is a tough sport with practice and everything else."
Knapp has played three years of soccer and captained the Raiders to a playoff appearance and tried football as a freshman. But his strong suit is wrestling and the 100 wins is a testament to it.
Knapp placed at Powerade in his freshman and sophomore seasons and hopes to do so this year. He also has his sights on bigger things in the postseason. He is a four-time WPIAL qualifier but has not made a trip to Hershey for the state tournament, yet.
"That's the goal for this year," he said. "If I get out of the WPIAL, I think I'll have a good chance to place at states."
Knapp was upset with a 2-0 loss to Ben Schaufele of Mt. St. Joseph's in the second round. That made the trip through the wrestlebacks that much more difficult. It also meant that no wrestler from Waynesburg would reach today's semifinals.
"It's been a step down (for the program) from last year," Knapp said. "Even though we're down, the coaches still push us hard."
And a third-place medal is still within reach.
Slim pickings
Waynesburg wasn't the only high-profile school in the area to fail to get a wrestler into the semifinals. Trinity and McGuffey, two of the more successful programs in the WPIAL, did not.
Shady Side Academy had four of the 24 WPIAL wrestlers in the semifinals. Canon-McMillan, Burrell and Hempfield each had two.
"You look at Westmoreland County and they're coming back," said Trinity head coach Jeff Bricker. "It comes and goes in cycles. It seems there is more talent (in Westmoreland County) but Washington County won't be down for long. There are a lot of young kids coming up. This is just a normal thing to happen."
Notes
The top seeds in each weight class advanced to the semifinals. ... One of the bigger upsets of the first day came at 119 pounds, where defending state champion Frank Martellotti of Shady Side Academy lost to Joe Lascari of North Star in a 3-2 overtime rideout. Lascari, a sophomore, was a state qualifier last season. ... Results of the tournament are posted after each session at http://
poweradewrestling.com.