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Avella's Spencer wins second WPIAL title
jtuscano@observer-reporter.com
HEIDELBERG - Mitch Spencer could have spent the six minutes carving out a victory with his strong takedown moves. But he didn't.
The senior from Avella High School wanted to try some different moves, simply to see how proficient he was with them.
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Spencer disposed of Travis McKillop of Burrell, 6-2, to win the 135-pound title.
He was one of 35 area wrestlers who advanced to next weekend's PIAA Regional Championships at the War Memorial in Johnstown.
The top six wrestlers in each weight class of the WPIAL event made it to the regional tournament. Locally, Fort Cherry had six qualifiers and a champion in Andrew Lucarini (103). Charleroi and Avella each had five and Jefferson-Morgan, Chartiers-Houston and Bentworth each had four.
Spencer was one of two Avella wrestlers to leave with gold medals. Kyle Appleby won the 152-pound title with a 7-2 decision over Beth-Center's Dominic Moore.
Cody Catalina became the first WPIAL champion for Beth-Center since Ulysses Davis won in 1999 when he beat Josh Durbin of West Greene 2-1 in the 171-pound finals.
Burgettstown's Ryan Watson was the only other local winner, outmuscling Brian Beattie of Burrell 5-2 at 215 pounds.
Spencer's performance earned him the Outstanding Wrestler award.
"I think last year's win was more satisfying because it was the first time," said Spencer. "I'm more pleased with this one because I wasn't expected to win."
Spencer was the fourth seed but knocked off top-seeded Zach Sheridan of Mt. Pleasant, 5-3, in the semifinals.
Against the second-seeded McKillop, Spencer wanted to work on his riding.
"I knew I could do well on my feet," he said. "But I need to work on other things. I wanted to stay more conservative."
Spencer's win could give him a first-round bye in the regional tournament.
He will find out when the pairings are released tonight.
"I said it before: The important thing is to move on," Spencer said. "Now, I can get a nice spot at regionals."
Lucarini and Henderson entered their 103-pound finals as the Nos. 3 and 4 wrestlers in the state, according to Off The Mat. But Lucarini turned it into a blowout when he hit a six-point move in the second period.
Lucarini reversed Henderson 13 seconds in, then turned him on his back.
When Henderson screamed in pain, the match was stopped and Lucarini was awarded four backpoints on the way to a 14-6 win.
"I wasn't really looking for it to be high-scoring," said Lucarini (32-3). "He was pretty good on his feet.
"I really don't pay attention to the rankings. I think I could have moved better on my feet. I have to work on that this week in practice."
Appleby wrestled the tournament battling a nasty cold. Even in his weakened state, the Avella senior was able to hold off Moore.
"I felt better for my finals match," said Appleby (31-4). "The first match was the worst."
Catalina made a second-period reversal stand up against Durbin. The two have wrestled four times this season.
"It's tough to wrestle someone a lot," said Catalina (30-7). "I needed to switch up my moves because we've met so much that he knows what I do."
Watson had a large following that put up a banner celebrating his surpassing 100 career victories. His win in the finals gave him 104.
"I didn't know they were going to do it until they put it up during warmups for the semifinals," said Watson (35-4). "There are not a lot of Burgettstown wrestlers left but there will be 30 or so fans going up (to Johnstown)."
Shady Side Academy's two defending state champions - Dane Johnson (140) and Roman San Doval (189) - each won a title. Johnson became the 18th wrestler in WPIAL history to capture four titles when he won by injury default over Michael Innes of Chartiers-Houston. Innes injured his rib cage in a semifinal victory and did not wrestle in the finals as a precautionary measure.
"He should be able to wrestle next week," said C-H head coach Billy Sutton. "That's why he didn't wrestle the finals."
Charleroi enjoyed a strong tournament, advancing five wrestlers to Johnstown. One of them, Tommy Thorpe, made it to the finals at 160, where he was pinned to Matthew Cunningham of Shady Side Academy.
wrestling : 2/22/2009
sport writer, Joe Tuscano, states that johnson becomes 18th (4 time wpial champ). Wasn't this only the District tournament? Next week is the Wpial Regional tournament. So johnson was not won 4 wpial titles yet. O sono io pazzo?
Wrestling : 2/23/2009
No the 14th was sections, this past weekend was wpials and next weekend is regionals.
