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Rough day at AA Regional
jtuscano@observer-reporter.com
JOHNSTOWN - It was difficult to decide what was more surprising on the first day of the PIAA Calass AA Southwest Region Wrestling Tournament.
An unexpected winter storm that dumped six inches of snow on Johnstown or the poor showing of area wrestlers in the tournament's first two rounds Friday.
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Fort Cherry freshman Sam Guidi gave up an escape in the final seconds of his 160-pound quarterfinal match against Nick Sofranko of Derry that tied the bout 6-6 after regulation. At the start of overtime, Sofranko jumped before the whistle, drawing his fourth caution and surrendering a penalty point that sent Guidi to the semifinals with a 7-6 victory.
Avella's Kyle Appleby rallied in the final period, hitting a five-point move to take an 11-7 victory from Tyler Gould of Bedford at 152 pounds.
Then there was the unusual story of Victor LiPari, a sophomore from Chartiers-Houston who could not be located to receive a forfeit win in the 119-pound wrestlebacks. LiPari was at the team's hotel a couple blocks away, helping his mother unpack when he was recalled to the arena.
As it turned out, LiPari did not need to return to have his hand raised because his opponent failed to make weight and was never officially in the tournament. Unfortunately for LiPari, he was knocked out of the tournament in the next round after a 9-1 loss to Patrick Myers of Penn Cambria.
The top five wrestlers in each weight class advance to the PIAA Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. Regional finals are 6:30 tonight.
"It's tough to win up here," Fort Cherry head coach Rich Chaussard said. "Nothing comes easy."
Guidi knows that now, and has a cut under his right eye as a reminder of his bizarre match against Sofranko. He rallied from a 5-2 deficit to take a 6-5 lead. But he couldn't hold Sofranko and gave up an escape with two seconds remaining in regulation.
Sofranko jumped on the start of overtime and that was it.
"I've never seen that happen in my life," said Guidi, who wrestles Dustin Drake of Mt. Union in the semifinals. "I had a feeling he might take a shot before the whistle. Winning that way is fine with me."
After the bout, Sofranko fired his headgear into the arena's floorboards and stalked off. The two wrestlers split their four previous meetings.
"This just shows me that you have to go harder than before to make it to the next round," Guidi said.
Appleby was cool, calm and collected in his win over Gould. The junior, who qualified for this tournament last year, trailed 5-4 after two periods. He gave up an escape to start the third but a takedown tied it 6-6. He gave up another escape with 1:00 left but hit a single-leg takedown and turned Gould for two backpoints at the buzzer.
"Some people think this is just another tournament," Appleby said. "It's a lot tougher than the ones we usually wrestle."
Appleby is right. He won his first-round bout, 5-4, over Casey LaVan of Marion Center. Now, Mike Brant of Westmont-Hilltop waits in the semifinals.
"In the (LaVan) match, I was sore from the grind of the season and didn't wrestle that well," Appleby said. "It's really important to have a feel for this tournament. This time, I was not as nervous."
Joining Appleby and Guidi in the semifinals are Aaron Hrutkay (160) of Beth-Center, Ethan Virgili (189) of Jefferson-Morgan, Dan Conley (215) of Burgettstown, and Sam Miller (Hvy) of Washington.
Dropping into the wrestlebacks were 10 area wrestlers, including Andrew Lucarini (103) of Fort Cherry, Mitch Spencer (130) of Avella, Ty Basinger (135) of Jefferson-Morgan, and Chris Stay (152) of Beth-Center.
A dozen wrestlers were eliminated by losing twice, including Burgettstown's Ryan Watson (171), a WPIAL runner-up.
District 7 had 28 of its 84 qualifiers make it to the semifinals, District 6 had 21 of its 70, and District 5 had seven of its 42.
