Teasdale weathers storm for 1st section title
CLAYSVILLE – The most difficult part of Saturday’s WPIAL Section 2-AA Tournament for Gavin Teasdale might have been lunch.
While a blizzard roared through the area, turning roadways into demolition derby sites and blanketing the region in white-out conditions, Teasdale and his father were crawling along Route 40 on their way to a restaurant in Washington between sessions of this wrestling tournament.
“It was pretty bad out there,” said Teasdale, the undefeated freshman from Jefferson-Morgan. “I have my license, but my dad was driving.”
WPIAL officials wanted to move up the starting time of the finals by 30 minutes but had a change of heart when the storm appeared to slow.
The Teasdales left before the storm really kicked in and made it back in time for Gavin to record his first WPIAL tournament title when he pinned Tyler Griffiths of Southmoreland in 2:40 – his third pin of this one-day event at McGuffey High School – to capture the 106-pound weight class.
“We didn’t go,” said Jefferson-Morgan head coach Mike Lesko. “I probably would have said something (to Gavin) but they had already left. He was the only one who left.”
The top five wrestlers in each weight class advanced to the WPIAL Class AA Championships, a two-day event that begins Friday at South Fayette High School.
Teasdale had a couple lapses in the first period, but he found his rhythm in the second period and pinned Griffiths.
“I just stuck with what I do best,” said Teasdale, whose three pins ate up a combined 4:46. “I just trusted in what I was capable of doing.”
Teasdale (36-0) is one of three WPIAL wrestlers in Class AA with undefeated records. Undefeated Luke Fournier of Elizabeth Forward won the 195-pound weight class with pin of West Greene’s Owen Main. Mike Carr of South Fayette, a 138-pound senior who was competing in the Section 1 Tournament, is 34-0.
Teasdale was one of three wrestlers from Jefferson-Morgan to win titles.
Brendan Howard defeated Cole Wano of Derry 9-2 in the 120-pound finals and Bill Bowlen won the 182-pound title when he stopped Nico Brown of Beth-Center, 4-1, in overtime.
McGuffey advanced 10 of the 13 wrestlers competing, including one champion. Gage Nicolella had one of the six pins in the finals when he stuck Alex Miscovich of Mt. Pleasant in 5:18.
“This is the first time I won a (high school) tournament here,” Nicolella said of McGuffey. “It’s never happened before.”
Nicolella dominated the bout, methodically scoring against Miscovich before the pin.
“He’s a pinner,” said McGuffey head coach Mark Caffrey. “It was kind of a slow-moving match. He did what he had to do.”
Beth-Center had two champions in Jason Stay and Anthony Welsh.
Stay dominated Trevor Kniha of Jefferson-Morgan, 14-1, to capture the 160-pound weight class and Welsh knocked off Brennan Coles of Southmoreland, 11-4.
Derry had two champions, including Micky Phillippi, a former state champion who pinned Jake Virgin of Southmoreland in 1:28 to pocket the 132-pound title.
West Greene had two runners-up in Owen Main and Will VanNorman. VanNorman lost a 1-0 decision to Tom Sever of Yough.