Teasdale recovers to win region title for J-M
CANONSBURG – Now we know why Gavin Teasdale did not look particularly strong in Friday night’s quarterfinals of the PIAA Class AA Southwest Region Tournament.
The standout freshman made some uncharacteristic mistakes in a 20-9 win over Hunter Campbell of Cambria Heights.
Turns out Teasdale was just getting over the flu that cost him two days of school and practice time at J-M.
But the old Teasdale, fortified by a good night’s sleep that helped alleviate his flu-like symptoms, made his two opponents Saturday feel sick. Teasdale moved his record to 42-0 on the season with a 19-3 technical fall over Derrick Christie of Westmont-Hilltop in the semifinals and a 3-0 shutout of Aaron Burkett of Chestnut Ridge in the finals for his first title and J-M’s 26th.
Teasdale was one of two area wrestlers to win regional titles. Mike Carr of South Fayette also looked strong in beating No. 2 seed Tom Opdenhoff of Central Cambria, 8-2, in the 138-pound finals to win his second title and South Fayette’s seventh title in school history.
The top six wrestlers in each weight class advanced to the PIAA Wrestling Championships, which begin Thursday at the Giant Center in Hershey.
A dozen area wrestlers will make the trip. Joining Teasdale and Carr are Brendan Howard and Bill Bowlen of Jefferson-Morgan, who finished second in the 120 and 182 weight classes, respectively; and Jared Walker of South Fayette, who followed up last week’s fourth win in the WPIAL tournament with a second place finish at 160 after a 3-2 ultimate tiebreaker loss to Derrick Fochtman of Berlin-Brothersvalley.
Others making the trip to Hershey are Austin McDermitt (120) of Burgettstown; Shane Ging (132) and Brett Beltz (182) of South Fayette, Jason Stay (160), Anthony Welsh (170) and Nico Brown (182) of Beth-Center; and Ian Wolfe (Hvy) of Jefferson-Morgan.
Chestnut Ridge won the team title with 103.5 points, followed by Berlin-Brothersvalley (88.5) and Jefferson-Morgan (84.5).
Teasdale scored an early takedown on Burkett and recorded an escape in the second period. Teasdale rode the Chestnut Ridge junior for the third period to clinch the win. Burkett took Teasdale to overtime in the finals of the Bedford Tournament before losing, 7-5.
“I was drinking Gatorade and taking Advils,” said Teasdale of his preventative regiment. “I was going to push through it. I’m not at my full potential, not 100 percent. Maybe 80 percent. I’m sure that if Burkett was sick, he would have come out, too.”
Carr also controlled his final, taking a 5-2 lead in the first period and adding three more over the final two periods.
“This feels good, but I am taking it one match at a time,” said Carr, whose brother Nick won the only state title in South Fayette history. “I’m worried about next week.”
Carr gave up a reversal at the edge of the mat that tied the bout 2-2 early, and that brought Lions head coach Rick Chaussard out of his seat.
“I told him not to relax,” Chaussard said. “He relaxed for a second and he got reversed. I don’t yell all the time because when you are in the heat of the battle, they don’t hear you.”
But Chaussard got Carr’s attention.
“I heard him,” he said. “I was going to cut him, but he turned and got the reversal.”
Walker’s loss came about because his offense doesn’t produce many points – he had seven in three bouts in this tournament – and he lost the flip. Fochtman, who upset three-time runner-up Andrew Doak of Blairsville in the semifinals, escaped in the second period for a 1-0 lead. Walker did the same to tie it in the third. Both escaped in the overtime and Fochtman had choice for the ultimate tiebreaker because he scored first. It took him 13 seconds to get out.
“It was a tough situation,” said Walker. “The last 30 seconds decided who won. I’ve just got to hold him down. That’s my first (ultimate tiebreaker) this year.”
Howard, the No. 2 seed at 120, trailed top-seed Colin Glorioso of Huntingdon 4-0 after two periods, then showed some life in the third period, cutting the lead to 5-2 eight seconds in. But Glorioso, a defending champion, scored the final three points.
Bowlen, a runner-up last season, battled No. 1 seed Corey hazel of Penns Valley and trailed 3-1 heading into the final period. Bowlen escaped near the end of the period but couldn’t get the takedown for the win.