Three local wrestlers get off to good starts
Seth Shubert (left) of Mapletown and Luke Mary from Peters Township go head to head during championship action in the Chartiers-Houston Wrestling Tournament. Mary edged Shubert, 2-1, for the 152-pound title.
Beth Center's Dominic Fundy uses Jake Stotz's arm as leverage as he works to defeat the North Hills grappler, 10-2, for the 182-pound title in the Chartiers-Houston wrestling tournament.
Josh Kuslock from Chartiers-Houston focuses on his hold against Pine Richland's Garrett Burnham during 138-pound championship action. Kuslock scored a 4-1 decision to win the title of the Chartiers-Houston Wrestling Tournament.
RJ Hall from Chartiers-Houston finds himself in a bind against Albert-Gallatin's Tim Wallace during championship action at the Chartiers-Houston Wrestling Tournament. Hall lost to Wallace, 11-2, in the 170-pound final.
Luke Mary of Peters Township nosed his way to victory, 2-1, against Sewth Shurbert from Mapletown during the 152-pound final in the Chartiers-Houston Wrestling Tournament.
HOUSTON – It was hard to beat the star power from last year’s Chartiers-Houston’s Wrestling Tournament.
Three defending state champions – Mike Carr of South Fayette, and Jake Wentzel and Greg Bulsak of South Park – were in that field.
While it might not be as easy to pick the sure thing from this year’s crop of competitors, there were some impressive showing inside the Chartiers-Houston High School gymnasium Saturday.
Consider:
• Josh Kuslock of Chartiers-Houston, who won for the second time in his career but for only the first time in three seasons. Kuslock overcame injuries and illness over the past two years and repeated as champion with a 4-2 decision over Garrett Burnham of Pine Richland in the 138-pound final.
• Luke Mary of Peters Township pulled out a hard-fought 2-1 decision from Mapletown’s Seth Shubert in the 152-pound final. It was the first title in this event for the junior.
• Dominic Fundy of Beth-Center dominated Jake Stotz of North Hills with a 10-2 major decision at 182 pounds.
• Finally, Sam Hillegas had a great tournament, winning the falls title with five in a combined time of 5:18, being named the Outstanding Wrestler after winning the 120-pound title and helping North Hills win the team title.
In three months, when preparations are being made for the PIAA Championships, some of these wrestlers might be looking back at this tournament as a springboard.
Kuslock’s run to the title included not being seeded, knocking off third-seeded Colin Jezioro of Peters Township and the top-seeded Burnham.
“I never wrestled anyone in my weight before,” said Kuslock. “I just went out there and I knew my hard work would pay off.”
Mary didn’t let being the top-seeded wrestler in the weight class jinx him as the junior won a hard-fought decision over Shubert, a 27-bout winner last season. Mary will have to wait another year to match his brother Phil’s accomplishment of back-to-back titles from 2013-14. Luke Mary didn’t place as a freshman, took fifth as a sophomore and won it this year. It might not be a coincidence that the first-place trophy was in his hands after dropping from 160.
“I weighed about as much as I did last year so I decided to go down to 152,” said Mary. “I’ll probably stay at 52. I’ve gotten in better shape in the room. … I’ve turned up the intensity. This was definitely a good start. I just need to improve.”
Shubert was unseeded and pinned second-seeded Sean Martin of Upper St. Clair to reach the finals.
“I wrestled Mary two years ago at the Tri-CADA tournament,” said Shubert. “He beat me by one point. Coach said just stay tough and I could win, but I lost by one point.”
Fundy, making his second try for a title, completely dominated the match with Stotz. Fundy had one of the two major decisions in the finals.
“Everyone’s good here and anyone can be beaten on any given day, so I just went out and wrestled,” said Fundy, who had three pins in a combined 3:42. “I thought I had a pretty good chance. (Stotz) is a pretty good kid but if I wrestle my match, I feel I can beat anyone.”
Fort Cherry’s Nick Candelore reached the finals at 132 but was pinned by Hunter Baxter of Pine-Richland in 1:54. R.J. Hall of Chartiers-Houston dropped an 11-2 major decision to Tim Wallace of Albert Gallatin in the 170-pound finals.
Freedom was a distant second in the team race, trailing North Hills by 36.5 points. Butler was nine more points back in third and Pine Richland and Albert Gallatin rounded out the top five.