Wrestling Notebook: Powerade “as good as it has ever been”
The Powerade Wrestling Tournament has expanded its field of participants for its upcoming tournament to more than 50 teams.
And while the expansion was planned for this season, the tournament’s director said the number has reached its limit for the foreseeable future.
Frank Vulcano, Powerade’s director, said this year’s field is “as good as it has ever been.” He added that his continued goal of bringing in the best competition has really solidified the last few years.
“We are very close to the maximum number of teams,” Vulcano said. “We wanted to expand the tournament and we just felt we wanted to give this a try.”
The Powerade Wrestling Tournament will be held December 29-30 at Canon-McMillan High School and host a record 52 teams.
Preliminary-round bouts will begin at 8:15 a.m. Dec. 29 with the quarterfinals to be held at 7:30 p.m. The consolation bracket will begin from the round of 32.
“There is one less round but we’ve increased the size of each bracket,” Vulcano said.
The semifinals will be contested at 11 a.m. Dec. 30 with consolation finals at 4:30 p.m., followed by the championship bouts at 7 p.m.
Local teams entered in the tournament include: Belle Vernon, Canon-McMillan, Jefferson-Morgan, Waynesburg and Trinity. Other WPIAL teams are: Albert Gallatin, Bethel Park, Burrell, Connellsville, Franklin Regional, Hempfield, Kiski Area, Latrobe, North Hills, Penn-Trafford, Pine-Richland, Seneca Valley, Derry Area, Moon, Mt. Lebanon, Norwin and Shaler.
Chartiers-Houston Tournament
Two area wrestlers highlight this year’s Chartiers-Houston Wrestling Invitational, a traditional season-opening event.
Beth-Center’s Dominic Fundy and Luke Mary of Peters Township are returning champions to the tournament, which begins Friday at 4:30 p.m. at Chartiers-Houston High School. The semifinals will be held Saturday at 11:30 a.m. with the championship finals set for 4 p.m.
Vulcano, who is also the director of the C-H tournament, said the tournament is a good opening for Class AA schools and for smaller Class 3A schools.
“After more than 20 years, it remains a competitive tournament for all the teams,” Vulcano said. “With the minimal amount of dual meets in sections, a lot of teams have turned to more tournaments.”
Area teams entered into the tournament are: Avella, Bentworth, Beth-Center, Burgettstown, Chartiers-Houston, Fort Cherry, Mapletown, Peters Township, South Fayette and West Greene.
Other returning champions include: Matt Inman of Anville-Celona, Freedom’s Z.J. Ward, Sam Hillegas and Nathan Monkey of North Hills, Albert Gallatin’s Tim Wallace and Jake Slinger of Upper St. Clair.
Belle Vernon
short-handed
Belle Vernon enters this season with just 14 wrestlers on its roster and likely will not be able to fill the three lightest weight classes.
“Going into every year, we have high hopes for the team,” said Mike Doppelheuer, in his fourth season as Leopards head coach. “Unfortunately, we can’t field a full team and I think if we could field one, we could make a run at doing some damage.
“All the guys in the in room are quality guys. Our expectations and goals are to get in the (practice) room and improve, get better every day and make a good showing at these big tournament we are competing in.”
Gone are Jacob Dunlop, Tyler Saliga and Billy Korber to graduation and all have moved on to collegiate wrestling.
The Leopards do return seniors Brock Godzin at 152, who finished with a 41-9 record last season, and Zach Hartman at 160, who had a 37-8 mark a season ago. Junior Scott Joll should be at 170. He had a 30-14 record.
Godzin placed fifth in the state last season and has 93 career victories. Hartman has 127 career wins in 150 bouts. He is a two-time PIAA place winner and a Bucknell recruit. Hartman needs 33 wins this year to tie the school record of 160 held by Austin Bell, a 2016 graduate.
Belle Vernon competes in the Section 2-AA sub-section with Albert Gallatin, Connellsville, McKeesport, West Mifflin and Thomas Jefferson. The Leopards were 15-4 last season and a WPIAL quarterfinalist. They open the season this weekend at the North Coast Classic at Independence High School near Cleveland.