Dec 6, 2018 4 min read

Life without Gavin Teasdale begins this season for high school wrestling fans.

Teasdale became a four-time PIAA champion, only the 13th in state history, and following his path to that goal became an annual adventure over the last four seasons.

The Jefferson-Morgan High School graduate is now at Penn State, currently on hiatus because of an undisclosed illness, so wrestling fans will be searching for that next best thing in high school wrestling.

The wrestling season begins tonight with a number of different tournaments, so let’s go over some of the talking points for this season.

While there is no wrestler on a crusade for four PIAA titles, yet, there are many intriguing story lines, beginning with Beth-Center’s Dom Fundy.

The senior was a state runner-up as a sophomore in Class AA, dropping a 6-0 decision to Cody Mulligan of Saegertown in the 182-pound finals.

He roared back as a junior but sustained multiple injuries to his hand during a triangular meet with Moon and Peters Township the weekend before the start of the postseason.

Fundy was ranked No. 1 in the O-R wrestling rankings and the feeling here is that he would at least make the state finals again.

Fundy enters this season with a 104-14 record.

• Gerrit Nijenhuis of Canon-McMillan had an outstanding sophomore season for Canon-McMillan, finishing third in the Class AAA 160-pound weight class. His only loss in Hershey came against eventual champion Carter Starocci of Erie Cathedral Prep in the semifinals, 6-4 in overtime.

Starocci, a recent Penn State commit, is ranked second in the country at 182 pounds by Intermat. Nijenhuis was ranked sixth. Nijenhuis was at 182 for the Super 32 preseason tournament in which he finished second but could move to 170.

Nijenhuis is 10 wins away from 100 in his career.

• Christian Clutter also had a breakout season for McGuffey, finishing fourth in the state’s Class AA 170-pound weight class.

Clutter wrestled his best when it mattered most and should have a good shot in Hershey. He has a 119-23 record.

Changes

The WPIAL realigned the sections and it broke up a long-standing rivalry.

In Section 4-AAA, Canon-McMillan was moved to the subdivision opposite Waynesburg and Trinity. So a Big Macs match with either rival would not occur until the WPIAL Section Team Tournament.

Canon-McMillan will wrestle Ambridge, New Castle, South Fayette and West Allegheny in Section 4A. Moon, Montour and Chartiers Valley join Waynesburg and Trinity in 4B.

South Fayette was in Class AA last year and will probably have Triple-A enrollment for the foreseeable future. The Lions were hit hard by graduation.

• Avella has decided to co-op its program with Fort Cherry. The Eagles were down to two wrestlers when the postseason began and have struggled with numbers.

Avella was to compete in Section 1-A with Chartiers-Houston, Fort Cherry, South Park and Washington.

Should there be enough interest, Avella could resurrect the program.

Tournaments

There are a number of events to kick off the season, but the most intriguing one in this area is at Chartiers-Houston.

The two-day, 26-team event showcases a number of strong programs and successful wrestlers.

Fundy should be making his season debut and defending Class AAA state champion Sam Hillegas is expected to begin his title defense with North Hills. Thayne Lawrence, a Class AA state champion, should be there for Frazier and Kurt Phipps, a Class AAA state runner-up, will be in Norwin’s lineup.

Action begins tonight at 4:30 p.m. Finals are 4 p.m., Saturday.

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