Frameli something special at Jefferson-Morgan
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
Chase Frameli, right, of Jefferson-Morgan drives Jackson Spiteri of Peters Township to the mat Friday in the quarterfinals of the Tri-CADA Tournament at Canon-McMillan High School. Frameli won by 21-4 technical fall.
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
Tanner Mizenko, front, of Canon-McMillan has the nose of Nico Bove of Ringgold bloodied in the 106-pound quarterfinals of the Tri-CADA Tournament Friday at Canon-McMillan. Mizenko won by fall.
CANONSBURG – He could be the next big thing for Jefferson-Morgan wrestling.
And Jefferson-Morgan wrestling has had some pretty big things in its competitive past.
Frameli, a sophomore and the top seed at 145 pounds, has the blood lines. His father wrestled with Cary Kolat, one of two wrestlers at Jefferson-Morgan to win four PIAA wrestling titles.
The other is Gavin Teasdale, and there have been more than one coach in the WPIAL who believes Frameli is just as good on his feet as Teasdale ever was.
Frameli pulls into today’s semifinals of the Tri-CADA Tournament at Canon-McMillan High School beginning at 11 a.m. Finals will start at 2:30 p.m.
“Things are going pretty well for me,” Frameli said. “I only have a couple pins but I have a lot of tech falls.”
Frameli opened the tournament with a 13-4 major decision over Daniel Huffman of Waynesburg and followed it up with a 21-4 technical fall in the quarterfinals to run his record to 13-1.
Frameli will wrestle Tyler Debnar of Beth-Center in the semifinals.
“He’s great on his feet,” said Jefferson-Morgan head coach Troy Barnhart. “That is self-taught and self-motivated. Chase is one of the most motivated kids I’ve ever been around. He’s got to work on some other things but on his feet, he’s phenomenal.”
Frameli is coming off an 11-1 freshman season. He was knocked out of the postseason, a memory that keeps him motivated.
“I want to be a state champion,” Frameli said.
“He can be on the podium if he starts believing in himself,” said Barnhart. “I truly be that. Once he starts believing in himself, the sky is the limit.”
Among those missing the tournament is Mac Church, a 132-pound junior from Waynesburg who is a returning state champion.
Church missed the event because of an infection in his knee. He was unable to get clearance from his physician this week, said Waynesburg head coach Kyle Szewczyk.
“He didn’t get cleared and was a late scratch,” Szewczyk said. “It started as a boil and sometimes it can be an ingrown hair. It’s one of those things you never know which way it can go.”
Church would undoubtedly been the top seed in 132-pound weight class. Instead, that honor went to Blake Reihner of Trinity, who pinned Noah Anderson of Bentworth in 59 seconds in the quarterfinals.
The No.2 seed that Reihner would have held went to Kyle McCollum, a senior from Beth-Center. McCollum won by 25-10 technical fall over Cameron Deems, a freshman from McGuffey.
“We don’t want it to get more serious than where it’s at,” Szewczyk said. “He has another appointment with the doctor on Monday.”
If Church gets the clearance he desires, it would come the day before Waynesburg takes on Trinity in a big section match.
“We’ll see. We’re hoping,” said Szewczyk. “It hurts for him to put weight on it, bend the knee, take a shot. Plus, he didn’t get cleared so there is nothing we can do about it.”