Champions at last: Burgettstown drops Burrell
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
The crowd at Chartiers-Houston celebrate a Burgettstown victory.
By Joe Tuscano/Staff writer/jtuscano@observer-reporter.com
Burgettstown High School, the WPIAL Class 2A Team Tournament champions.
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
Burgettstown’s Jake Noyse has his hand around the chin of Frazier’s Josh Girvin during their 215-pound bout Saturday in the WPIAL Class 2A Team Tournament.
HOUSTON – The chants came out of the corner of Chartiers-Houston High School’s gymnasium reserved for the Burgettstown wrestling fans.
“Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.”
No, it wasn’t that one, the determined college football player trying to make the Notre Dame team.
It was Rudy Brown, Burgettstown’s talented 160-pound junior, who was putting the finishing touches on a 31-24 victory of Burell to win the WPIAL Class 2A Team Tournament title.
The title was the first for Burgettstown in the tournament’s current format and the first of any kind in 49 years. Burgettstown lost the last three meetings against Burrell, twice in the finals and once in the semifinals since 215.
Burrell, meanwhile, finished second for the second straight season after winning a record 15 straight titles in a row.
Quaker Valley, which defeated Burrell in last year’s finals, finished third by defeating Frazier, 46-27. All four teams qualified for the PIAA Class 2A Team Tournament, which starts Monday with preliminary-round matches.
Burgettstown, as District 7 champion, draws the District 2 champion in Thursday’s first round.
“It got the energy level up out there,” Brown said. “It got me feeling good. It was nice getting the win. We deserved it, put a lot of hard work in. We finally got the championship. We finally won it.”
Burgettstown never trailed, though the match was tied four times. Brown’s 5-4 decision over Nico Zanella with one match remaining stretched the Blue Devils lead to 31-19. Eric Kovach’s pin of Stephen Hasson in 2:28 at 152 pounds also was a backbreaker for Burrell.
“It was a long time coming,” said Joey Vigliotti, while holding his newborn. “We have a lot of respect for them obviously. Me and my brother grew up with a lot of their coaches. I know it hurts to lose but I think they would tell you that if there was a team that they had to lose to in the finals, it would be Burgettstown.”
Jake Noyes gave Burgettstown momentum with a thrilling 3-2 overtime win over Cameron Martin at 189. But Burrell tied it at 215 with a 6-4 overtime decision by Luke Boylan over Tyler Cody.
Joe Baronick gave the lead back to Burgettstown at the turn with a pin in 1:19 of Ian Quinn but Cameron baker tied it again with a pin of Darius Simmons in in 21 seconds.
“My match was pretty big,” Baronick said. “Up to that point, we had two overtime matches so I knew I had to pin my kid or do something big and that’s exactly what I did.”
“Honestly, it was a total team effort,” Vigliotti said. “You can’t put it on one person. We worked hard for it for a very long time.”
Parker Sentipal (114) swapped major decisions with Jacob Stewart (121) and Dylan Slovick (127) swapped decisions with Cooper Hornack (133) to keep the score tied 16-16. That’s when Joey Sentipal (139) gave the Blue Devils a 22-16 lead with a pin of Brady Valovchik. Kovach and Brown would put it away with their wins.
“They are a tough team, well coached,” said Burrell head coach Josh Shields. “They were hungry today so hats off to them for giving it their all. We needed to find a way to win one more match. I knew it was going to come down to who won the swing matches and they did.”
Burgettstown got to the finals by beating Frazier, 49-24. Gaining pins for the Blue Devils were Jake Noyes (215), Joe Baronick (Hvy), Darius Simmons (107), Daniel Smith (114), Parker Sentipal (121), Joey Sentipal (139), and Eric Kovach (145).