Burgettstown hangs on for first-round PIAA win
Joe Tuscan0/Observer-Reporter
Rudy Brown of Burgettstown grinds the face of Bennett Fritz of Honesdale into the mat during their 160-pound bout in the PIAA Class 2A Team Tournament Thursday in Hershey. Brown won a major decision and Burgettstown advanced to the quarterfinals.
Joe Tuscan0/Observer-Reporter
Darius Simmons, back, tries to control Honesdale’s Sam Eisel during their 107-pound bout in the PIAA Class 2A Team Tournament in Hershey Thursday. Simmons won a 9-0 major decision.
Joe Tuscan0/Observer-Reporter
Parker Sentipal of Burgettstown runs the half on Justin Scanlon during their 114-pound bout in the PIAA Class 2A Team Tournament in Hershey Thursday. Sentipal won by fall.
HERSHEY – Burgettstown has found the secret to its success on the wrestling mat.
His name is Rudy Brown.
For the second time in less than a week, the 160-pound junior from Burgettstown High School gave the Blue Devils the key win to capture a dual meet.
Last week, Brown decisioned Nico Zanella of Burrell, 5-3, to wrap up the Blue Devils’ first WPIAL Class 2A Team Tournament title at Chartiers-Houston High School.
On Thursday, Brown came away with a 12-3 major decision over Bennett Fritz to wrap up a 34-27 victory over Honesdale in the first round of the PIAA Class 2A Team Tournament at the Giant Center.
The win not only keeps Burgettstown undefeated on the season with a 16-0 record, it also sends the Blue Devils into today’s quarterfinals (noon) against Saucon Valley, a 42-21 winner in the first round over United. Saucon Valley is the District 11 runner-up.
“I just knew I had to stall it down and come away with the win,” said Brown of his strategy for the final two minutes. “It didn’t matter what the score was. I just needed to get the win. Then we’ll move on to the next round.”
Brown broke Honedale’s momentum with his win. Following a 5-0 decision by the Blue Devils’ Gavin Suica over Braden McGloughlin at 133 pounds, Burgettstown had a 30-17 lead.
But Honesdale, the District 2 champion, was not going away that easy.
Tim Martin took a 6-4 decision from Burgettstown’s Joey Sentipal at 139 pounds to cut the Blue Devils’ lead to 30-20. Joey Giannetti made it 30-23 with a come-from-behind 8-7 decision over Eric Kovach at 145 pounds. And Avery Mason cut Burgettstown’s lead to 30-27 with an 11-0 decision over Logan Noyes at 152 pounds.
Suddenly, it grew very quiet on the Burgettstown bench. And things could not have looked any worse when Brown took injury time and appeared to throw up in the corner bucket.
“I guess I was a little tired,” Brown said. “I don’t know what I ate but I felt it coming back up. I almost puked it out. I’m glad I didn’t.”
Brown wasn’t the only Burgettstown wrestler to win big bouts yesterday. Jake Noyes opened with a 3-0 decision to start the match at 172 pounds. And Joe Baronick pinned Evan Funk of Honesdale at heavyweight to stop a two-bout winning streak by the Hornets.
“It’s hard to tell what the key bout was,” said Honesdale head coach Ryan Chulada. “We’re about as far northeast in the state as you can get and Burgettstown is about as far southwest you can get in the state.
“We were two evenly matched teams. Their kid at 285 went out there and set the tone. We were building a little bit of momentum and he went out and squelched that. The bonus points were important and we didn’t do a good job taking care of that.”
Burgettstown head coach Joey Vigliotti was not happy with the performance of his wrestlers.
“I think we’re capable of a lot more than that,” Vigliotti said. “It’s been a tough season. You just have to go out and battle. I told the kids they have a target on their backs and (Honesdale) nearly had a bulls-eye.”
Joining Baronick with pins for Burgettstown were Parker Sentipal (114) and Dylan Slovick (127).