Butler
matmen turn back the clock
Tornado
get 3 section champs
By John Enrietto
Eagle Sports Editor
FOX CHAPEL — 1999-2000 revisited?Scott Stoner hopes so.
Saturday night's Section 3-AAA wrestling championships bore a striking
resemblance to that season for the Butler High School coach.
Eight Golden Tornado wrestlers qualified for the WPIALTournament — three as
section champions — at Fox Chapel High School. That same scenario occurred for
Butler eight years ago.
"Three of those guys (Don Geibel, T.J. McCance and Garrett Boarts) wound
up at states,"Stoner recalled. "We could get guys through again.
We're wrestling well right now."
Butler has not sent a wrestler to the PIAAChampionships since that 1999-2000
season.
Freshman Mike Crawford (31-7) at 119 pounds, senior Alex Evanoff (36-1) at 145
and senior Josh Pascazi (30-6) at 152 claimed section titles for Butler
Saturday.
Two other Tornado freshmen — Cole Baxter (31-6) at 130 and Eric Tuck (22-15) at
103 — lost in the section finals.
"My goals have changed a little bit,"Crawford admitted. "All
season, I just wanted to make it to WPIALs. Now I want to place there and get
through to states.
"It'd be so great if a bunch of us could go."
Crawford and Evanoff dominated in winning their respective weight classes.
Crawford, who only dropped to 119 pounds in the last couple of weeks, pinned
two opponents in the first period before claiming a 6-2 decision in the finals.
Evanoff, whose 36 wins tie North Hills 160-pounder Adam Harold for most in the
section this season, won all three of his matches by 15-0 technical falls.
"Alex was just awesome,"Stoner said. "That was
unbelievable."
Evanoff has 98 career victories entering the WPIALtourney.
"I know I won't be seeded first or second because there are state placers
there,"Evanoff said. "But I should get third or fourth.
"The key for me is getting that first takedown. All year, I've been really
good on top. This is what I've been working toward for the past year. It's nice
to see it all come together."
Pascazi drew a bye in the first round of the section meet, then survived an
overtime decision in the semifinals. He was locked in a 3-3 tie with Fox
Chapel's Justin Mahon before securing a takedown and near-fall points in the
final 10 seconds for an 8-3 decision.
"I need to get aggressive earlier in these matches and not wait so
long,"Pascazi admitted. "But I'm where I want to be."
The Tornado nearly got a fourth section champion, but Baxter lost a
seven-period match when he couldn't escape from North Allegheny's Andy
Candiello.
"He was so close,"Stoner said. "I hate to chalk that up to
inexperience, but Cole is a freshman and Candiello's a sophomore. That extra
year of varsity may have made the difference there."
Other Butler wrestlers qualifying for the WPIALtourney are Daman Redenbach
(fourth at 112), Jon Sanko (fourth at 140) and Marino Quercio (third at 215).
Seneca Valley got five wrestlers through, including two-time section champion
Zach Eckstrom at 285 pounds. He scored a 3-2 overtime decision in the section
finale when he reversed Shaler's Jamal Conroy in the final seconds.
"I never saw him before,"Eckstrom said of Conroy. "He was hurt
most of the year. It was tough to figure him out.
"Iwant to win two or three matches at WPIALs, not go two and out like last
year."
Eckstrom (21-5) will join teammates and section runner-ups Grant Evans (22-5 at
119) and Nate Cully (23-5) at 135 at theWPIALmeet . The Raiders also got
through Dan Papst (fourth at 130) and Jordan Williams (third at 189).
"Zach is our only senior and he's a two-time section champ,"Raiders
coach Lee Mullett said. "Now our younger guys get a chance to experience
the WPIALmeet. Hopefully, we'll learn from that and get better."
Knoch's second-year program is sending one wrestler — 112-pound sophomore
Grayson Hixon (19-10) — to the WPIALmeet.
"He's a sophomore cand a two-time section qualifier now,"Knoch coach
Mark McLaughlin said. "He's setting a standard for other Knoch wrestlers
to aspire toward. That's what a young program needs."
Notes:Butler's Geibel received the section Junior High Coach of the Year
award for the second consecutive season. ... North Hills' Harold (36-0) was the
only unbeaten wrestler in Section 3 this year. ... North Allegheny's Karl
DeCiantis became a four-time section champion. ... North Hills and North
Allegheny joined Butler in posting three section champions.
Section 3-AAA Tournament Finals; Consolation Finals
(all advance to WPIALTournament)
103 pounds — Ross Orler (Pine-Richland) pinned Eric Tuck (Butler) 4:39;
Kevin Monper (North Allegheny) pinned Kraig Esswein (North Hills) 4:38
112 — Carson Brooks (Fox Chapel) dec. Cameron Weber (North Hills) 10-5;
Grayson Hixon (Knoch) tech. fall over Daman Redenbach (Butler) 17-2
119 — Mike Crawford (Butler) dec. Grant Evans (Seneca Valley) 6-2; Mike
Dunn (Fox Chapel) dec., Bobby Sippel (North Allegheny) 6-4
125 — Joe Waltko (North Allegheny) pinned Joe Johnson (Fox Chapel) 4:45;
Ryan Craig (Hampton) pinned Bryan Brown (Avonworth) 3:21
130 — Andy Candiello (North Allegheny) dec. Cole Baxter (Butler) 2-1 in
OT; Conrad Branchen (Avonworth) pinned Dan Papst (Seneca Valley) 2:17
135 — Sam Brehm (Pine-Richland) pinned Nate Cully (Seneca Valley) 5:43;
Tom Caldwell (Fox Chapel)pinned Adam Powers (North Allegheny) 2:05
140 — Alexander Martinez (North Hills) dec. Dave Cawley (North
Allegheny) 4-3; Andrew Puciata (Avonworth) dec. Jon Sanko (Butler) 6-4 in OT
145 — Alex Evanoff (Butler) tech. fall over Ben Kramer (Avonworth) 15-0;
Dave DiBenedetto (Fox Chapel) dec. Harrison Maxwell (Pine-Richland) 11-2
152 — Josh Pascazi (Butler) dec. Justin Mahon (Fox Chapel) 8-3; Ben
Amrhein (North Hills) dec. Stephen Fawcett (Pine-Richland) 6-1
160 — Adam Harold (North Hills) dec. Nick Letters (Fox Chapel) 4-2; Seb
Fischer (North Allegheny) dec. Jared Psensky (Avonworth) 9-2
171 — Karl DeCiantis (North Allegheny) dec. Aaron Barker (Fox Chapel)
15-5; Josh Fleming (Shaler) dec. Justin Okinski (Avonworth) 3-1
189 — Tom McElwaine (North Hills) dec. Dean Smith (Fox Chapel) 3-1;
Jordan Williams (Seneca Valley) pinned Alex Lugar (Pine-Richland) 2:04
215 — Joe Raimondi (Hampton) pinned Doug Rodgers (Shaler) 3:40; Marino
Quercio (Butler) dec. Zach McCarty (North Hills) 13-10
285 — Zach Eckstrom (Seneca Valley) dec. Jamal Conroy (Shaler) 3-2 in
OT; Corey Coleman (North Hills) pinned Mitch DePellegrini (Fox Chapel) 1:45