PIAA AAA Dual Recap: Nazareth's Balance Reigns Supreme
PIAA AAA Dual Recap: Nazareth's Balance Reigns Supreme
PIAA AAA Dual Championship Recap from the Giant Center in Hershey, PA
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By Ian McCutcheon
The Nazareth Blue Eagles won their third PIAA Team championship with a 38-21 win over Waynesburg Central in the finals yesterday afternoon in Hershey, Pennsylvania. The Blue Eagles earned bonus points in five of their eight wins and pulled a huge upset at 132, where Blaine Wilson held on for a 5-4 win over returning state medalists Cole Homet. For the weekend, Nazareth won 44 of 56 matches and had an average margin of victory of 45.5 points, showing their overwhelming team depth from all 14 spots in the lineup. It was the fifth PIAA Team title for Nazareth head coach Dave Crowell, who previously coached Nazareth to 3A titles in 2007 and 2017 and won back-to-back 2A titles at Wilson Area in 2001 and 2002.
No single match encompassed Nazareth’s grit and culture more than Wilson’s upset of Homet. Leading 5-4 on the strength of a takedown and reversal in the first period, the Nazareth senior would up on his back in danger of a neutral-fall during a scramble, but held a full bridge for nearly 40 seconds to avoid a takedown and backpoints and preserved a momentum-killing win. Nazareth received bonus point wins from two-time state medalist Andrew Smith (fall in 1:20 at 120), state finalist and Lock Haven commit DaShawn Farber (fall in 2:31 at 145), rising star freshman Jake Doone (25-10 tech fall in 4:49 at 113), and junior Joe Capobianco (fall in 5:44 at 182), who erased a 7-5 deficit with a cradle and pin in the second to last bout of the afternoon to put an exclamation point on the win.
Waynesburg Central did win the two biggest matchups of the dual, with #7 Mac Church earning a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Charlie Bunting at 106 on the strength of a second period rideout and #18 Luca Augustine coming out on top of a 2-1 decision in TB2 over state medalist and Lehigh commit Connor Herceg. Both of those matchups are likely to be seen again at the individual tournament back in Hershey next month. It was Waynesburg Central’s first appearance in the PIAA Team finals and the Raiders did so without a senior in the lineup.
Nazareth 38, Waynesburg 21
220: Stephen Schott, Naz wins by forfeit.
285: Ryan Howard, Way dec Matthew Burton, 5-3 SV
106: Mac Church, Way dec Charlie Bunting, 1-0
113: Jake Doone, Naz tf Nate Jones, 4:49 25-10
120: Andrew Smith, Naz fall Hunter Shriver, 1:20
126: Rocco Welsh, Way md Vinny Hebel, 16-5
132: Blaine Wilson, Naz dec Cole Homet, 5-4
138: Wyatt Henson, Way tf Nicholas Foster, 4:05 23-8
145: Dashawn Farber, Naz fall Colton Stoneking, 2:31
152: Nate Stefanik, Naz dec Nate Stephenson, 7-1
160: Jake Dressler, Naz dec Eli Makel, 7-2
170: Luca Augustine, Way dec Conner Herceg, 2-1tb2
182: Joseph Capobianco, Naz fall Darnell Johnson, 5:44
195: Noah Tustin, Way dec Drew Clearie, 9-6
The Raiders punched their ticket to finals on Friday night with a 33-31 win over Bethlehem Catholic, preventing an all-District 11 final for the second year in a row. It looked as though Bethlehem Catholic stole momentum from the Raiders when superstar freshman Tyler Kasak, who returned from injury two weeks ago, wrestled his first bout at 106 and knocked off #7 Mac Church in a 4-3 decision. But at 113, Bethlehem Catholic state qualifier Dante Frinzi was disqualified for an illegal slam one minute into the bout. That forced the Golden Hawks to juggle their lineup and send two-time state medalist Matt Mayer up from 120 to 126 to face star freshman Rocco Welsh, who handled the Becahi junior 8-2. Waynesburg Central advanced to semifinals with a 44-24 win over Erie Cathedral Prep in quarters, highlighted by Church’s 2-1 TB2 win over Jacob Van Dee in a rematch of the PowerAde finals from December. Waynesburg Central opened their tour of Pennsylvania blue blood programs with a 40-21 win over Central Dauphin.
On the other half of the bracket, Nazareth destroyed Dallastown 56-6, winning 12 of 14 bouts over the District 3 runner-up. Nazareth’s closest match before the finals was a 50-10 win over District 7 runner-up Seneca Valley. That followed up a 69-3 destruction of District 1 fourth-place finisher Garnet Valley. Nazareth’s average margin of victory in duals was 45.5 points, narrowly missing the 3A record of 45.7 set by Easton in 2002. Bethlehem Catholic holds the all-class record with an average margin of victory of 54.3 in the 2014 2A Team championship.
The Golden Hawks finished third, defeating Erie Cathedral Prep in the consolation final, highlighted by Cornell commit #4 Cole Handlovic’s 6-2 win over Iowa State commit #14 Paniro Johnson. Becahi also had the other notable individual result on the back-side, a 4-0 decision by #8 Kenny Hermann over two-time state champion #14 Alejandro Herrera-Rondon of Seneca Valley.
Full results can be found on FloArena. Brock Hite will catch up on the AA tournament here, and the best matches of the weekend were captured by JD Rader.