PIAA AA Wrestling Championships
Giant Center, Hershey
Final (pdf) Brackets -- -- -- -- -- -- Final Team Points

AA Championship Finals
Shady Side Academy won two individual crowns and ran away with the team points title at the PIAA AA Individual Wrestling Championships. Northwestern Lehigh finished second, nearly 30 points behind the Indians. Burrell finished third.

103 pounds--Montoursville freshman Luke Frey rode Mason Beckman, Reynolds, through the ultimate tie-breaker period for a 3-2 victory. Frey took a 2-0 lead midway through the third period, but Beckman forced overtime with a takedown with just 14 seconds left. Neither was able to get out from underneath in the 30-second overtime periods. Frey chose top for the rideout and made it work for the PIAA gold medal.

112 pounds--Anthony Zanetta, Keystone Oaks, scored a late takedown with a leg hook to beat Joe Spisak, Boiling Springs, 9-7. The two traded control and near-fall points in the first. Zanetta scored a second-period reversal to lead 6-4. Spisak's escape and takedown midway through the third put him in front, 7-6. Zanetta tied the bout with 22 seconds, then scored the winning takedown with one second remaining to finish his junior season at 40-0.

119 pounds--Tyler Erdman, Line Mountain, took advantage of two missed shots by Evan Yenolevich, Northwestern Lehigh, to score a 5-3 overtime win. A tilt in the second put Yenolevich up 3-0, but he was cautioned twice in the period for false starts. Erdman got on the board at the start of the third as Yenolevich beat the whistle for a third time. Just over halfway through the final period, Erdman avoided a Yenolevich shot and spun behind to tie the bout. In overtime, Yenolevich lost the leg on a fireman's carry attempt and Erdman scored the winning takedown with 24 second remaining in the extra period. Erdman improved from 7th-place a year ago. Yenolevich settles for a second straight silver medal.

125 pounds--Dane Johnson scored a takedown 20 seconds into his bout with Nick Hodgkins and controlled the entire bout, winning his second straight PIAA title with a 7-2 victory. The Shady Side Academy junior used a spin to get the first two takedowns, then a leg grab with 30 seconds to go to get his third medal (5th in 2006). Hodgkins, a Wyomissing freshman managed just two escapes in the bout.

130 pounds--In his first trip to the PIAA Finals, Derek Reber, Lewisburg scored all he needed with an early first-period leg takedown. The undefeated senior rode Eric Hess, Benton through the second, then scored a quick escape in the third to lead 3-1. The bout stayed that way until the final buzzer sounded as Hess took Reber down, but too late to get the points. Reber (41-0) had two third-place and a fourth-place finish previously at the Giant Center.

135 pounds--Sharon sophomore Jordan Moss picked up a leg takedown out of a first-period scramble and went on to beat Shane Welsh, Burrell, 3-2. Moss got control with 1:13 to go in the first and rode Welsh through the rest of the period. The Burrell senior got on the board with an escape halfway through the second to make it 2-1. Welsh cut Moss loose halfway throught the third to try for a takedown but managed only to force a stalling penalty in the final 25 seconds. Moss (43-0) was a fourth-place medalist a year ago. Welsh was seventh last season after a bronze medal in his sophomore season.

140 pounds--Chestnut Ridge senior Gary Pfahler kept Burrell's Jordan Shields from winning a second championship, beating the Bucs' senior, 4-3. An early third-period escape for Pfahler tied the bout at 2-2. Shields got in on a leg attempt, but Pfahler was able to lace on the way down, eventually getting the takedown and the win, improving on an 8th-place medal in 2006.

145 pound--Brock Parker, a Canton senior, worked single-leg and double-leg takedowns in the first period to lead Justin Ferguson, Greenville, 4-2. Another 4-2 advantage for the Northeast Region champion gave him plenty of cushion on the way to an 8-5 win, keeping Ferguson from completing an undefeated season. Parker was third two years ago. Ferguson finished eighth last year.

152 pounds--Dirk Cowburn, Coudersport, finished off an unbeaten sophomore season with a 5-2 win over Ethan Laudermilch, Northeast Bradford in the finals. Cowburn used a couple leg takedowns in the first period to forge a 4-1 lead. And then, the action seemed to disappear. Laudermilch got free early in the second, Cowburn early in the third to complete the scoring. Cowburn improved on a fourth-place medal a year ago as a freshman.

160 pounds--In another matchup of returning medalists, Johnathan Brothers, Redbank Valley grabbed a late first-period takedown, and a reversal halfway through the third, to knock off Nick Venditti, Berwick, 4-2. Brothers, a once-beaten senior, finished fifth a year ago, and had wins against the fourth and sixth place medalists this year. Venditti, who beat the eventual third and fifth place winners on the way to the finals today, improved on an eighth place medal.

171 pounds--Ben Clymer, Northwestern Lehigh, scored a reversal and three different near-fall situations in the second period along on the way to an impressive 12-1 major decision over Gene Baier, Montoursville. Both wrestlers are seniors and making their first appearances at the PIAA championships. Leading 2-1 entering the second, Clymer hit a switch with 1:30 remaining, then used a tilt for two, then three, then two more near fall points at the buzzer to build an 11-1 lead. An escape for Clymer in the third wrapped up the scoring.

189 pounds--Shady Side Academy's Roman San Doval got free in nine seconds in overtime, then rode Ethan Virgili, Jefferson-Morgan, for 30 seconds to seal the deal, winning the PIAA championship, 2-1. After going scoreless through the first period of regulation, San Doval stood up four times in the second before getting free with 30 seconds remaining to lead 1-0. Virgili needed just two seconds to sit and turn free to tie the bout in the third period and eventually send it to overtime. This was the third straight overtime finals meeting between the two. Virgili won last week in the Southwest Regional final. San Doval won the week before at the WPIAL Championships.

215 pounds--Dan Conley, Burgettstown, missed the 2007 post-season due to a shoulder injury. The Blue Devils senior made up for his absence in a big way, pinning Dan Winnie, Danville in the PIAA Finals. Conley nearly turned a followup doubleleg shot into a pin in the first. Then, after getting off the bottom in just five seconds, Conley walked into another deep double, putting Winnie right to his back, using a half-nelson to get the fall at 3:03. It's Burgettstown's first state title since Jeff Abbott in 1992 and just the sixth all-time. Conley (31-4) has the fewest wins of any of the finalists.

285 pounds--Ziad Haddad finished second a year ago. A third-period takedown gave the Bethlehem Catholic senior enough cushion to beat Phillip Catrucco, Sharpsville, 4-2. Haddad scored an escape in the second, plus was awarded a stalling point. In the third, after cutting Catrucco loose, Haddad swept in on a leg takedown to win the 285-pound title, finishing the season 39-0. The loss was the first of the year for Catrucco.

Beth-Center's Aaron Hrutkay finished fourth at 160 pound, battling through a wrist injury in the consolation bouts.

Shady Side sophomore Matt Cunningham, freshmen teammate Geoff Alexander and Travis Shaffer, a Derry Area ninth-grader, all won their fifth-place bouts.

Dominick Demor, South Side Beaver, finished his career with three straight losses, taking sixth place at 140 pounds. Kurt Brendel ended his Shady Side career with a sixth-place medal, losing two straight in the consolation rounds.

Avella junior Mitch Spencer repeated a WPIAL Finals win over South Allegheny 11th-grader Robert Blotzer for seventh place. South Park's Dave Ivashchenko won three consolation bouts for a seventh-place finish at 135 pounds.

Washington senior Sam Miller took eighth place at 285 pounds.

Burrell teammates Shane Welsh and Jordan Shields, both seniors, will try to win back-to-back titles at 135-140 pounds. If both win, it will be just the second time teammates won back-to-back in the past 10 years.

Anthony Zanetta, Keystone Oaks seeks his 40th win of the season, one of seven undefeated wrestlers in the AA brackets.

Ethan Virgili, Jefferson-Morgan faces San Doval in the 189-pound final, the third straight weekend the two meet in the finals. Each owns an overtime win, San Doval in the WPIAL finals, Virgili last week at the SW Regional.

Burgettstown's Dan Conley has the fewest wins this season among the finalists. But one more for the Blue Devil senior will make him the first state champion for Burgettstown since Jeff Abbott (1992).

The WPIAL will bring home 19 medals in Class AA, up one from last year. Sevens medals will come from six championship bouts, three more from the third-place matches, including returning PIAA champion Frank Martelotti (Shady Side Academy). Five District 7 wrestlers are in the fifth-place bouts and four more in the battles for seventh place.

Seniors Anthony Zanetta (Keystone Oaks), Dominick Demor (South Side Beaver), Ethan Virgili (Jeff-Morgan) and Dan Conley (Burgettstown) are joined in the semifinals by Derry freshman Travis Shaffer.

Shady Side Academy leads the team scoring with 39 points. Northwestern Lehigh (28.5) is second. Dual-meet champion Burrell (27) is third but has just the two finalists remaining in the tournament. Shady Side also has three wrestlers alive in the consolations.

Seventeen WPIAL wrestlers dropped into the consolations, either with losses in the preliminaries (eight) or in the quarterfinals (nine). Nine of them won second-round bouts, clinching at least an eighth-place finish. The WPIAL will win 19 medals in Class AA. That's up one from last year.

Shady Side Academy also moved five wrestlers into the second round, led by 2007 titlist Dane Johnson. Returning champion Frank Martelotti lost his 1st-round bout, but came back with a consolation win to stay alive.

Both Jefferson-Morgan qualifiers--Brian Scritchfield and Ethan Virgili--are in the quarterfinals, leading a Washington/Greene County contingent of five winnners. Dan Conley, Burgettstown, Aaron Hrutkay, Beth-Center and Sam Miller, Washington were also winners on Thursday.

Derry Area, Keystone Oaks, South Allegheny and South Side Beaver also have one quarterfinalist each.

WPIAL AA wrestlers won eight of their 13 consolation bouts. The five consolation losers were eliminated--Southmoreland teammates Erik Frund and Jeff Beal, Dave Brown (Shady Side Academy), Sam Guidi (Fort Cherry) and John Kazalas (Keystone Oaks).

The 2007 titlists that did return are all from the WPIAL. Frank Martelotti and Dane Johnson, teammates at Shady Side Academy, and Burrell's Jordan Shields all return to the PIAA championships seeking a second gold medal. Martelotti is a sophomore, Johnson a junior and Shields is a senior.

WPIAL (Dist. 7) wrestlers won 12 of the 14 individual championships at the Southwest AA Regional championships Saturday night. The WPIAL also claimed 32 of the 70 individual PIAA berths out of the Southwest Regional.

Shady Side Academy (141.5 points) won the team title, including three individual titles. Burrell (138) finished second despite picking up four championships. Mt. Union, Westmont Hilltop and Cambria Heights round out the top five teams.

Jordan Shields, Burrell, scored an escape in the rideout period against South Side Beaver's Dominick Demor to win his fourth WPIAL Individual wrestling championship. A defending PIAA champion, Shields is just the 15th wrestler in the more than 70 year history of the sport to win four individual titles.

Shady Side Academy won five individual titles as well as the Outstanding Wrestler award. Dane Johnson, a junior and returning PIAA titlist, won his third District championship, scoring a second-period fall over Travis Shaffer, Derry Area. Sophomore Matthew Cunningham won his second title. Geoff Alexander won a major decision at 103 pounds and Kurt Brendel dominated thye 171-pound title bout, a 7-1 win over Ryan Watson, Burgettstown.

WPIAL Team Tournament champion Burrell won three other individual titles including the third for Shane Welsh. The Bucs senior scored a 4-3 win in the finals, giving South Park's David Ivashchenko his first loss of the season. Freshman Travis McKillop won the 119-pound title, then senior Bob Speer won at 145 pounds, improving on his sixth-place finish a year ago.

A couple of juniors kept returning champions from repeating. Keystone Oaks Anthony Zannetta remained undefeated at 112 pounds, scoring a 3-1 overtime win over Shady Side's Frank Martelotti, the 2007 103-pound titlist. Roman San Doval, Shady Side Academy, needed overtime, but scored a 3-1 win over defending 189-pound champion Ethan Virgili, Jefferson-Morgan.

Avella junior Mitch Spencer picked up his 30th win of the season, a 3-2 victory over Robert Blotzer, South Allegheny, in the 130-pound finals. Fort Cherry freshman Sam Guidi scored a takedown 39 seconds into overtime to beat Aaron Hrutkay, Beth-Center, in the 160-pound final. Dan Conley's second post-season win in two weeks against Carlynton's Jordan Roussos made the Burgettstown senior the 215-pound WPIAL champion. Zack Reefer, Elderton, pinned Tyrone Ezell just before the first-period buzzer to win at 285 pounds.

Saturday night, at this year's WPIAL AA & AAA Individual Championships, a pair of seniors became WPIAL wrestling immortals. Canon-McMillan's Colin Johnston and Burrell's Jordan Shields became just the second duo to enter the Four-Timers Club the same year. Larry Hall (Jeannette) and Coleman Scott (Waynesburg) each won their fourth WPIAL titles in 2004.

Johnston is the fifth member of this exclusive club from Canon-McMillan, just the second in the last 50 years. Johnston is now 37-1 this season, heading to the PIAA Championships. The 135-pounder has been to the PIAA Finals twice, winning in 2006 before finishing second last year.

Shields was also a 103-pound champion as a freshman, then at 112 pounds his sophmore season. As a junior, Shields not only won the 130-pound WPIAL title, but claimed the PIAA championship as well, the fourth in Burrell history. Now, after scoring his fourth WPIAL crown, Shields heads to the PIAA Southwest Regional for the final trip at 41-1.

Puchany won four consecutive WPIAL individual wrestling championships from 1936-1939. Waynesburg's James Conklin started his four-year run the next season. Canonsburg's Donald Haney (1947-1950) and Manuel Pihakis (1949-1952) soon followed. The Canonsburg Three & Conklin waited another 36 years before John Dasta, Penn Hills '88, joined the club.

Since then John Richey (Connellsville '91), Cary Kolat (Jefferson-Morgan '92), Mark Angle (Canon-McMillan '95), Shawn Whyte (West Greene '98), Troy Letters (Shaler '01), and Joe Makara (Burrell '03) have won four individual WPIAL championships Hall and Scott followed the next year. All but Whyte and Hall followed up their WPIAL titles with PIAA gold medals in their senior seasons.

Two juniors won their third individual WPIAL titles--Dane Johnson (Shady Side Academy) and James Fleming (West Mifflin).

1. Andy Puchany, Canonsburg (1936-1939)
2. James Conklin, Waynesburg (1940-1943)
3. Donald Haney, Canonsburg (1947-1950)
4. Manuel Pihakis, Canonsburg (1949-1952)
5. John Dasta, Penn Hills (1985-1988)
6. John Richey, Connellsville (1988-1991)
7. Cary Kolat, Jefferson-Morgan (1989-1992)
8. Mark Angle, Canon-McMillan (1992-1995)
9. Shawn Whyte, West Greene (1995-1998)
10. Troy Letters, Shaler (1998-2001)
11. Joe Makara, Burrell (2000-2003)
12. Larry Hall, Jeannette (2001-2004)
13. Coleman Scott, Waynesburg (2001-2004)
14. Troy Dolan, Derry (2004-2007)
15. Colin Johnston, Canon-McMillan (2005-2008)
16. Jordan Shields, Burrell (2005-2008)

Section 1-AA at West Greene -- Final Brackets
This tournament defines balance. Nine Section 1-AA schools won individual championships. Avella's Mitch Spencer picked up his third title as did Dominick Demor of South Side Beaver. Each had a teammate win a title. Center, Fort Cherry and Washington each had two champions. South Park's David Ivashchenko (27-0) kept Garrett Johnson (West Greene) from winning his second title. Johnston is a four-time finalist. Fellow Pioneer Tucker Conklin lost in the finals after winning the last two years.

Section 2-AA at Mt. Pleasant -- Final Brackets
Third Section titles were won Saturday by Brian Scritchfield (Jeff-Morgan), Anthony Zannetta (Keystone Oaks) and Zach Sheridan (Mt. Pleasant). Zannetta, a returning SW Regional champion, is now 30-0. Allen Park (Mt. Pleasant) and Ty Basinger (Jeff-Morgan) both advanced to the finals for the fourth time, but lost, the third time that's happened for each. Charleroi's David Grillo also made the finals for the fourth time, but lost for the second straight year after winning as a freshman and sophmore.

Section 3-AA at Shady Side Academy-- Final Brackets
PIAA & WPIAL Team champion Burrell won seven individual titles, including the fourth straight for Shane Welsh. Buc teammate Jordan Shields, a returning PIAA champion, made the finals for the fourth time, winning his third crown. Shady Side Academy, WPIAL Team runnerup, won six titles, including returning state champion Dane Johnson's third. Levi Smeltzer, Elderton, made the finals for the fourth time but suffered his third title-match defeat.

Second Round
Northwestern Lehigh 38, Forest Hills 24
Bedford 34, Shady Side Academy 32
Brandywine Heights 51, Berwick 22
Mt. Carmel 39, Mt. Union 33

Quarterfinals
Bermudian Springs 36, Northwestern Lehigh 27
Bedford 38, Towanda 22
Reynolds 42, Brandywine Heights 21
Burrell 59, Mt. Carmel 9

Round 1 Consolations
Mt. Carmel 33, Forest Hills 31
Shady Side Academy 38, Brandywine Heights 20
Berwick 32, Towanda 31 (tie-breaker--most wins)
Northwestern Lehigh 38, Mt. Union 32

Round 2 Consolations
Shady Side Academy 42, Mt. Carmel 18
Northwestern Lehigh 48, Berwick 24

Semifinals
Bermudian Springs 33, Bedford 28
Burrell 24, Reynolds 22

Round 3 Consolations
Shady Side Academy 42, Bedford 23
Reynolds 47, Northwestern Lehigh 21

Consolation Finals
Reynolds 34, Shady Side Academy 25

Championship Finals
Burrell 37, Bermudian Springs 29

FINALS
Burrell 36, Shady Side Academy 26 -- Listen Here!
Travis McKillop pinned defending PIAA champion Frank Martelotti, igniting Burrell in the early bouts on the way to a 36-26 win over Shady Side Academy and the Bucs' second straight WPIAL Class AA Team Wrestling title.

Martelotti shot for a takedown against McKillop who blocked and then rolled Martelotti to his back. After about 40 seconds there, McKillop was able to put both shoulders to the mat for the fall and a huge swing in momentum. The Bucs would go on to win four of the next five bouts, including falls by Shane Welsh, Jordan Shields and Bob Speer to build a 30-10 lead.

Shady Side Academy's "go-to guys" stepped up, but couldn't get enough to make up for the early losses. Kurt Brendel and Geoff Alexander scored pins for the Indians. Dane Johnson and Roman SanDoval picked up major decisions.

Burrell has won four WPIAL Class AA Team championships now, including three of the last five. The Bucs have been to the finals six straight years.

103 - Geoff Alexander (SSA) fall Dave Makara, 0:39
112 - Jeremy Landowski (Burr) dec. Philip Elias, 5-0
119 - Travis McKillop (Burr) fall Frank Martelotti, 1:36
125 - Tyler Berger (Burr) dec. Anthony Elias, 9-4
130 - Dane Johnson (SSA) maj. dec. Nolan Greenwald, 18-9
135 - Shane Welsh (Burr) fall Matt Giel, 0:59
140 - Jordan Shields (Burr) fall Harrison Hirsh, 4:21
145 - Bob Speer (Burr) fall Ian Knepshield, 4:44
152 - David Brown (SSA) dec. Tyler Condron, 3-1
160 - Matthew Cunningham (SSA) dec. Matt McKillop, 7-3
171 - Kurt Brendel (SSA) fall Steve Shank, 0:54
189 - Roman SanDoval (SSA) maj. dec. Derek Edwards, 12-4
215 - Lou Gardone (Burr) dec. Tim Giel, 7-3
285 - Brian Beattie (Burr) dec. Nick Ciesielski, 2-0

Quarterfinals
Burrell 64, Highlands 6
Mt. Pleasant 35, Burgettstown 34 TB #6 (1st points) -- Listen Here!
Derry 40, West Greene 24
Shady Side Academy 60, Jefferson-Morgan 14 -- Listen Here!

Semifinals
Burrell 52, Mt. Pleasant 21 -- Listen Here!
Shady Side Academy 42, Derry 17

Finals
Burrell 36, Shady Side Academy 26 -- Listen Here!