The Ellwood City Wrestling team posted a 3rd place finish at the WPIAL AA Section 2-A Duals qualifying tournament at Laurel High School Tuesday evening.
The team defeated Ambridge and Central Valley but were defeated by Freedom Area and the host Laurel Spartans.
The top two teams qualify out of the section for playoffs.
Ellwood City wrestlers finished as follows:
- Derek Allen (106 lbs) 4-0 on the night with a pin over Reid Ketzel from Laurel.
- Logan Shriver (113 lbs) 3-1 on the night with a fall over James Couch of Freedom
- Kamron Shelby (120 lbs) contributed with 2 wins by forfeit
- Maurice Smith (126 lbs) picked up his second win of the season over Paige Harding of Laurel by fall and went 2-2 on the night
- Ben Gallenz (132 lbs) moved up a weight class and finished 2-2 on the night with pins over Michael Miller of Central Valley and Tommy Hetzer of Laurel
- Jaden Stull (138 lbs) went 1-2 on the night
- Dominick Dausman (145/152 lbs) went 1-3 as he makes a move down to a 138 weight class
- Gavin Partridge (145/152 lbs) was 1-0 picking up a key forfeit over Central Valley
“Dominick and Gavin shared matches at their weight classes and were pivitol to our success tonight,” said head coach John Fleming.
- Chris Quintanella (160 lbs) had a fall over Ethan Wrotny of Ambridge in the first period and went 2-2 on the night
- Michael Swesey (172 lbs) picked up a fall over Ambridge’s Isaiah Harshman and finished his night 1-3
- Maddox Singer (189/215 lbs) earned falls over Central Valley’s Spencer Dickinson to tie the match up at 36-36 and also had a fall over Freedoms Carter Osadow at 189. He finished his night 3-1
“Singer stepped up big time tonight, collecting his first two wins,” added Fleming. “In his first win he jumped up to the 215 weight class for a key victory to keep us alive versus Central Valley.”
- Ryan Fry (215 lbs) finished his night 1-1 with a forfeit win over Ambridge
- Donavin Stiffler (285 lbs) took an early lead and would hold onto it throughout a pivitol match against Central Valley until picking up the fall in the 3rd to secure the dual win. He also picked up forfeit victories over Ambridge and Freedom going 3-1 on the night.
“Donavin came up huge with the dual tied 36-36,” said Fleming. “Donavin had to win against an opponent who just defeated him 9-3 last week in Lance Crawley.”
Final Team Scores:
- Ellwood City over Ambridge 60-12
- Ellwood City over Central Valley 42-36
- Freedom over Ellwood City 42-36
- Laurel over Ellwood City 60-18
[VIEW FULL TOURNAMENT RESULTS]
The Ellwood City wrestling team is next scheduled to head to the Tri-State Scuffle Invitational at Burgettstown High School this weekend, January 21-22, 2022.
Is Paige Harding of Laurel a female? I ask because Paige is a girls name meaning “young servant”.