Mar 6, 2019 3 min read

They have been the heartbeat of Peters Township High School’s wrestling team all season.

Now, they are hopeful for some heart-stopping performances in the PIAA Wrestling Championships this week.

This will be their first, and only, chance to earn a place on the awards stands as none of the three qualified for the state event last year.

Coltin Jezioro, a 152-pound senior, Jeff Markert, a 170-pound senior, and Brandon Matthews, a 182-pound senior, were responsible for 101 bout victories. Twelve more would be enough for all three to leave the Giant Center in Hershey with some sort of medal in the PIAA Class AAA Championships.

“We all have a kind of bond,” said Markert. “In the room, we beat each other up. It gets emotional sometimes but we’re best friends. That’s how it is. It’s a great environment to be part of.”

Jezioro enters the state tournament with a 33-5 record and finished in third place at 152 of the WPIAL Championships this past weekend. His first round opponent is Seth Runshaw, a senior from Chambersburg with a 27-11 record. He finished fourth in the Southcentral Region.

“It feels great to finally get to go after all these years,” said Jezioro. “We’re all pretty much each other’s practice partners. We wrestle each other every day, so we help each other out. That helps us to see what we need to do better. They’ve helped me out most getting out from on bottom. I had trouble getting out. Now, I can pretty much get out all the time.”

Markert has a 34-4 record after a fourth-place finish in the Southwest Region. Markert takes on Evan Bingaman of Shikellamy, who is a senior with a 31-9 record. Bingaman ended up fourth in the Northwest Region.

Matthews compiled a 34-4 record while finishing fourth in the WPIAL tournament. He takes on Tyler Mousaw, a junior from Unionville. Mousaw has a 36-6 record and finished third in the Southeast Region.

“It means the world to me that we’re going (to Hershey),” said Markert. “I love these guys. I love this sport.”

Actually, there is a fourth wrestler from Peters Township who played a major role in the middleweights. But Donovan McMillon, a 160-pound sophomore who won his 30th bout this week, came up shy of qualifying for the state tournament.

Other local qualifiers include four wrestlers from Canon-McMillan: Costa Moore at 106, Ken Hayman at 126, Tanner Rohaley at 145 and Gerrit Nijenhuis at 170.

Waynesburg has four qualifiers in Trey Howard at 145, Cole Homet at 120, Luca Augustine at 152 and Colby Morris at 160.

Belle Vernon has two in Logan Seliga at 120 and Scott Joll at 182. Trinity’s Cole Whitmer (182) and South Fayette’s Quentin Franklin (Hvy) also advanced.