Dec 6, 2014 3 min read

HOUSTON – While some of the South Fayette High School wrestling team was competing in Saturday’s Chartiers-Houston Tournament, another part – about half the starting lineup and the head coach – were in Slippery Rock with the school’s football team.

Both squads did well.

The Lions had two champions in the tournament and the football team crushed Hickory, 44-14, in the PIAA Class AA semifinals.

Junior Andrew John and senior Mike Carr each won their first titles in the C-H event. John made an escape with 19 seconds remaining stand in a 4-3 decision over top-seeded Dave Wallace of Albert Gallatin at 113 pounds, and Carr cruised to a 7-1 win over Keagan Lawson of North Hills in the 138-pound finals.

Other local winners included Hunter Neely of Bentworth, who edged Mason Schaefer of West Allegheny, 11-9, in the 120 finals; Phil Mary of Peters Township, who won by 17-1 technical fall over Vinny Palm of Upper St. Clair in the 132 finals; and Anthony Welsh of Beth-Center, who knocked off Brooks Wilding of Upper St. Clair, 5-4, at 170 pounds.

Oak Glen, W.Va., won the team title with 181 points. West Allegheny (175.5) was second, Butler (144) third and Peters Township (125.5) fourth.

The Lions got some moral support when a group of football players who also wrestle attended the tournament’s first round Friday night before departing for Slippery Rock yesterday morning. Included in that group was Rick Chaussard, the Lions head wrestling coach and statistician for the football team.

“It was odd not having (Chaussard) here, but our assistant coaches are good,” John said. “Coach talked to us before the tournament. He said to just go out there and wrestle hard.”

John lost his opening-round bout in last year’s tournament and was eliminated by Michael Nagy of Central Catholic in the wrestlebacks. He was determined to do better this time.

“I never heard of (Wallace) before,” said John, who had a 32-13 record last season at 106 and made it to the Southwest Region Tournament in Johnstown before being eliminated. “This is the first time I wrestled at 113. I feel stronger.”

John entered the tournament as the No. 2 seed and made it to the finals thanks to an 8-1 decision over Alex Lukart of Elizabeth Forward and a 7-5 win over Chase Komara of Freedom.

Carr missed last year’s tournament with a knee injury but entered this one as the weight’s top seed. He pinned his way to the finals, sticking Antuaun Porter of Brashear in 1:21, Justin Sullivan of Chartiers Valley in 3:51 and Ben Hritsko of Chartiers-Houston in 39 seconds.

Carr also had to shake off a nagging cough.

“It didn’t affect me,” said Carr, whose only losses came in the state tournament, where he finished fifth. “I’ve been working with my brother, Nick, a lot. I’ve been working on top and bottom. I’m pretty strong in neutral. I get a lot of takedowns that way.”

Mary won his second title after coming into the tournament as the top seed at 126. He pinned Zack Hughes of Albert Gallatin and Antonyo Rodriguez of Central Valley to get to the semifinals, then shut out John Renninger of Anville-Cleona 6-0 to reach the finals.

“I felt better this year than last,” said Mary. “I feel stronger. I’ve been lifting, getting stronger for baseball.”

Mary expects to pick a college in the next couple of weeks for baseball. Wagner, Allegheny and Seton Hill are recruiting him.

South Park’s Jake Wentzel, who won the 152-pound title with a 10-0 shutout of Jeff Inman of Anville-Cleona in the finals, was named Outstanding Wrestler.