Feb 1, 2014 4 min read

IRWIN – South Fayette head wrestling coach Rick Chaussard was joking with Andrew John Thursday at practice.

He told the 106-pound junior to be ready for the Lions’ meeting in the WPIAL Class AA Team Tournament semifinals to come down to his bout.

Chaussard didn’t know any inside secrets, but he seemed clairvoyant by 9:30 p.m. Friday night at Norwin High School.

With South Fayette clinging to a 31-29 lead over Jefferson-Morgan, John stepped onto the mat for the match’s final bout against freshman Damon Belford.

And after an early scramble, in which John stopped a strong shot by Belford in the first period, the junior’s experience took over as he finished the match with a pin of Belford in 2:32, clinching South Fayette’s 37-29 victory and sending the Lions into the WPIAL finals for the second consecutive year.

“Andrew is a tough kid. He’s worked hard,” said Chaussard. “I told him that it’s coming down to him; be ready to go. He laughed. I turned around and looked at him after the heavyweight bout was over and said, ‘Didn’t we talk about this?’

“Yesterday was just pure speculation, but today, we knew it was going to be a tight match. For a young man, that’s a lot of pressure to put on his shoulders. I thought he handled it very well.”

The Lions will face seven-time defending WPIAL champion Burrell, a 66-6 winner over Burgettstown in the other semifinal, at 4 p.m. today at Chartiers Valley High School. Burrell defeated South Fayette, 35-30, in last year’s final.

Jefferson-Morgan, meanwhile, will face Burgettstown at noon at Chartiers Valley, with the winner facing the District 10 runner-up Monday in the first round of the PIAA team tournament.

Though the Lions led throughout much of the match, the Rockets made them sweat out the final result.

Jefferson-Morgan grabbed an early 11-3 lead after Brendan Howard and John Demaske sandwiched a pin and technical fall around a 1-0 decision by South Fayette’s Kevin Chaussard over Aaron Myland at 120 pounds.

“That was big,” said Jefferson-Morgan head coach Mike Lesko of Kevin Chaussard’s win. “That was a huge match there. I was going to switch them. I trusted (Myland) that he would pull the win out. But he came up one-point short. I’ll give him credit, he’s a freshman and he went out there and battled. But that one, and a couple of bonus points that we left out there, made the difference.”

Shane Ging and Michael Carr followed Demaske’s win with pins at 132 and 138 pounds for the Lions, giving them a 15-11 lead they would never give up.

Jason Miller closed the gap to 15-14 with a 9-4 decision at 145 for the Rockets, but South Fayette won the next three bouts, including a 5-0 win by Grant Fetchet over Ryan Zalar at 160 pounds to take a 28-14 lead. Fetchet is ranked No. 1 at 160 pounds in the WPIAL. Zalar is ranked No. 2.

J-M’s Bill Bowlen stopped the run by the Lions with a pin at 182 pounds to trim South Fayette’s lead to 28-20, and the Rockets’ Jason Perkins followed with a 13-9 decision at 195 pounds to make it 28-23.

South Fayette’s Zach Walker held on for a 7-1 decision over Anthony Patterson, but J-M’s Ian Wolfe pinned Jeremy Carter in the heavyweight bout to make it 31-29 entering the match’s last bout.

“The matchups after weigh-ins, after we figured out odds and evens, were pretty much what we thought they would,” said Rick Chaussard. “We guessed what they would do and they pretty much did what we thought they would do. We were hoping to win 195, but that one got away from us.”

Now, the Lions have to make a quick turnaround to get ready for the finals rematch with Burrell.

“We’re after the big prize,” said Chaussard. “We wanted another shot at them. Hopefully, we can be up for the challenge.

“It’s a little different (this year). They understand a little better. They understand their role as the match develops. They seem to be more focused this year than excited.”

Lesko, meanwhile, has to rally his team quickly from a tough loss.

“I’m just going to tell them, that’s over. Let’s look at Burgettstown,” Lesko said. “We want to go to the PIAA tournament and be in that tournament.”