Feb 14, 2015 4 min read

ELLWOOD CITY – One is still working on his first season of high school wrestling, while the other is in the waning moments of his scholastic career, but Fort Cherry freshman Nick Candelore and Washington senior Kiers Gloady have plenty in common.

No, not their weights. Candelore competes in the lightest weight class, 106 pounds, while Gloady, a heavyweight, hasn’t been Candelore’s size in quite some time.

Both spent large portions of the wrestling season not competing, with Candelore entering the Section 1-AA Individual Tournament with just 11 bouts and Gloady only 13.

That relative inactivity didn’t affect either Saturday at Ellwood City High School. The duo pulled off two of the bigger upsets in this tournament.

Candelore, who entered the postseason with a 7-4 record, won an 8-6 overtime decision over top-seeded Austin Siek of South Side Beaver in the semifinals, then defeated No. 2 seed P.J. Smith of Burgettstown by pin in 2:57 to take home the 106-pound title.

Gloady, meanwhile, shocked the home crowd by catching Ellwood City heavyweight Adam Foreman, the top seed, in a throw in their semifinal bout, pinning him in 4:14. He then defeated Chartiers-Houston’s Trey Lober, 3-1, in overtime, in the finals, finishing off a 3-0 day.

Not bad for a wrestler who entered the postseason with a 6-7 record.

“I missed a couple of tournaments. I missed a tournament for the SATs and I missed one for the ACTs,” said Gloady, who will take a 9-7 record into next weekend’s WPIAL Championships at South Fayette High School.

“I didn’t have that many matches but it was because I had other priorities. I got the job done, though. I’m kind of speechless. Coming in as the sixth seed, I didn’t expect to place first.”

Gloady’s throw of Foreman was so violent and sudden the Ellwood City junior had to injury default out of the tournament. The top five placewinners from the section tournament advance to the WPIAL Championships.

“Sometimes you just catch somebody,” Gloady said. “I caught him. I was happy it worked out the way it did.

“I’m confident. I’ll have a top three seed (at the WPIAL tournament). I just have to wrestle the way I did this week.”

Candelore feels the same way.

An early-season shin injury and midseason bout with the flu kept him off the mat for long periods.

By the time his freshman season was completed, Candelore wrestled just 11 times. But he spent the past few weeks working in the weight room and shadow training while the WPIAL and PIAA team tournaments wrapped up.

It showed with his wins over Siek and Smith. But he still has more he’d like to accomplish.

“I think I should do well,” said Candelore of the WPIAL tournament. “There are some tough kids I still want to beat, have to beat. I’ve got to go in with the right mindset to go in there and win.”

South Fayette, whose coach Rick Chaussard was voted the section coach of the year by his peers, had a solid day to follow up a strong team postseason.

The Lions had 10 wrestlers advance, the most in the section, including champions Shane Ging (132), Mike Carr (138), Jared Walker (160), Brett Beltz (182) and Rasuan Culberson (195).

South Park and Ellwood City each had two champions. Jake Wentzel (152) and Greg Bulsak (170) won titles for South Park, while Tyler Alberts (113) and Mike Sinclair (220) were champions for Ellwood City.

Burgettstown’s Austin McDermitt (32-1) continued his strong senior season, winning a pair of bouts via technical fall, including 20-5 over South Fayette’s Jasper Wolf in the 120-pound final. Seven other Blue Devils advanced to the WPIAL tournament.

Avella’s Nick Kusich lived up to his No. 1 seeding at 145 pounds, winning a 3-1 decision over Beaver’s Sam Talorico in the final, and will lead a contingent of five Eagles into the WPIAL tournament.

Chartiers-Houston’s Josh Kuslock scored an upset over South Side Beaver’s Joe Demore in the 126-pound final, handing the freshman only his fourth defeat with a pin in 26 seconds. The Bucs qualified five wrestlers for the WPIAL tournament.