Bowlen, Carr earn 3rd titles at WPIAL Championships
Bill Bowlen of Jefferson-Morgan tangles with Robert Scherer of Burrell during the 195-pound final of the WPIAL Class AA Championships at South Fayette High School Saturday. Bowlen won his third title with a 4-3 decision.
Tony Welsh of Beth-Center stretches to break the hold of Dom DeLuca of Derry in the 170-pound final of the WPIAL Class AA Wrestling Championships at South Fayette High School Saturday night. Welsh captured his first WPIAL title with a 10-1 victory.
Gavin Teasdale of Jefferson-Morgan keeps a tight hold of Manny Dovshek of Bentworth in the 113-pound final of the WPIAL Class AA Wrestling Championships at South Fayette High School Saturday night. Teasdale captured his second straight WPIAL title by pinning Dovshek in 45 seconds.
McDONALD – When you wrestle at Jefferson-Morgan, it’s easy to find the shadows.
Much of the attention belongs to Gavin Teasdale, and rightfully so, considering he is an undefeated state champion and draws comparisons to Cary Kolat.
Bill Bowlen doesn’t mind that spot. The 195-pound senior has quietly, but effectively, put together a wonderful wrestling résumé.
And Saturday night at South Fayette High School, Bowlen reached another milestone. His 4-3 decision over Robert Scherer of Burrell gave Bowlen his third WPIAL championship.
Mike Carr, South Fayette’s defending state champion, also won his third and set the school record with his 153rd victory.
Teasdale won his second straight and ran his record to 75-0 with a pin at 113.
And Tony Welsh of Beth-Center erased the disappointment of three previous second-place finish with a strong performance that won the 170-pound class.
The top seven wrestlers in each weight class advanced to the PIAA Class AA Southwest Region Tournament at Canon-McMillan High School.
And as any wrestler can tell you, it’s better to enter as a champion for seeding purposes and for respect.
Bowlen got a takedown with one minute to go to secure the victory over Scherer and raise his record to 31-3.
“I was thinking about getting three titles,” said Bowlen. “I’ve been thinking about it since I was a freshman. I wanted to get four. I pushed myself.”
Bowlen said he wanted to have an active match against Scherer but it didn’t start that way.
“I wanted to push the pace, but I got out of it a little in the first period. It might have been a little fatigue,” he said. “I got it back I got the shot I wanted (in the third period) and capitalized on it.”
Carr notched his 153rd victory with a 1-0 decision over Kody Komara of Freedom, who has yet to score on Carr in three bouts this season. Carr passed J.J. Walker, who left South Fayette with 152 wins.
“I knew I was close to it,” Carr said. “It’s another record.”
Carr saved his win with 11 seconds to go and leading 1-0. Komara shot in, had his right leg, but Carr staved him off near the edge of the mat.
“I shouldn’t have backed up so much,” he said. “I should have circled a little more and I wouldn’t have opened up so much. I didn’t want to do something dumb with 11 seconds to go.”
Teasdale roared through the 113-pound weight class to win his second consecutive title. Teasdale pinned Cort Blatz of South Fayette in 1:04, then won by 19-2 technical fall over Doug Bittner of Mt. Pleasant in the semifinals. He finished the tournament by pinning Manny Dovshek of Bentworth in 45 seconds. Dovshek did have a moment in the bout to remember when he took Teasdale down. But that just made the J-M sophomore more determined.
“After I got taken down, I was mad,” he said. “I was looking to score points for tech. But after that I wanted to end it quick.”
Welsh snapped a string of three consecutive second-place finishes with a 10-1 major decision over Dominic DeLuca of Derry. Welsh looked strong and dominated the match.
“I had some tough kids in the WPIAL finals the years before,” said Welsh. “They were all tough matches so I made sure I was prepared this year. I’ve been working real hard to get that WPIAL title. I wrestled him last week so I knew what he was like. I wanted to get up quick and keep the lead. He is tall and lanky and hard to score on.”
Welsh said his previous trips to the finals were disappointing but he didn’t let it hang with him.
“I put them out of my mind,” he said. “One a match is over, it’s over. But tonight I thought that I wasn’t going to let it happen a fourth time.”
Besides Dovshek, four other local wrestlers fell one win short of a title: Gage Nicolella of McGuffey fell 8-0 to Ty Griffiths of Southmoreland at 120, Trevor Kniha of Jefferson-Morgan fell 14-3 to defending state champion Jake Wentzel of South Park at 160; Dom Provenzano of Chartiers-Houston was pinned by South Park’s Greg Bulsak at 182 and Rasaun Culberson of South Fayette fell to Alex Moses of Burrell, 2-1, in overtime.