Carr, Teasdale, Bowlen one win from gold medal
HERSHEY – It took Gavin Teasdale 5:24 to earn a spot in the 113-pound state finals. That’s how long the sophomore from Jefferson-Morgan needed to record a technical fall in the semifinals.
It took Mike Carr next to nothing to make it that far.
That’s because the opponent for the senior from South Fayette was injured and forced to forfeit the match.
So Carr simply needed to check in at the official’s desk to let them know he was present, and that was it. He did walk onto the mat to get his hand raised but that was only ceremonial.
Either way, Carr and Teasdale will get an opportunity to defend the PIAA Class AA titles they each won at the Giant Center in Hershey last year. And each has a chance to end the season with a second straight undefeated record.
“I’m sad I didn’t wrestle because the semis are a place where you can get momentum,” said Carr, who is 86-0 over the past two seasons. “At the same time, the tournament has been rough, my knee has been injured so I get a little break until (Saturday).”
Carr was supposed to wrestle Northwest Lehigh’s Caleb Clymer, a sixth-place finisher in the Southeast Region who has battled a leg problem all season. Once he reached the medal round of the region, Clymer forfeited the remaining bouts to finish sixth.
“We heard rumors when we were leaving (after the quarterfinals),” said South Fayette head coach Rick Chaussard. “I told our coaches to keep it quiet and not tell Mikey until we got official word from the state. They called when the kids were warming up on the mat. … It takes the excitement out of it. It guarantees a spot in the finals. You always risk injury. He’s a little banged up. That would be the good side of it. The bad side is the excitement of getting there and doing it in front of a crowd has sort of lost its luster.”
Carr will wrestle Smethport’s James Duffy, a Northwest Region champion with a 36-0 record, in today’s finals (2 p.m.). Teasdale, a two-time WPIAL champion with 81 straight victories in his varsity career, will wrestle Boiling Springs’ freshman Kollin Myers, a Southeast Region runner-up with a 45-6 record.
Bill Bowlen of Jefferson-Morgan will make his first trip to the finals following a 3-1 decision over Lehighton’s Connor Fry in the 195-pound semifinals.
Tony Welsh, a senior from Beth-Center, lost an 8-5 decision to Huntingdon’s Jacob Oliver but can still finish as high as third place.
Teasdale was his usual dominating self, taking Garber down and letting him up, breaking the freshman’s spirit.
“I think when I got the first four takedowns, he started to second-guess himself,” said Teasdale. “That’s the time to capitalize on my part, making him think he was never in the match.”
Teasdale said he is confident in his skills and eager for a second state title.
“The titles are going to come if I wrestle the way I’m capable of,” he said. “If I keep (that up), no one is going to come near me. I’m going to wrestle the same way, get in my attacks, wear and wear and wear on him.”
Bowlen got the winning takedown with 1:03 left in the match. He gets Gavin Hoffman of Montoursville in the finals.
“The emotions were running high,” Bowlen said of how he felt after the match. “It’s been my dream since I was 5. (The finals) will be a lot of nerves. There is nothing else I want since I started wrestling.”
Semifinal losers and those in the consolation quarterfinals can still make the medal rounds but the bouts were not completed at press time. A power outage in the morning session of the Class AA quarterfinals, lasted 28 minutes and pushed the schedule back.