Double-A wrestlers at starting line of postseason
Many storylines will play out when the WPIAL Class AA Section Tournaments get underway.
Here are a few:
• Undefeated Gavin Teasdale begins his quest for a third straight PIAA title.
• After a layoff, Jake Walker hopes to match the success of his brothers.
• Seth Shubert wants to be Mapletown’s first state champion.
These wrestlers join a field that will be the first to participate in a new system that will hold the section tournaments tonight and the WPIAL Championships Saturday.
Both tournaments will be contested at Canon-McMillan High School with the three section tournaments beginning at 4 p.m. The top four wrestlers in each weight class of the three sections advance to the WPIAL Championships Saturday. Those bouts begin at 9:30 a.m.
Teasdale, a junior from Jefferson-Morgan, takes a 27-0 record into the Section 2 Tournament and his most threatening opponent at 126 pounds should be Shawn Broadway, a junior with a 22-8 record from Derry.
“He’s ready to go,” said Jefferson-Morgan head coach Mike Lesko. “He’s such a hard worker. We’re done with practice and he says, ‘I’m going to (my wrestling club).’ We’ve looked at what could go wrong. We’ve looked at the state and where everyone is going to be. It looks promising. I think we can do some damage again this year.”
Walker, a junior with a 22-5 record at South Fayette, is top seed at 220 pounds in Section 3. His brother Jared Walker was a four-time WPIAL champion and three-time state medalist – seventh, second and third – before graduating in 2015. Brother Zach was a WPIAL runner-up as a junior in 2012 and had his senior year derailed by injuries. Jake Walker missed a month of the season because of a hand injury from football.
“Jake Walker has really stepped it up since returning to the lineup in January,” said Chaussard. “He kind of came out of nowhere. Even though he is a junior, he didn’t wrestle a varsity match till (last month). He was a backup to his brother J.J. because they were at the same weight. Last year, he didn’t wrestle because he wanted to get into the weight room. And he did. He got a lot bigger. He’s been the biggest surprise from the beginning of the season till (now).”
Shubert is coming off a junior season in which he’s coming off a 27-13 record. Shubert already passed his win total of last season with a 28-5 mark and is a No. 2 seed at 152 pounds.
“Shubert is running hot,” said Mapletown head coach Chris Shilk. “He’s been steady all the way through. … He’s had quality matches and he’s beaten some quality kids.”
Kevin Hayes (15-11) is a second seed at 145 and Brian Brady (24-7) and Gavin Uphold (26-7) are third seeds at 132 and 195, respectively.
“We’ve got our work cut out for us,” said Shilk. “We’ve got a lot of 2s and 3s (seeds) and a 4 and a 5. If we’re going to get into the second day, we have to wrestle our best.”
Other local top seeds for Section 1 are PJ Smith of Burgettstown (21-8) at 120, Nick Candelore of Fort Cherry (21-4) at 126, Josh Kuslock of Chartiers-Houston (29-4) at 138 and teammate RJ Hall (29-3) at 170, and Dalton Simonelli of Avella (10-3) at 160.
Local top seeds in Section 2 are Manny Dovshek of Bentworth (22-3) at 113, Jett Pattison (28-8) at 138 and Brylon Johnson (14-9) at 145, Jeff McConn (32-6) at 152, Christian Clutter (32-2) at 160 and Luke Shingle (20-15) at 170 from McGuffey, Dominic Fundy of Beth-Center (27-0) at 182, Ryan Wise (19-6) of Bentworth at 195.
In Section 3, it’s Colin Dunn (25-8) at 113 and Mike Cusick (31-6) at 145.