Mar 10, 2017 3 min read

HERSHEY – Armed with his traditional “bug juice” water bottle and brand new socks, Gavin Teasdale marched one step closer to history in the PIAA Class AA Wrestling Championships Friday night.

Teasdale overwhelmed Kollin Myers of Boiling Springs, winning by 20-5 technical fall in the 126-pound semifinals at the Giant Center in Hershey. That’s the same Kollin Myers who Teasdale beat in last year’s 113-pound title for his second state title.

Now, Teasdale can become the 55th wrestler in PIAA history to win at least three state titles if he beats Austin Clabaugh of Bermudian Springs today. Out of the group of wrestlers who have three titles only, one is undefeated: George Custer, who was 76-0 for Canonsburg High School.

“I knew if I took it a match at a time, this would come,” said Teasdale, now 39-0 this season and 121-0 for his career. “He knew what was in store. He tried a different game plan than he did last time. I think he wrestled me a little different than last time.”

The so-called “bug juice” is a team tradition for the Rockets over the year. You can tell it’s bug juice because the words “bug” and “juice” are scrawled across three pieces of masking tape wrapped around the bottle.

The hunting socks were a gift from Rob Ardeno, who teaches with Lesko at Jefferson-Morgan.

“That teacher is such an avid hunter and he came down to my class and said, ‘I have something for you,'” said J-M head coach Mike Lesko. “I told him we weren’t changing because we were so superstitious. We have to do everything the same. I didn’t think he was going to wear them, but he comes out of his (hotel) room and he has them on.”

Superstitious or not, Teasdale’s socks only played a small role in his producing four takedowns in the first period for an 8-3 lead. Or three takedowns and six backpoints with 12 seconds left in the second period.

Teasdale has scored 67 bout points in his three matches, 29 short of the record he set last year.

“That’s the main thing, scoring points, scoring points,” he said. “Some people think it’s boring for one-point matches, two-point matches. I want to score as many points as possible.”

Teasdale had local company in the semifinals. Dom Fundy of Beth-Center won his semifinal bout with a 4-3 decision over Julian Gorring of Fort Leboeuf. But the result wasn’t confirmed until about 15 seconds following the buzzer. Gorring got in on a double-leg and Fort LeBoeuf head coach Jason Beer protested, asking the referee to award the takedown. After a conference with the mat judge, Fundy had his hand raised.

“I felt it could go either way. I was grateful it went my way,” said Fundy. “They told us to just stay in the middle (of the mat). After they raised my hand, I felt, ‘One more match and I’m going to give it all I have.”

Fundy meets Cody Mulligan of Saegertown in the finals.

Beth-Center has had four finalists in the program’s history and each finished second. The list includes Colborn (167, 1978), Marc Bartolomucci (119, 1984), Tio Paci (119, 1992) and Ulysses Davis (103, 1998). The last state placewinner for the Bulldogs was Anthony Welsh, who was third at 170 pounds.