Slipping away: Burgettstown’s season ends prematurely, again
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Burgettstown’s Ethan Brothers tosses Freedom’s Nick Wolfe before pinning him in Wednesday night’s match at Canon-McMillan High School.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Washington’s Gerald Comedydefeats Freedom’s Fernando Franco during Wednesday’s 285-pound bout at Canon-McMillan High School.
Burgettstown fans react to a move on the mat
Freedom’s Kenneth Duschek pinned Burgettstown’s Bill Brown in 3:12 at 138 pounds for the win 42-36
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Burgettstown’s Turner Loudin pins Freedom’s Travis Kalamasz in a 152-pound bout Wednesday night.
Holly Tonini/Observer-Reporter
Burgettstown’s Riley Kemper will be looking for pins in the state tournament.
BURGETTSTOWN – Be able to wrestle Saturday.
That was the goal.
As the second seed in Class AA, most might have considered it the expectation.
But the Burgettstown High School wrestling team agonizingly fell short again.
Tied entering the final bout, Freedom’s 138-pound sophomore Kenny Duschek teased, tormented and then took the air out of the home crowd with a second-period pin to lift the seventh-seeded Bulldogs into Saturday’s WPIAL Class AA Team Tournament semifinals with a 42-36 win over Burgettstown Wednesday night.
It was the third time in five years, and fourth time since 2011, that the Blue Devils’ season ended in the quarterfinals. The last time they made the WPIAL semifinals was 2014.
“It’s coming. I think,” Burgettstown coach Joey Vigliotti said of advancing further in the team tournament. “We won the section title this year but it didn’t play out that way in the bracket. I know it’s not just me that disagreed with how the brackets played out. I think people need to seed Double-A accordingly instead of brushing it off to Triple-A. Freedom is a solid team, and we have to beat them all to win the title anyway.”
Freedom, which was the No. 7 seed after being upset in its section tournament, essentially earned a bye over No. 10 Washington in the opening round. The Prexies lost 59-18 and forfeited five bouts in the match, including three of the first four. Burgettstown defeated Hopewell, 48-24, in the first round.
Duschek’s match-deciding pin at 3:12 followed a near fall he earned in the waning seconds of the first period to go up 5-0. He was in command of the pivotal match from start to end.
“Kenny is one of my studs that I want on the mat,” said Freedom coach Jim Covert. “He is one of the guys I rely on.”
Covert had two of his best wrestlers, Duschek and ZJ Ward, in the final three bouts. Ward, a WPIAL champion and two-time state placewinner, wrestled his first bout since fracturing his forearm. He also earned a pin.
Freedom built its lead by bumping most of its wrestlers up one weight class. Four consecutive pins that extended the Bulldogs’ lead in the upper weights were won by wrestlers who were bumped up by Covert.
“It was huge,” Covert said of Freedom’s start. “I didn’t want to start any other way. Everything that could have gone wrong last week went wrong. We had to come out and wrestle the way we were capable of.”
Burgettstown’s Ethan Brothers (220) and Riley Kemper (heavyweight) brought energy back into the Blue Devils with back-to-back pins, quickly turning what looked to be leading to a blowout into a back-and-forth fight.
Hunter Guiddy (120) and Austin Ryan (132) tied the score twice for the Blue Devils down the stretch. Guiddy deadlocked the match at 30-30 with a first-period pin and Ryan forced the final bout into winner take all with his fall in 2:39.
“I think there were a few swing matches that in the end just didn’t go in our favor,” Vigliotti said. “When we fell behind it was nothing to our guys. They brush it off. They fought. They gave it their all. I could see that. Everyone in the gym could see that. What more can a coach ask for. We just came up short.”