By Ron Bracken
Saturday morning smorgasports….
If you’re not interested in wrestling, stop here. This is to catch up on news from the mats over the past couple of months.
During that time the sport has lost a couple of its best people, there have been a couple of interesting coaching changes and a former PIAA champion was assaulted in his apartment in Bethlehem.
First, for the sad news. In case you missed it, Bruce Wallace, a two-time PIAA champion from Tyrone in 1982 and 1983, died Aug. 13 after suffering an apparent heart attack.
Longtime fans might remember his epic battles with Huntingdon’s Greg Wykoff. In 1982, his junior year, Wallace lost the District 6 167-pound title to Wykoff but came back to beat him in the Northwest Regional finals. The two wound up facing each other again in the PIAA finals where Wallace won a 1-1, 3-1 overtime decision.
As a senior Wallace dominated the PIAA field, beating Tony Tolbert of Wilkes-Barre GAR 12-5 in the title bout.
Wallace, who had a 111-15 career record at Tyrone, went on to wrestle at Bloomsburg and later served as an assistant coach at Line Mountain before becoming the head coach at Penn Ridge and, last year, at Palmerton.
Earlier in the summer, Mark Westley, another ex-Tyrone wrestler, died of cancer. Westley was a District 6 champion in 1974 and went on to serve as the District 6 historian. His son, Thadd, was a PIAA runner-up for Tyrone in 2004.
Coaching changes
The most obvious in this area, of course, was the resignation of Dave Caslow at Philipsburg-Osceola and the hiring of former Bald Eagle Area state champion Mike Maney to replace him.
West Branch also will have a different man in the corner this winter after Gary Bickle stepped down. The Warriors have hired former coach Gary Miller to return to the position he once occupied.
And at Shikellamy, Jeff Walter, who took over the Braves last year after an All-American career at Wisconsin, has decided to return to school to get his PhD in physical therapy, leaving that post open.
Trenge assaulted
Throughout his wrestling career at Parkland and later at Lehigh, Jon Trenge was known for his physical style and his temper.
Which makes you wonder why former Easton wrestler Joe Creazzo and Jared Casciole, who wrestled at Notre Dame High School, decided to go to Trenge’s apartment and allegedly deliberately provoke him into an altercation.
But that’s what the two are charged with having done.
In testimony before a district judge, Trenge said the two came to the apartment he shared with fellow Lehigh wrestler and former three-time PIAA champion Matt Ciasulli and while there they warned him they had nothing to lose and would take everything he had if he touched them.
According to the Easton Express-Times, Trenge further testified that the two “threatened to take everything I have.”
The two were aware of Trenge’s vision problems, the story added. The winningest wrestler in Lehigh history with 133 victories, Trenge has also been troubled by a detached retina, which five surgeries failed to correct. He wrestled most of last season wearing goggles to protect his eye.
According to Trenge, he was able to get the two to leave the apartment but they returned a short time later and things turned physical, with Trenge grabbing Creazzo and carrying him down the stairs. Once they got outside Casciole reportedly put his hand in Trenge’s face, with his palm at Trenge’s chin and his fingers at his eyes.
There was an exchange of punches, then Trenge said he heard bottles being picked up and shielded his face, ducked into the apartment and called 911. He was later treated at a hospital.
Creazzo and Casciole pleaded not guilty to charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, reckless endangerment and burglary and a free on $10,000 bail.
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