Jeannette star returns to take title
BY ROD FRISCO
Of The Patriot-News
Jeannette’s A.J. Graves was a state runner-up last year, but his loss in the finals to Wilkes-Barre Meyers’ Joe Rovelli left the Jayhawk with such a bad feeling that he threatened to quit the sport for good.
As far as his head coach, Charles Cook, knew, Graves was making good on his threat … until he walked into the wrestling room on the first formal day of practice.
It was a great decision by Graves, who came back with an unbeaten season and the Class AA title at 171 pounds after beating Valley’s Logan Downes 8-1 in the finals.
FIRST-TIMERS: Breaking into the club for the first time is hard to do.
Six Class AA wrestlers had the opportunity to become the first PIAA wrestling champion from their schools, but just one broke through: Octorara’s Mike Letts.
Letts defeated Bermudian Springs’ Jon Hade 3-1 at 160 pounds to grab the Chester County school’s first PIAA gold medal. The Braves had just one other state finalist, Jason Smith, the runner-up at 130-AA in 2001.
Five others fell short: West Greene’s Justin Blumer at 112, Belle Vernon’s Jason Weslager at 119, Hamburg’s Nick Stabile at 125, Pius X’s James Sciascia at 152 and Valley View’s Kyle Davis, who finished second at 215 for the second straight year.
Does Blumer get an asterisk? He wasn’t able to beat Derry Area’s Troy Dolan, losing 7-4, but he is a state champion. Last year, Blumer won an Oklahoma state title.
Pat Bradley’s title at 189, executed with a snappy headlock against Curwensville’s Nick Sipes, broke a long dry spell for Saegertown, which hadn’t produced a champion in 39 years.
The only previous state champion out of Saegertown was 98-pounder Dick Braymer in 1966. After that, well, not much since Sharon Stone pulled out of town for Hollywood.
Matt Dragon’s title was Lake-Lehman’s first since 1981 when the school was quite the buzz with three champs: twins Ricky and Rocky Bonomo and heavyweight Mike Leskowsky.
STALLING: After all of the wailing over controversial stalling calls in Friday’s Class AA semifinals, it looked like deja vu in the finals.
Kane’s Cameron Moran and Warrior Run’s Jason Guffey were locked in a 2-2 battle in the 103-AA final when official Terry Geier of York tagged Moran for stalling while riding parallel.
The call came with just 10 seconds left and drew a sharp rebuke from the Giant Center crowd.
On the restart, Moran, a freshman, flung himself at Guffey in a desperate attempt for back points, but Guffey reversed with just a couple of seconds left for a 5-2 triumph.
After that match, stalling or lack thereof was not a major factor the rest of the way.
TEAM CHAMP: Reynolds won its fourth Class AA team championship since the PIAA began declaring same in 1976. The Mercer County school racked up 83 points without a champion to claim its first championship since 1998.
Curwensville, led by Sipes, placed second with 56 points.
RACKING ‘EM UP: With all of the appropriate notice given the career victories record set by Wyalusing’s Matt Fisk (175 wins), it’s hard not to notice what 112-AAA champion Chris Sheetz of Upper Perkiomen has done.
With his stunning triumph over defending champion Rick Rappo of Council Rock South, Sheetz has 91 career wins as a sophomore.
Speaking of Council Rock South, has any team gone through the exceptional high and low that the Hawks experienced at 112 and 119 in AAA?
First, Rick Rappo lost by a point to Sheetz, ending a great career on a down note. But then brother Mike Rappo gave the Hawks the highest of highs when he rallied for an even more shocking 8-2 triumph over another returning champion, Brad Pataky of Clearfield.
All one had to do was watch the reaction of Council Rock South head coach Brad Silimperi, a former PIAA champion who also went through the same thing (he won states as a junior and lost to four-time champ Ty Moore of North Allegheny as a senior).
Silimperi, enthusiastic in the extreme and clearly one of the state’s rising coaches, flew around his corner like a sparrow when Rappo flipped Pataky for the clinching five-pointer in the final seconds.
Or was it like a hawk?
TOP COACHES: The state’s coaches of the year should be familiar to folks who love their dual meets.
The coaches of the state’s dual meet champions — Todd Herzog of Northern Lehigh and Tommy Dolde of Connellsville — were honored by their Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association colleagues prior to their respective finals.
IN THE SEATS: Attendance for the Class AA finals was a nice 7,846, raising the three-day total to 28,517.
ROD FRISCO: 255-8122 or [email protected]
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