Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Parnis earns milestone, title at sectional
Kennett collects five individual championships
After controlling his emotions for six minutes of wrestling, West Chester East’s Max Parnis finally let them all out with a roar and a flex.
It was a well-earned and welldeserved response for the senior, who not only earned his 100th career victory, but captured his first postseason title with a 14-7 win over Sun Valley’s Brandon Carr.
As a result, Parnis was named Outstanding Wrestler of the District 1-3A West Sectional at Oxford, Saturday.
“(Carr) is definitely really good,” Parnis said. “He’s strong and he knows his positions. I know what I do and I wrestled my match. I didn’t get mad about lost points and I didn’t get happy about points I won. I just wrestled.”
It was a commanding and impressive win for Parnis, who was ranked fourth at 145 pounds, behind No. 3 Carr in the most recent District 1 rankings on pa-wrestling.com. Parnis scored from all three positions and will now head to next weekend’s Class 3A Southeast Regional at Souderton, along with all the other top-four finishers from Saturday’s action.
“Honestly, it’s a great feeling,” Parnis said of his milestone. “But we have regionals next week, so I’m not going to be too happy on that because there’s work to be done.”
West Chester Henderson’s Carmen Cortese (133 pounds) is set to be the next local to join the century club after he reached 99, thanks to a 5-3 win over Sun Valley’s Brecken Strickland, in the finals.
Sun Valley won the team title with one champion and six other top-four finishers. Kennett was second, but had five champs and advanced a tourna
ment-high eight wrestlers.
Zack Jaffe (121), Blake Boyer (127), Josh Barlow (160), John Pardo (215) and Bailey Shindle (285) collected golds for the Blue Demons.
Boyer, Pardo and Shindle collected workmanlike decisions in the finals, though Shindle was a very close no-call in the final seconds from going to overtime against Downingtown West’s Troy Mack. Barlow found a cradle quickly against Unionville’s Topher Tryon and decked him in 28 seconds.
For Jaffe, it was some familiarity against finals foe, Andrij Szczesniuk of Coatesville, that led to two reversals en route to a 4-3 victory.
“I did practice it a little bit this week,” said the Kennett freshman. “(Szczesniuk) likes to throw a leg in and I caught it and picked up and got behind him.”
Later during the finals, Jack Weldon (172) found some redemption for his Coatesville teammate. Weldon, a sophomore, worked a 12-2 win over Unionville’s Ryan O’Leary. The original top seed, Jimmy Hally of Marple Newtown, missed weight and caused a bracket that Weldon never saw to be shifted.
“I didn’t look at the bracket once,” Weldon said. “I wrestle who I wrestle, so it doesn’t change anything.”
Downingtown West’s Chase Sigle (114) took advantage of a bracket change as well. Prior to the tournament, top-seeded Cole Haines of Unionville withdrew due to an injury, sliding Sigle to the No. 2 seed. Many expected Sigle to face Sun Valley’s Timmy Kearney in the finals, but Henderson’s Jack Overton upset Kearney in the semifinals, 9-3.
Sigle won his second sectional title in as many years with an 11-4 decision over Overton.
“It doesn’t change anything, I’m still wrestling the same way,” Sigle said. “I’m still doing the same things and I’m ready for whoever steps on the mat.”
Younger brother, Brayden Sigle defeated Sun Valley’s John Deorio for the 107-pound title.
West did not fair as well against Oxford in the finals. At 139, Oxford’s Austin McMillan got the better of West’s Jordan Barry, and Jeremy McKinney (189) used a lateral drop to pin Whippet senior, Mason Hale, in the first period.
McKinney pinned Hale the same way at the Ches-Mont Championships in December.
“I didn’t really see that coming,” McKinney said. “Mason is a great wrestler and my friend, but I didn’t see him going back up top after the first time. I definitely didn’t mind.”
The top five finishers at the 3A Southeast Regional, starting Friday, will qualify for the PIAA Championships.