Unseeded Shearer dominates
Seneca Valley wrestler records four victories in a day, including two pins
Three pins and a technical fall, including two upsets of seeded opponents. Not a bad day for an unseeded wrestler.
That’s the scorecard for Seneca Valley’s Chanz Shearer, who dominated four opponents to earn a berth in the semifinals of the 53rd Annual Powerade Christmas tournament which began Friday at Canon-McMillan High School.
Shearer, a 138-pound junior, opened his day with a 22-6 technical fall of Wadsworth, Ohio’s David Shue in a preliminary match. He then pinned Saegertown’s Kenny Kiser, the No. 3 seed, in the Round of 32. Kiser placed third at the same weight a year ago.
“[Kiser] escaped early in the second period, then took me down,” Shearer said. “He was riding me real tough, when he got a little to high and I was able to hip through it and get the pin.”
Shearer faced Caden Stout of St.
Clairsville, Ohio in the Round of 16 and needed only 37 seconds to pin him. In the quarterfinals, Shearer was almost as impressive as it took him 47 seconds to pin No. 6-seeded Jared Keslar of Connellsville.
“I’m going out there and scrapping and see an opportunity and I get it,” Shearer said. “I’m always looking for the pins and team points.”
Shearer will face Wyoming Seminary’s Beau Bartlett Saturday morning in the semifinals. Bartlett, who is ranked No. 1 in the country, won a Powerade tournament title two years ago.
“I don’t pay attention to the names,” Shearer said. “I just go out there and wrestle my match.”
Shearer’s teammate and workout partner Alejandro Herrera-Rondon earned his third trip to the semifinals with a 7-2 win over DuBois’ Trenton Donahue in the quarterfinals at 132.
“I work out with Alejandro twice a day, every day,” Shearer said. “I guess his success is rubbing off on me.”
Hempfield’s Briar Priest is another unseeded wrestler who advanced to the semifinals. The Spartans sophomore recorded three victories in the 106-pound weight class, including an upset of the No. 2 seed.
Priest opened the day by pinning Gannon Kazmirski of St. Clairsville, Ohio, in the Round of 32. He then registered a 9-3 win over Wyoming Seminary’s Daniel Sheen, the No. 2 seed.
“That was a big upset for me,” Priest said. “I’ve been training a lot harder and working on my goals. The hard work is paying off this weekend.”
Priest capped his impressive performance with an 11-7 win over Latrobe’s Vincent Kilkeary in the quarterfinals. His opponent in the semifinals also is unseeded, Montoursville’s Branden Wentzel.
“Priest is a big 106-pounder,” Hempfield coach Tom Dolde Sr. said. “He had a great day, especially the win over Sheen. He was ranked No. 10 in the country.”
Latrobe’s Gabe Willochell also pulled a big upset. Willochell, the No. 6 seed at 132, pinned No. 3-seeded Drew Munch of Wyoming Seminary in the quarterfinals to earn a return trip to the semifinals. Willochell recorded three pins, all in the first period.
North Hills’ Sam Hillegas advanced to the semifinals for the fourth consecutive year with a 9-0 major decision of Zach Wittmer of St. Joseph’s Academy in the 138-pound quarterfinals.
Norwin’s Kurtis Phipps earned his third semifinal berth with a 4-0 win over Landon Hacker of Wadsworth, Ohio, in the quarterfinals at 126.
Canon-McMillan’s Gerrit Nijenhuis advanced to the semifinals for the third time with a quarterfinal pin against Andrew Connolly of Malvern Prep at 182. It was his third consecutive pin.
Waynesburg had the best showing of any WPIAL team. The Raiders had four wrestlers advance to the semifinals — Mac Church (106), Rocco Welsh (126), Wyatt Henson (138) and Luca Augustine (160) — and enter the second day of competition third in the team standings.