South Park’s Fischer ready to make move
There are two questions a high school wrestler must consider as he enters a season.
Which weight class gives him the best chance to be successful in the postseason tournaments? And when should he move down to that weight class?
Some wrestlers make their move at Christmas, when all wrestlers receive a 2-pound weight allowance. Others wait until the postseason tournaments to make their move.
The latter is the strategy South Park junior Joey Fischer is using for his descent from the 120-pound weight class to 113. Fischer must make it down to 115 (with the weight allowance) before Feb. 14, the date of the Class 2A Section 1 tournament.
“I’ve been wrestling at 120 to help the team,” said Fischer, who has played a big part in helping the Eagles qualify for the WPIAL team tournament, which begins this week. “I’ve also faced tougher competition at 120, so it’s helping to prepare me for the postseason tournaments.”
Fischer had already begun his decent plan when South Park competed at the Allegheny County tournament Jan. 17-18 at Fox Chapel High School.
“I had to weigh 121.4 [on Jan. 17] for my descent plan and I weighed in at 120,” said Fischer, who claimed his second county title with a 5-4 victory over North Allegheny’s Dylan Coy. “I have to get down to 115 by the first day of the section tournament. That shouldn’t be a problem. I’m well maintained with my diet. I surround myself with good people and make good choices.”
Fischer improved his season record to 28-2 with his win in the title match. His 3-2 win over Gateway’s Evan Whiteside in the semifinals was the 100th of his career.
“I’m really looking forward to the postseason tournaments,” Fischer said.
Last season, Fischer placed first in the WPIAL, first in the Southwest Region and fourth in the PIAA while competing at 106 pounds. He committed to Clarion University after a visit on Nov. 19.
“I felt very comfortable when I made my visit,” Fischer said. “It’s close to home and they have a program on the rise. Greg Bulsak [a former South Park teammate] hosted me, so I already know one of my future teammates.”
Pine-Richland
It was a case of deja vu for Pine-Richland assistant coach Tom McGarity when the Rams won the Allegheny County tournament by the smallest possible margin Saturday at Fox Chapel High School.
Pine-Richland outscored North Allegheny, 223 to 222.5, to claim its second title and its first since 2005 in the 19-year history of the event.
“I was the head coach when we won the title in 2005 and we won by one-half point,” said McGarity, referring to PineRichland outscoring Gateway, 184 to 183.5, in that race for the title. “What are the chances of that happening again.”
What made Pine-Richland’s narrow victory in 2005 even more impressive is that the Rams didn’t have a champion and had only one
wrestler advance to the finals.
That was not the case Saturday, as Pine-Richland had four wrestlers advance to the finals and two claimed titles. Anthony Ferraro and Cole Spencer won titles for the Rams, while Kelin Laffey and Nathan Lukez collected silver medals.
Ferraro became the 16th freshman to win a county title with a 14-0 major decision of Montour’s James Walzer in the 106-pound final. Spencer claimed his second county title in three years and clinched the team title for the Rams with a 3-0 win in the 152-pound final against Quaker Valley’s Conner Redinger.
“We needed two of our four finalists to win for us to clinch the team title,” said Spencer, who knew how important his match against Redinger was. “Anthony gave us a bonuspoint win at 103 to get us going. When Kelin and Nathan lost, I knew it was up to me.”
Laffey was pinned in the 132-pound final by Jrake Burford of Highlands. Lukez made his second appearance in the finals, but dropped a 5-4 decision to Mt. Lebanon’s Jackson Gray at 145 pounds.
“It really came down to the wire,” Pine-Richland head coach Caleb Kolb said. “I was sweating it out. It’s kind of cool for coach McGarity to be a part of this since it’s his last year. I’m so happy for him and the kids. We’ve worked so hard. This title shows the kids that hard work can payoff.”
Highlands
Burford became only the second Highlands wrestler to win a county title with his pin of Laffey at 1:46 of the 132pound final.
“It feels great to be able to make history,” said Burford, who also avenged two previous losses to Laffey in the title match.
“It was the third time I’ve wrestled Laffey this year. He pinned me the first time. The rematch went three periods and he beat me, 10-6. It feels so good to beat him this time, especially in the finals.”
It was the fifth pin for Burford, who won the award for the most pins in the least amount of time (9:09).
“All five pins came in the first period,” Highlands coach Grant Walters said. “We’re so happy for Jrake. He’s worked so hard.”
Bill Spencer was the first Highlands wrestler to win a county title. Spencer won the 103-pound crown in 2003, the second year of the event. Spencer went on to win WPIAL and PIAA titles that year.
WPIAL team tournaments
The WPIAL team tournaments will be held next week. The top five teams in each section qualified, so the Class 3A bracket will feature 20 teams, while the Class 2A bracket has 15 teams.
Four preliminary round matches will be held Monday. First round and quarterfinal matches will be held Wednesday at eight sites, with the top four seeds in each class serving as hosts. The semifinals, finals and consolation finals will be held Feb. 1 at Norwin (Class 3A) and ChartiersHouston (Class 2A).
Kiski Area is a three-time defending champion in Class 3A. Burrell has won 13 consecutive Class 2A titles.