Mars earns playoff berth on tiebreaker
The Mars wrestling team earned a berth in the Section 3 team tournament, despite finishing in a three-way tie for second place.
The tie occurred when Mars, Pine-Richland and North Hills each finished with a 2-2 record in sub-section B. All three teams lost to North Allegheny and all three beat Shaler. It came down to head-to-head competition among the three teams.
“We dropped a heartbreaking 30-29 decision to North Hills on Jan. 13,” Mars coach Bob Jox said. “I really thought that would keep us from qualifying.”
The other two head-tohead matches were wrestled at a quadrangular Jan. 20 at North Allegheny, with PineRichland controlling its fate. The Rams posted a 39-27 win against North Hills, but then dropped a 40-33 decision to Mars.
That forced the WPIAL’s tiebreaker procedure to be implemented. The first step is to count the bout victories recorded by each team in the three matches. Mars and Pine-Richland each recorded 13 bout victories, North Hills won 11 bouts, and two bouts were double forfeits.
That eliminated North Hills from the tiebreaker scenario. The next step is headto-head competition and Mars was declared the second-place finisher with its win against Pine-Richland.
“It came down to our last bout,” said Jox, referring to the Pine-Richland match. “We were up by one point and our 120-pounder Rocco Darocy pinned his opponent in the third period. I couldn’t have asked for a more exciting finish to the match.”
The Section 3 team tournament will be held Feb. 8, most likely at Seneca Valley.
“Making it to the section tournament is a huge accomplishment for such a young team,” Jox said. “We started six freshmen, four sophomores, two juniors and only one senior in that match.”
Mars has been led by senior Keith Brubach (9-1 at 172 pounds), junior Christian Scheller (8-2 at 152), sophomore Brandon Krul (8-2 at 132) and Darocy (6-4 at 120).
Late starts
Armstrong and West Allegheny have the unfortunate distinction of being the last two WPIAL schools to begin their wrestling schedule.
Armstrong was scheduled to start its season Thursday, while West Allegheny will begin competition this weekend at the Powerade tournament.
“We had two shutdowns after the governor’s shutdown,” said Armstrong coach Brandon Newill. “The second shutdown was due to me catching the COVID virus. The team will come out of quarantine [Jan. 26], so they can get in two practices before our two section matches on Thursday. My quarantine ends Thursday, so I can coach at both matches.”
Mike Johnson’s return to coaching at West Allegheny has been just as hectic.
“We had to shut down twice after the state shutdown,” said Johnson, an 18year coaching veteran who stepped down as the Indians head coach after the 2014-15 season. “This season has been crazy. I just hope we can put this all behind us and let the kids wrestle.”
Both teams must complete their sub-section schedule by Feb. 6, as the team section championships begin Feb. 8.
“We will be doing a lot of wrestling in the next nine days,” Johnson said.
The same is true for McGuffey.
“We had to shut down again after getting in only two matches,” McGuffey coach Jared Roberts said. “We still have four section matches and we can’t start wrestling until Friday.”
Super regionals
The sites for the PIAA West super regional tournaments have been announced. Altoona High School will host the Class 3A super regional, while IUP will host the Class 2A event. Both tournaments will be held March 6.
The super regionals were created to serve as a qualifier for the PIAA championships, which will be held the following weekend, and cut participation both weekends to eight wrestlers per weight class.
In Class 2A, the West super region will include qualifiers from the Southwest region (Districts 5/6/7) and Northwest region (Districts 9/10). The top five finishers advance from the Southwest region to the super regional, while the top three advance from the Northwest region.
In Class 3A, the West super region will include qualifiers from the Southwest region (District 7), Northwest region (Districts 4/6/8/9/10) and South Central region (District 3). The top three finishers advance from the Southwest and South Central regions to the super regional, while the top two advance from the Northwest region.
The top four finishers from each super regional advance to the PIAA tournaments, which will be held at Giant Center. The Class 2A tournament will be held March 12 with Class 3A to follow on March 13.