Spring-Ford’s Milano claims gold at Super Regional
Spring-Ford’s Milano captures gold at Super Regional
QUAKERTOWN >> No matter how lofty the prize, or how tough the competition, Joey Milano has a time-tested approach to the pressure accompanying these challenges.
“I always feel it,” Milano said. “It’s how I handle it. If I’m not nervous, I’m excited.”
Milano didn’t have pressure get in the way of another gold-medal performance Saturday. The SpringFord senior swept through the 189-pound weight class at the East AAA Super Regional, giving the Pioneer Athletic Conference its lone champion from a four-wrestler contingent advancing to Hershey’s Giant Center for the PIAA Class AAA Tournament’s medal qualification.
Milano (15-0) capped another big post-season weekend with a 14-2 major decision of Easton’s Isaiah Reinert in their championship bout. The day’s action – actually several hours of a second session encompassing the upper seven weight classes – saw Milano rack up a 17-0 technical fall on Bethlehem Catholic’s Anthony DeRosa in 3:10, then dispatch Nazareth’s Drew Clearie in a closer 5-2 semifinal.
He secured a third PIAA medal with the run in a day’s schedule comparable to the first three rounds of the PIAA individual tournament. The goal now is to achieve a higher step on the awards podium than the pair of fourth-place finishes he previously scored.
“I feel less pressure,” he said in regard to the schedule gyrations necessitated by the coronavirusimpacted 2021 season. “It’s been a weird season. But I’d rather go down swinging.”
Spring-Ford teammate Jack McGill is in a situation somewhat similar to Milano’s … with a couple exceptions. McGill is also in line for a second state medal in his fourth visit to Hershey, though he took a lower step on the awards podium after finishing second at 160.
McGill (18-1) pinned his way to the championship match, needing just 48 seconds to dispatch Pittston Area’s James Spindler and 1:38 to finish off Bethlehem Catholic’s Landon Muth. In the gold-medal match with Northampton’s Jagger Condomitti, though, he saw a 4-3 duel through two periods end up with Condomitti scoring a flurry of points inside the final 10 seconds for a 9-3 decision.
“Matches with tough guys are always close,” he noted. “I didn’t capitalize enough.”
Jack will, however, go to Hershey this time with a different approach.
“I’m going out to have fun, to go for my goals,” he said.
Milano and McGill head a fourman PAC contingent looking to position themselves for the highest state medals possible. Boyertown’s Chance Babb and Perkiomen Valley’s Kelly Kakos also qualified for the Hershey phase with their thirdplace finishes at 138 and 132, respectively.
“Those guys have been wrestling a long time,” SF head coach Tim Seislove noted. “Their attitude is to go have fun. Next week, they’ll be taking care of business.”
Spring-Ford placed fifth in the team standings with 46.5 points, highest of the PAC schools in the competition. Bethlehem Catholic, with three champions and two runners-up among its seven medalists, led the way with 131 points.
NOTE >> To clarify a point made in the East AAA Super Regional story appearing in Sunday’s edition, Kelly Kakos will be the first Perkiomen Valley wrestler to have a medal finish at Hershey since Bill Neill won the 285-pound Class AA title in 1977.
The program had another wrestler, Tim Smith, qualify for states during the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons.