Quakers freshman slips past training foe
INDIANA, Pa. — Conner Redinger was succinct when he talked to longtime friend, South Park freshman Joey Fischer, before the two met in the 106pound bout at the PIAA Class 2A Southwest Regional at IUP.
“He’s one of my training partners at the club I go to,” Redinger said. “I just told him that we’ve got to go out there and do what we do, and that’s pound it.”
And that’s exactly what they did.
Redinger picked up a 2point reversal midway through the first period and made that small advantage stand up for a 2-0 victory against Fischer to give the Quaker Valley freshman his first regional title. He also shut out Fischer, 4-0, to win the WPIAL title.
“It means a lot more because you want to be first going into states,” Redinger said. “I was the aggressor, I thought, firing off shots, but he did a good job defending them. I don’t think I wrestled my best in that last match, but I wanted to be the [No. 1] seed out of here and be the best of the best.”
Redinger wasn’t the only one to win a rematch of a WPIAL final. Jefferson-Morgan senior Gavin Teasdale had a tougher time with Derry senior Shawn Broadway than he did at the WPIAL championship, but the Penn State recruit still came away with an 11-4 victory for his fourth regional crown.
“I experimented on some stuff and I can’t try stupid stuff,” Teasdale said. “I thought it was there, I tried a cradle and that’s not my style and I can’t be doing that. I should have just took him down and let him up just like my regular style, but you learn from it and build on it when it matters”
Teasdale led, 11-0, in the third period, when Broadway had a quick rally on a reversal and nearly pulled off a shoulder pin. Teasdale, though, squirmed out of trouble and ran out the final 45 seconds.
“I don’t really know what happened,” Broadway said. “I was trying to work and trying to get out from him and trying to get a point and I got his leg and whatever happened happened I guess.”
Teasdale now has another repeat performance to look forward to. When the PIAA Class 2A individual finals open March 8 at the Giant Center in Hershey, Pa., he will have the opportunity to become a rare four-time state champion.
Joe Demor of South Side Beaver and Michael Cusick from South Fayette had a tight match at 145 in the WPIAL semifinals, won by Demor, 5-2. Though it was the same result, Cusick was the loser, but only 3-2.
Despite being on the same side of the bracket, Mount Pleasant senior Alex Miscovich did not meet Ellwood City junior Donavin Chambers in the 132-pound class in the WPIAL finals. But they met in the regional final, and Miscovich won, 6-3.
Jon Vargo of Bentworth and Bishop McCoy of South Side Beaver were only WPIAL wrestlers to win titles by beating someone from outside the district. Vargo, the 182-pound champ, upset top-seeded West Branch junior Kyle Myers, 5-2. McCoy beat Bishop McCort’s Josiah Jones, 3-1, in overtime.