Vulakh wrestles back for bronze medal

HERSHEY » There might be a time in the future that Pennridge senior Josh Stillings will be able to appreciate and enjoy the fact that he made a little school history with his state semifinal win Saturday morning. The Drexel-bound Stillings picked up career win number 150 to pass Scott Parker for second all-time, trailing only Kyle Gentile’s mark of 162.

But ever since settling for a runner-up finish at last year’s PIAA tourney, Stillings has calmly, cooly put laser-sharp focus on one goal— reaching the top of the podium. Stillings earned the chance with a workmanlike 7-2 win over Josh Krieger of Shikellamy.

“It’s nice to know I put myself back in position to win it all,” said Stillings. “It’s a little tough wrestling early in the morning and I felt a little tired, but I got the win and am wrestling tonight. That’s what matters.”

Two area wrestlers came up short in their semifinal bouts, Souderton’s Tyler Williams and Pope John Paul II’s Ryan Vulakh.

Vulakh ran into a buzzsaw in the 145 pound semis in Nazareth’s defending state champ, Sammy Sasso, who had previously finished as runner-up as a sophomore and third as a freshman. Sasso jumped out to a 4-0 lead after a period, and cruised to an 11-1 win.

Vulakh rebounded with a bronze-medal showing. He rode a strong second period to a bronze medal, picking up an escape, then taking down Northern York’s Micah Hoffman to his back for a pair of near fall to earn a 5-0 victory.

Earlier he got a win in the consolation semi-finals. Scoreless after a period against Jobe Chisko of Penn Trafford, Vulakh rode Chisko out through the second period, the managed an escape in the third to eke out a 1-0 win and a slot in the thirdplace match.

“I was trying to score and extend the lead in the third period,” said Vulakh. “I wanted to see if I could take some reshots or set something up, but he wasn’t really committing to his shots and did a pretty good job defending.”

It’s never easy to come so close to your goal of a state title, only to suffer a defeat in semifinals. To come back such a short time later to wrestle in consolations can be very difficult.

“This round can be as tough as any round in the tournament,” said PJPII coach Tom Hontz. “You have one kid coming off a tough loss in semis and have to wrestle a kid who is coming off a win. But Ryan

For Digital First Media