Tournament notes
This is the type of recognition Jefferson-Morgan High School's wrestling team did not want. Nine wrestlers were suspended from last night's WPIAL Class AA Team Tournament dual meet against Burgettstown for disciplinary reasons. That left head coach Scott Rhodes with only five wrestlers to compete against the Blue Devils. The incident occurred this week and there was discussion about suspending the wrestlers for the remainder of the season. A one-match suspension was finally agreed to and the wrestlers will be permitted to compete in the individual postseason. But this was an embarrassment to the school and the program.
Filling a full lineup is tantamount in winning a team tournament title. Chartiers-Houston could not do that against Burrell and that's one reason why they were defeated 41-31 in the semifinals. C-H heavyweight Nate Grandelis has a bad thumb and 103-pounder Jerry Yarkosky weighs only 90 pounds after a big meal. A team might be able to get away with one forfeit but two are devastating at this level of the team tournament. But C-H should field a strong team for the coming seasons and that might attract more athletes to participate. This is a team on the rise.
There might not be a more frustrating site to hold the Class AA Team Tournament than Burrell High School. It has nothing to do with the people - the administration is very friendly and organized. The food at the concession stand is always good and the janitors keep the place clean. The problem is the gymnasium is not set up for wrestling. The sound system is bad, score for one match has to be kept on two scoreboards - one for the bout score and the other for the team score - and the portable scoreboard used for the second match had such a low-sounding buzzer that a runner had to go on the mat and tell the referee when the period was ending. Improvements are needed.
Let's give Burgettstown a big well-done for a season that could have been difficult and fractious. They handled Terry Havelka's coaching situation in a thoughtful and intelligent manner. Havelka wanted time to watch his son Jeff wrestle this year so the board decided on co-coaches, naming AD Jon Vallina, as one of the co-coaches. While it was a rare situation, it has been done before. Burgettstown had a strong season, driving to the semifinals of the Class AA Team Tournament and should have state qualifiers from this group of wrestlers. Other schools might have not been so receptive to the co-coaching idea but Burgettstown was smart enough to embrace it.
Filling a full lineup is tantamount in winning a team tournament title. Chartiers-Houston could not do that against Burrell and that's one reason why they were defeated 41-31 in the semifinals. C-H heavyweight Nate Grandelis has a bad thumb and 103-pounder Jerry Yarkosky weighs only 90 pounds after a big meal. A team might be able to get away with one forfeit but two are devastating at this level of the team tournament. But C-H should field a strong team for the coming seasons and that might attract more athletes to participate. This is a team on the rise.
There might not be a more frustrating site to hold the Class AA Team Tournament than Burrell High School. It has nothing to do with the people - the administration is very friendly and organized. The food at the concession stand is always good and the janitors keep the place clean. The problem is the gymnasium is not set up for wrestling. The sound system is bad, score for one match has to be kept on two scoreboards - one for the bout score and the other for the team score - and the portable scoreboard used for the second match had such a low-sounding buzzer that a runner had to go on the mat and tell the referee when the period was ending. Improvements are needed.
Let's give Burgettstown a big well-done for a season that could have been difficult and fractious. They handled Terry Havelka's coaching situation in a thoughtful and intelligent manner. Havelka wanted time to watch his son Jeff wrestle this year so the board decided on co-coaches, naming AD Jon Vallina, as one of the co-coaches. While it was a rare situation, it has been done before. Burgettstown had a strong season, driving to the semifinals of the Class AA Team Tournament and should have state qualifiers from this group of wrestlers. Other schools might have not been so receptive to the co-coaching idea but Burgettstown was smart enough to embrace it.
posted by Joe Tuscano at
10:03 AM
1 Comments:
If Terry Havelka and Jon Vallina aren't coaches of the year in the WPIAL there is an issue. These guys took a team without direction and a losing season last year and turned them into contenders. (With the same kids) Kudos on a great season.
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