Burrell wrestlers take down rival Valley to claim subsection title

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, January 16, 2019 | 11:09 PM

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Burrell wanted to get back on track with the WPIAL team season approaching, especially after a disappointing loss to local rival Kiski Area last week.

A Section 3-AA matchup against neighboring Valley did just the trick, as Burrell maintained its section dominance with a 57-19 victory over the host Vikings on Wednesday night.

Class AA No. 1 Burrell (5-2, 5-0) extended its section winning streak to 108 consecutive matches dating to the 2002-03 season.

“They worked really hard at practice this week,” Burrell assistant Steve Ansani said. “The Kiski match was an eye-opener. We just had to work on some certain things, and basically that’s what we did this week. This is a testament of that. They battled Valley pretty hard. They had some good kids, and our kids battled to the end on that aspect.”

The Bucs’ biggest takeaway from their 45-18 loss to Class AAA No. 1 Kiski Area was a lack of aggressiveness in some matches.

They countered that against Valley, coasting to victory behind five pins.

“The goal is always to go out there and get the pin,” said junior Trent Valovchik, who turned Valley’s Kain Stone in the third period for the pin in their 126-pound bout. “Bonus points is what’s going to help us win later on for the WPIAL and team states.”

Valley (7-2, 4-1) was seeking a signature win against its rival, but four forfeits essentially sank the Vikings’ chances.

“It’s tough when your back’s against the wall right from the beginning,” Valley coach Dane Johnson said. “There were a couple I thought we could have done a little better, but for the most part they fought, so I can’t complain. Burrell’s obviously a tough team … they’re the team to beat, so I can’t complain. We just talked to each one of our kids about giving their best effort, which I think they did.”

Just three of the 14 bouts lasted the full three periods: Burrell’s Nick Salerno pulled off a 3-0 decision over Travis Lasko at 113 pounds, Valley’s Noah Hutcherson earned his 100th career victory with an 8-0 major decision at 170 and Valley’s Matt Ashbaugh held off Mason Slahtovsky for a 5-4 decision at 220.

Other than that, the other 11 matches ended either in forfeits — Burrell picked up four and Valley one — and pins.

The Bucs got pins from Shawn Szymanski (106 pounds), Valovchik (126), A.J. Corrado (138), Noah Linderman (145) and Zach Rupert (195), with Corrado’s and Rupert’s taking less than a minute.

“That’s the Burrell style of wrestling: be aggressive to get control of the pace and in turn the match,” Ansani said. “After working on it this week, we showed it tonight.”

Valley got a 20-second pin from heavyweight David Schuffert in the first bout of the night.

The final match, between Ashbaugh and Slahtovsky, was the most entertaining. Trailing 5-2 with under 10 seconds remaining, Slahtovsky got a takedown; Burrell fans wanted him awarded two nearfall points as well for putting Ashbaugh on his back, but the referee ruled against it.

Both teams now will prepare for the Section 3-AA tournament, scheduled for Jan. 23 at Burrell.

Valley, the second-place team from subsection B, will face subsection A champion Derry in the section semifinals.

“We’ve just got to keep on working, work hard,” Hutcherson said. “(We have to) get back just in more shape. As long as we do that, then we’ll be all right at sections.”

Burrell will travel Saturday to the Brookville Ultimate Duals to face some of the highest-ranked Class AA teams in the state before returning home for the section tournament.

The Bucs, the subsection B champion, will face subsection A runner-up Elizabeth Forward; the winner of the match will advance to face the winner of Valley-Derry for the section title.

“I think honestly what motivates us and pushes us to do our best in WPIALs as we have been is going to tournaments like Brookville and Bedford coming up into the postseason,” Valovchik said. “Brookville’s going to show us where we stand because we’re going to wrestle some of the top teams that are ranked ahead of us and around us.”

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Burrell, Valley