Kiski Area’s Miller, Burrell’s Oswalt big winners at WCCA wrestling championships

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, January 5, 2019 | 11:00 PM

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The train keeps rolling for the Kiski Area wrestling team at the Westmoreland County Coaches’ Association tournament at Norwin.

The Cavaliers on Saturday won their fourth consecutive team title, which tied them with Greensburg Salem and Latrobe with the most titles: 12.

But just as big as Kiski Area’s win at the 66th annual tournament was Burrell sophomore Ian Oswalt’s 2-1 victory against Norwin junior and returning county champion Kurtis Phipps.

Oswalt, who lost to Phipps, 4-0, in the Powerade semifinals last week, used a reversal with 1 minutes, 15 seconds left in the third period to grab a 2-1 lead and then used half-nelson to keep Phipps from scoring.

The win stunned the standing-room only crowd, which jammed into Norwin’s old gymnasium for the finals.

Kiski Area senior Darren Miller became the 41st wrestler to win three titles. He won at 106 pounds in 2017 and 120 last year.

Earlier this season, Miller defeated Franklin Regional senior Colton Camacho — a Pitt recruit — in the Eastern Invitational. Last week, he lost a close match to North Hills junior Sam Hillegas — a two-time state champion — in the Powerade final.

He was one of five champions for Kiski Area, which finished with 233 points and tied the 2005 team with five champions. The other Kiski winners were Cam Connor (152), Jack Blumer (160), Nick Delp (170) and Brayden Roscosky (195).

“It feels great to be a three-time champion,” Miller said. “I wrestled great and beat a great opponent. As for the team, we came here to dominate and we did a great job in the semifinals and finals. We never gave up and kept pushing and came out on top.”

The Cavaliers rallied from a Day 1 deficit with great wrestling in the semifinals and finals.

“I think we went 10-1 in the afternoon, which I think was the best we’ve ever done,” Kiski Area coach Chris Heater said. “I thought we wrestled real well in the blood round and semifinal round, maybe the best we’ve ever had. We lost 1-0 in the finals or we would have had six.”

Freshman Enzo Morlacci dropped a 1-0 decision to Penn-Trafford senior Nick Coy in the 145 final.

“It was a great effort from the team,” Heater said. “I’m proud of the guys.”

Kiski finished with 11 placewinners. Also earning medals were Dom Giordano (126, third), Hunter Dilts (182, sixth), Jack Dilts (220, fifth), Sammy Starr (138, fourth) and Stone Joseph (285, fifth).

Burrell coach Josh Shields said he couldn’t have been prouder for his team’s second-day performance.

“We lost a couple close matches the first day, but we came back strong,” Shields said. “We finished fourth and had nine placewinners against tough competition.

“Ian was a good win for us. Obviously, he works hard. We lost to Kurtis at Powerade, and it was a match we focused on. … He was solid in all positions and was able to get to what we do well. It was a solid performance by the team.”

Burrell’s Austin Mele dropped a tough 3-1 decision to Blumer.

Other Burrell placewinners were A.J. Corrado (138, fifth), Bryan Gaul (132, fifth), Danny McCarthy (170, fourth), Mason Slahtovsky (220, sixth), Noah Linderman (145, third), Ricky Feroce (182, third) and Trent Valovchik (126, fourth).

Valley heavyweight Dave Schuffert (16-3) was looking for his second consecutive county title, but he dropped a tough, 3-2, decision to Hempfield sophomore Isaiah Vance.

Hempfield coach Tommy Dolde said Vance was more aggressive than he was in last year’s final when Schuffert pinned him.

Vance (22-4) used an escape and takedown in the third period for a 3-2 win. He joins his grandfather Mike Kirkling as a county champion.

Valley had four placewinners. Joining Schuffert were Noah Hutcherson (170, third), Matt Ashbaugh (195, fourth) and Travis Lasko (113, sixth).

Camacho defeated Derry sophomore Ty Cymmerman, 13-3, to become the 13th wrestler to be a four-time champion.

Winning their second titles were Hempfield senior Kyle Burkholder (113), Belle Vernon senior Scott Joll (182) and Derry senior Dom DeLuca (220). Winning their first titles were Penn-Trafford senior Nick Coy (145) and Franklin Regional sophomore Carter Dibert (106).

Paul Schofield is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Paul at pschofield@tribweb.com or via Twitter @Schofield_Trib.

Tags: Burrell, Kiski School, Valley