By ERIC KNOPSNYDER
JOHNSTOWN — The PIAA Class AA Wrestling Championships couldn’t have started much worse for Central Cambria.
Phil Steinberg, a runner-up at 135 pounds last year, was upset in the first round and Anthony Risaliti was injured just 15 seconds into his loss at 145 to Philip Racciato of Pen Argyl.
But both Red Devils bounced back with first-round consolation victories.
Steinberg led Juniata’s Seth Beitz 3-2 in the third period of their first-round bout at
140 pounds. But the Central Cambria wrestler was whistled for a technical violation – pushing Beitz off the mat after a stand-up – to tie the score.
Steinberg then let Beitz up in an attempt to get the go-ahead takedown. Instead, Beitz came up with a takedown and went on to a 6-3 victory.
Steinberg responded with a
7-3 victory over Dylan Killian of Annville-Cleona in the consolation round.
“For Phillip, this is totally new ground for him,” Central Cambria coach Bob Nikolishen said. “He’s not used to the consolation round. I think he responded well. I think with the heat off of his back and the pressure of having to finish first because he finished second last year, I think you’ll see a different Steinberg out there.”
Many observers expect Steinberg to face Northwest Regional champion Cody Copeland of Greenville in tonight’s semifinals. Instead, they could meet in the third-round consolations, since Copeland was upset by North Star’s Richard Baker on Thursday.
“Third is our new championship, as far as we’re concerned,” Nikolishen said. “I think he’s going to be just fine.”
That seems to be the prognosis for Risaliti as well, but it certainly didn’t look like it early in his first match. Racciato scored a quick takedown over Risaliti, and the Central Cambria sophomore immediately used all of his injury time. Even after Risaliti returned to the mat in a 12-7 loss, there were questions about whether or not he could wrestle in the consolation round. He answered those with a 5-4 victory over Claysburg-Kimmel’s Corey Aungst.
“Tony, he was banged up after that first one,” Nikolishen said. “He got a tweak in his neck. He seemed to work that out just fine. He made the decision. He said that he wasn’t going to be taken out of this tournament.”
q q q
Famous faces: The cover of the 2010 PIAA wrestling program contains not one but two local wrestlers.
A photo from last year’s 103-pound Class AA championship, in which North Star’s Nick Roberts beat Penn Cambria’s Evan Link, adorns the guide.
Roberts is back to defend his title while Link has moved up to 112 pounds, where he beat Milton Hershey’s Nick Lamoreaux on Thursday.
Roberts was excited to learn that he was on the cover.
“That was pretty cool,” he said. “I liked that.”
q q q
Happy Easter: Trey Easter bounced back from a first-round loss with a milestone moment.
The Bedford 135-pounder beat Saegertown’s Tim Clark
4-1 in a first-round consolation bout for his 100th career victory.
“I get to be up there with my dad (former Bison Joel Easter) again, so it’s real good, a real good accomplishment,” the younger Easter said. “But I don’t want to be done. I want to win (this morning’s) match and get into the medal round..”
q q q
Comeback kid Part II: Conemaugh Township’s Tanner Cahill pulled out a dramatic victory last week just to qualify for states, but that had nothing on the stir that the Indians sophomore caused with some late heroics on Thursday.
Cahill trailed Shady Side Academy’s Anthony Elias in the closing seconds of their
125-pound consolation bout.
All Elias had to do was ride out Cahill in the closing seconds for an 8-7 victory.
Instead, the Shady Side wrestler tried to turn Cahill with a chicken wing. Cahill popped to his knees and rolled Elias for a reversal and an improbable win.
q q q
Still going: A total of six wrestlers from The Tribune-Democrat’s coverage area are still alive in the consolation bracket.
In addition to Easter, Cahill, Steinberg and Risaliti, Forest Hills’ Chris Gallaher and Penn Cambria’s Zak Newton will be back in action today.
Gallaher used a second-period escape to beat Richland’s John George 1-0 at 160 pounds while Newton took advantage of a second injury timeout by Greenville’s R.J. Mason to score a third-period reversal in a 4-3 victory.
