ALTOONA —
John Rizzo has done just about everything at Richland High School.
The senior is the Rams’ all-time leader in rushing yardage and touchdowns in football, holds the school’s record for victories in wrestling and was even named homecoming king last fall.
Now, the 220-pounder is rocketing up the Cambria County list as well. Rizzo, who has won a pair of state titles at 285 pounds, picked up his 150th career victory on Friday afternoon in his first match of the District 6 Class AA Tournament at Altoona Area High School. He needed just eight seconds to pin Southern Huntingdon’s Harry Fortney. Rizzo added victory No. 151 with a 28-second fall over Tyler Strong of Portage in the quarterfinals.
Not that Rizzo’s worried about any of those numbers. The only thing that matters to him is being No. 1.
“It was great to have all of the people here supporting me,” Rizzo said of the dozens of Richland fans, who held up “150” signs after his victory. “I really appreciate that. My grandma came out.
“That was all great, but the goal is to win states. I take it one match at a time.”
Rizzo has been heavily recruited to wrestle in college, but he’s still hoping to land a football scholarship instead of wrestling at the next level.
“I’m still leaning towards it, but I’m not sold yet,” he said. “I’m going to focus on wrestling now and worry about college after the season.”
Rizzo and Richland teammate Nick Naglic (132 pounds) are two of the 18 local wrestlers in the semifinal round, which begins at noon today. The others are: Cambria Heights’ Ryan Dupas (113), Joe Davis (120), Brad Thomas (126), Ross Inzana (170) and Jake Beach (195); Forest Hills’ Triston Law (106), R.J. Brydon (145) and Cody Law (160); Central Cambria’s Ben Rager (126) and Tony Risaliti (160); Ligonier Valley’s Justin Patrick (106) and Josh Patrick (113); Penn Cambria’s Nick Szala (138) and Seth McLendon (220); United’s John Blankenship (170); and the wrestler who pulled the biggest upset of the tournament – Portage 132-pounder Chase Fox.
Cambria Heights had a solid day, as the Highlanders were second in the team standings, 7½ points behind leader Mount Union.
“Great day for Heights kids,” Highlanders coach Mike Eckenrode said. “Of course, you want to get all of the wins, but you’re not going to get them. But we had some nice ones.”
One of the nicest was Thomas’ 4-2 victory over third-seeded Cody Myers of Southern Huntingdon in the 126-pound quarterfinals.
While Eckenrode is excited about his team’s strong showing on the first day, he knows there is a long way to go in the tournament, which advances the top four wrestlers in each weight to the Southwest Regional tournament in Johnstown in two weeks.
“It’s like halftime at the football game – nobody cares who wins the first half,” Eckenrode said. But it’s great to be there right now.”
There were plenty of upsets on the day – two No. 2 seeds, three No. 3 seeds and four No. 4 seeds lost – but the most surprising run to the semifinals might have been delivered by Portage’s Fox. The 132-pounder needed to knock off seventh-seeded Luke Nanna of Juniata just to get an opportunity to face second-seeded J.P. Hayles of West Branch.
And Fox certainly took advantage that chance, beating Hayles 5-2.
“I felt pretty good, considering he was a two-seed,” Fox said. “I figured I had kind of a good chance, but I wasn’t sure.”
Fox was leading 3-0 in the third period when Hayles hit a headlock that resulted in a takedown and the West Branch wrestler was close to picking up some backpoints before Fox popped his head out for a match-clinching reversal.
“I was scared,” Fox said of what he was thinking when Hayles hit the headlock. “I thought the ref was counting (backpoints).”
Wrestling resumes at 10:30 this morning with a round of consolation matches.
The finals are scheduled for 6:45 p.m.
Local Sports
Related Photos
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Richland’s John Rizzo works for a takedown against Southern Huntingdon’s Harry Fortney during the second round of the District 6 Class AA Tournament on Friday in Altoona. Rizzo pinned Fortney. TAMI KNOPSNYDER/FoR THE TRIBUNE- DEMOCRAT submitted photo
Discussion
Rizzo notches win No. 150
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