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By JOE PETRUCCI
jpetrucci@leader.net
Friday, March 07, 2003 Page: 1C
HERSHEY – Berwick’s Nick Yalch firmly believes the Class 3A Northeast
Regional is the toughest qualifying tournament for the PIAA Wrestling
Championships.
He showed it in his actions and words on Thursday with an impressive
preliminary-round victory over undefeated Cocalico junior Mark Fittery, the
South Central Region champion, in the 130-pound weight class.
“I figured he didn’t go through the Northeast Region,” said Yalch, a
four-time District 2 champion who wrestled back to win four bouts last
Saturday in Bethlehem to take third in the Northeast and qualify for states
for the first time. “I could have gone undefeated in (Fittery’s) region,
too.”
Yalch was the only Wyoming Valley Conference wrestler to advance to the 3A
quarterfinals. Teammate Jeremy Griffith, who was eighth here last year, is
still alive at 112, as is fellow Bulldog Mike Viti (215), Pittston Area’s John
Laboranti (189) and Coughlin’s Ryan Kittrick (275).
Quarterfinals begin at 1:30 p.m. with second-round consolations slated for
3. Semifinals and third- and fourth-round consolations are tomorrow morning.
Yalch (37-2) will wrestle another undefeated wrestler in the quarterfinals,
Chris Collins of Upper Merion. Collins, the Southeast Regional champion, is
33-0.
Yalch stormed out to a 5-0 lead after one period and took a 7-1 lead into
the third. But a wild third period forced Yalch to take drastic measures.
Fittery notched a takedown and five near-fall points 40 seconds into the
third. After escaping seven seconds later, Yalch led just 8-6. Both wrestlers
were hit for stalling and Yalch led 9-7.
As time was winding down, Fittery got in deep on Yalch and he looked up at
the clock and there were about five seconds left. Clearly threatened, Yalch
quickly decided to wrap his legs around Fittery’s head – a scissors hold on
the head is illegal. Fittery was awarded a point, the bout was halted for a
re-start with just one second left and Yalch won 9-8.
“There’s always kids out of the Northeast who were third and upset these
kids,” Yalch said, referring to the champions from the South Central region.
“I’ll take that and go from there, one at a time, as hard as I can.”
After Griffith (34-4) couldn’t get anything going against Southeast champ
Tim Harner (37-8), a junior from Norristown, and lost 3-1 in the preliminary
round, the Bulldog edged Adam Homan (28-10), the Northwest runner-up, 3-2, in
the consolation round.
Laboranti (34-2) trailed 1-0 heading into the third period in his
preliminary round bout against Cathedral Prep senior Nick Voelker (29-8), who
rode the Patriot junior the final two minutes to win by that score.
Laboranti held off Gateway senior Corey Idrogo (27-7), the third-place
finisher from the Southwest, 5-4 in the consolations to stay alive.
A second-period stalling point was the difference in Viti’s 2-1 preliminary
round loss to Huntingdon junior Damien Gresko (32-5), the Northwest runner-up.
In consolations, Viti (32-5) edged Gettysburg senior Brett Miller (34-9), the
South Central third-place finisher, 3-2.
Bald Eagle Area senior Joel Yoder (36-2), the Northwest runner-up, did a
nice job of riding Kittrick (33-4) en route to a 5-0 victory in the
preliminaries. In consolations, Conestoga junior Shane Seaver (33-7), the
Southeast third-place finisher, couldn’t hold Kittrick down in double overtime
as the Crusader escaped in 10 seconds to win 2-1.
Jason Reilly (32-5) fell behind 5-0 in the first period to Penn Trafford’s
Charlie Pienaar (31-4), the Southwest runner-up, just as the senior Comet did
in last week’s regional final, which he lost by just two, 9-7. Pienaar,
however, foiled any hopes of a comeback when he pinned Reilly in 3:00.
In consolations, Reilly again fell behind 5-0 and wound up losing 10-2 to
Upper Perkiomen senior Mike Pierson (37-7), the fourth-place finisher from the
Southeast.