Busy postseason begins on mat
Welcome to the year of the sub-section and Super Regions, wrestlers, brought to you courtesy of COVID-19.
The individual portion of Pennsylvania's high school wrestling postseason begins this week with matmen having to get through four (Class 3A) or five tournaments (2A) just to get to the PIAA Tournament.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced wrestling to limit the size of postseason tournaments this season.
“It's harder to get there now than it ever has been,” Butler coach Scott Stoner said of the state tourney. “Some of these kids are going to have to go through a lot of matches in a very short time.”
Each team begins postseason action with a sub-section tournament — whereas each section is basically split in half. The top two placers in each weight class advance to the section tournaments this weekend.
Seneca Valley hosts a sub-section Thursday, joining Butler, Moon, New Castle, West Allegheny and Beaver. Sub-sections will use a round-robin format.
“If your weight class has a full bracket, you could be wrestling five times Thursday, then come back and wrestle three more times on Saturday,” Stoner said. “That's rough.”
Mars is in a sub-section with host North Allegheny, Pine-Richland, North Hills and Shaler.
“It's not an ideal set-up, but it beats the alternative — not wrestling at all,” Mars coach Bob Jox said. “Every kid has a shot. Our goal is to get all of our kids through to the section tournament.
“The best high school wrestling in the country is in the WPIAL. There is no easy place to turn. You have to grind it out no matter what format they use. That's what we do every Wednesday night.”
Knoch competes in Class AA and will be in a sub-section at Burrell that includes the Bucs, Valley, Riverview and South Allegheny. Class AA wrestlers need to get through the sub-section (top 2), section (top 2), WPIAL tournament (top 3), Southwest Regionals (top 5) and West Super Region (top 4) to reach the PIAA tourney.
“We've had to deal with adversity all year,” Knoch coach Bob Waldron said. “But our guys have the opportunity to compete. That's what's most important.
“(Knoch senior) Eli Reese has been a heavyweight his entire high school career. He's dropped down to 215 for the postseason because that's his best shot at success. A number of wrestlers may be shuffling around like that.”
Butler's Steven Green is bumping up to 172 pounds while Nate McMaster is moving up to 152.
The WPIAL Class AA tourney is Saturday at Canon-McMillan High School. The Class AAA tourney will be at Canon-Mac the following Saturday.
“They want to limit the number of teams and wrestlers at each tournament, so they've spread things thinner,” Seneca Valley coach Kevin Wildrick said. “It does create some interesting scenarios.
“In our sub-section, the 138, 152 and 189-pound weight classes are full brackets. Those kids are going to be busy Thursday.”
And only the top two move on.
“We've got a pretty talented kid in Levi Donnel at 132,” Stoner said. “But the Moon kid is very good at that weight class and there's (Dylan) Chappell at Seneca. Levi has his work cut out for him.”
At 189 pounds, Butler's Cooper Baxter and SV's Liam Volk-Klos could wrestle each other four or five times in the postseason.
“They may see a lot of each other ... and with a lot on the line each time,” Wildrick admitted. “I don't know if that's a good thing.”
The WPIAL Championships will only be an eight-wrestler bracket in each weight class. The AAA West Super Region — slated for March 6 in Altoona — and the PIAA Tournament will feature eight-man brackets as well.
“I know this set-up is designed to give wrestlers more matches and I get that,” Stoner said. “But the matches are against opponents they'll see over and over again.
“This is a one-year thing and it's a by-product of COVID. Everyone has to deal with it. I just hope it doesn't become a permanent change.”
