Wrestlers hold their own at Eastern Area Tournament

Nino Bonaccorsi, Staff Writer

December 13, 2013

The 36th annual Eastern Area Wrestling Tournament hosted by Gateway High School took place this past weekend on December 6th and 7th. Four total wrestlers helped Bethel Park with a final standing of 9th place out of 19 teams. Individual place-winners included Paul Dunn at 152 lbs, Tom Koloziej at 145 lbs, Sam Gercak at 220 lbs, and Chris Pauley at HWT.

The Eastern Area Tournament hosts some of the best wrestling teams along with wrestlers in the State. The 4x, now 5x, defending champs, Kiski Area, North Allegheny, and Belle Vernon, and many other top notch teams, were at the tournament. Along with teams, individual wrestlers stood out at the tournament as well. These included Jason Nolf, a 3x PIAA champ, Dom Forys, a 2x PIAA place-winner, and many more returning champs of the Eastern Areas.

Paul Dunn, a junior at BPHS, had a great tournament finishing with a 2nd place, falling short to Dereck Verklareen. Dunn managed to defeat three wrestlers to get into the finals, and he didn’t have a close match in any of them. Last year, Dunn also took 2nd place, losing to Jess Rodgers from North Allegheny. Dunn hopes to recover from the loss and start dominating at the 152 lb. weight class.

A senior from Bethel, Tom Kolodziej, finished 6th place at the tournament. Tom had a tough bracket, including one of the toughest wrestlers in the country, Jason Nolf. Kolodziej fell short in the beginning rounds but battled back to take 6th place. Kolodziej managed to defeat Randy Williams from West Miffilin and Brenden Haden from Penn Trafford before losing to Trevor Kniha in the 5th place match.

Sam Gercak, another senior from Bethel Park, also had a very good tournament, placing 5th. Gercak battled hard, making it to the semi-finals before falling to the future winner of the weight class, Chad Kuhn from Kiski Area. Gercak battled his way back to the 5th place match where he won by fall over Brandon Hucik from Burgettestown.

Lastly, Chris Pauley a sophomore, also finished in 5th place. Pauley lost his 2nd match, and came back to win two matches before falling to the 3rd place finisher, Turchick from Plum. Pauley eventually wrestled David Grafton from Kittanning, who Pauley lost to earlier in the tournament, and defeated him 5-3 for the 5th and 6th place bout.

Bethel Park also had a first year wrestler, Brandon Drusbasky, get his first varsity win over Larry Stollenwerk from Blackhawk.

Bethel Park had a great tournament finishing 9th place, with many individual winners as well. This was Bethel’s first tournament of the seaon, and hopefully there will be more victories for the Black Hawks.

About the Contributor

Nino Bonaccorsi, Staff Writer

Nino Bonaccorsi, a freshman at BPHS, is getting a jumpstart on his high school writing career by having joined Hawk Eye. Nino is short for his fullname Santino who plans to write some great sports articles. Nino hopes to sharpen his writing skills and learn how to really write a great article. He is very excited to be learning from the highly regarded John Allemang, who is the head man of Hawk Eye and the journalism club. Bonaccorsi expressed some pretty high expectations for himself during his first year as a member of the school newspaper when he said, "I plan on getting A's left and right in the class, pretty much want to be the star of Hawk Eye." He also said he would mainly enjoy writing sports articles about the great athletes we have here at BPHS. In his free time, Nino enjoys biking, spending time with his friends and family as well as heavily engaging himself in the sport that is wrestling. He comes from a family where wrestling is the favorite sport; Nino's brother and father (Nick and Mark) were both champions of the very prestigous Powerade Wrestling Tournament. One of Bonaccorsi's biggest high school goals is to become a 4-time state champion in wrestling. Right now he is dealing with a severly broken arm but plans to be back in time for the section championships in February. After graduating from Bethel Park, Mr. Bonaccorsi plans to attend a college and study in either the physical therapy department or in architecture. He seemed to have an interest in going to University of Pittsburgh for his post high school education. His brother Nick Bonaccorsi is currently attending Pitt on a wrestling scholarship. Keep an eye out for Santino Bonaccorsi's sports articles in Hawk Eye. They are getting a lot of hype back in the news room at BPHS. Without a doubt you will hear his name once he retakes the wrestling mats for your Hawks of Bethel Park and starts double legging the competition. Written By: Paul Dunn, Staff Writer