The Bethel Park Hawks (2-1 in Section) traveled to Peters Township (3-0 in Section) to engage in a very pivotal Section wrestling dual meet on Tuesday, Jan. 14. This was no routine dual meet though as many wrestling fans gathered to honor former Kiski wrestler and U.S. Marine Sgt. Doug Vitale.

Sgt. Vitale was severly injured while serving his country in Afghanistan. Sgt. Vitale is currently on the long road back to recovery and helped with the coin flip to decide control during the matches.

After the Peters’ dance team put on a nice performance and Sgt. Vitale was honored,  the dual meet kicked off with a forfeit for the Indians at 106 pounds giving them the early lead. (6-0 Indians)

113 pounds is where the first real match took place between Theodore Gates for the Hawks and AJ Buckiso for the Indians. AJ Buckiso ending up controlling most of the matchup and scored a major decision for the Indians with an 11-2 victory over Gates. (10-0 Indians)

Now moving on to 12o-pound weight class where Michael Smith for your Bethel Park Hawks was set to clash with the Indians’ Michael Evanovich. It was a very back and forth match but Michael Smith ended up dropping a tough one to Evanovich 8-4. (13-0 Indians)

Brandon Drusbasky from Bethel Park had a tall order to fill in the 126 pound weight class when he took on 4th place finisher at Powerade, Phillip Mary. Mary ousted Drusbasky in the first period with a fall in 54 seconds. (19-0 Indians)

At 132 pounds, freshman Nino Bonaccorsi, who finished 6th at the Powerade, was ready for battle when he took on Nolan Uchic of Peters Township. Bonaccorsi finally got the Hawks on the board pinning Uchic in the first period. (19-6 Indians)

The Hawks not having anyone at 138 pounds were forced to forfeit the weight class to Peters Township Indian Italo Merante. (25-6 Indians)

The 145 pound weight class featured a bout between Bethel Park’s Tom Kolodziej and Peters Township’s Sam Florentino. Florentino handled Kolodziej without much issue scoring a major decision 15-4. (29-6 Indians)

At 152 pounds, the Hawks weighed in Paul Dunn, and he was set to take on the Indians’ Sal Merante. Dunn handled Merante but could not score the bonus points the Hawks desperately needed as he scored a 7-1 decision.  (29-9 Indians)

The match of the night occurred at 160 pounds when Alex Gates of Bethel Park took on Michael Mcaleavy from Peters. The match had many lead changes and ended up going in to overtime where Mcaleavy caught Gates in a bad way and stuck him 6 minutes 29 seconds into the bout. (35-9 Indians)

The Hawks summoned Jeremy Huwe to wrestle at the 170-pound weight class, and the Indians called upon Mac Obershelp. A hard-fought match by both wrestlers ensued, although Huwe ended up surrendering a major decision to Obershelp 13-5. (39-9 Indians)

With the match now out of reach for the Hawks, they had to wrestle for pride in this Section match. At 182 pounds, Matt Nolan of Bethel Park went to work against Mitch Fitzgerald for Peters Township. Fitzgerald scored a fall in the second period of the match over Nolan. (45-9 Indians)

Bethel Park’s Adam Montgomery then stepped on the mat to do battle with the Indians’ Michael Ament in the 195 pound classification. Montgomery ended up scoring the fall via crossface cradle in 3 minutes 48 seconds. (45-15 Indians)

220 pounds featured Bethel Park’s Sam Gercak and Peters Township sent out Austin Ansell. Gercak won pretty convincingly 7-0 over Ansell. (45-18 Indians)

To close the night out, heads turned to the 285 pound weight class where Chris Pauley from Bethel Park took on Luke Cervenak of Peters Township. Cervenak scored the fall shortly into the third period to end a strong night for the Indians. The final score was 51-18 in favor of the Peters Township Indians.

After a rough night in Peters Township, the Hawks would need to show some resiliency and refocus their attention to the Blue Devils of Mount Lebanon, who were invading the Hawks’ nest to take on Coach Stewart’s grappling squad in a must-win match for the Hawks to have a chance to make the Team Playoffs the following week.

For more information on the wrestling team, visit www.bethelparkwrestling.org and/or follow them on Twitter @wrestlingbphs.