Only six wrestlers of the wrestling team traveled to Canon-McMillan to wrestle in the WPIAL Tournament, which was held for three days from Thursday, Feb. 27- Saturday, March 1.
Each day, wrestlers were allowed one pound weight allowance, which made the three days a little less grueling. Bethel’s 152-pounder Paul Dunn earned a visit to Chocolate Town, as he took 3rd place in the tournament, which qualified him for the State Tournament.
At 132 lbs, freshman Nino Bonaccorsi came very to close to going to Hershey but fell short in the 3rd place match, taking 4th place. Bonaccorsi, on Thursday, wrestled a junior from Norwin, Josh Ridgeway, and won 9-1. On Friday, Bonaccorsi fell short with a 1-0 loss over Cameron Coy from Penn Trafford. Bonaccorsi battled back to defeat Sean Perri from Mount Lebanon 3-1, Kenny Tarpley from Ringold by pin fall, and Jake Hinkson from North Allegheny 3-1. Bonaccorsi then faced Tyler Buckiso, a senior from Peters Township, and lost 3-1 in overtime.
At 152 lbs, junior Paul Dunn had a great tournament and comeback from falling to Jon Cole from Central Catholic his first match. Dunn came back the next day and won against Justin Smith from Penn Trafford 3-0. On the final day, Paul Dunn beat Shane Piper from Waynesburg 4-0, Jeremiah Bortmas from Butler 4-1, and then faced Jon Cole from Central Catholic for the second time, and this time Paul Dunn showed him what Bethel is really about and won by pin fall in 4 minutes 50 seconds. Lastly, in the 3rd place match, Dunn defeated Jake Ardellitz from Kiski by pin fall in 4 minutes 45 seconds.
Senior from Bethel Park, Matt Nolan fell short this weekend but wrestled to win throughout the three days. Nolan lost his first match to Zach Pasko from Greensburg Salem 3-1. Nolan battled hard to win his next match over James Kimbrough from Hopewell by fall in 4 minutes 18 seconds. Nolan made it to the final day of the tournament before losing to Mac Oberschelp from Peters Township 14-5.
Adam Montgomery, a junior, fell a little short in losing his pigtail bout. The pigtail bout is single elimination, and Montgomery fell to Justin Rose from Franklin Regional by fall.
Sam Gercak, a senior, also had a tough pigtail bout losing to Liam McElhoes 6-1. Gercak wrestled hard at the Section Tournament as the number 1 seed.
Chris Pauley, sophomore, had a good tournament winning his first match over Eli Swain by fall in 3 minutes 50 seconds. Pauley ended up losing his next match to Brendan Furman from Canon McMillian by fall. Pauley fell short losing his consolation match to Chase Logan from Hempfield 2-1.
The Bethel Park wrestlers had a great tournament and season, but one wrestler was not “Dunn” yet. Paul Dunn had his sights set on the State Tournament in Hershey.