PIAA AA Dual Recap: Reynolds Four-Peat
PIAA AA Dual Recap: Reynolds Four-Peat
Recap of the 2020 PIAA AA Dual Championships from the Giant Center in Hershey, PA.
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Another year, another PIAA AA Dual title headed back to Reynolds High School. This was the third year in a row that Reynolds defeated Southern Columbia for the title. Reynolds opened up a 22-0 lead to start the bout and never looked back. The Raiders held off a late surge by the Tigers to take the 34-27 victory.
Reynolds has now made the PIAA AA Dual final 11 out of the 22 years it has been contested. The Raiders have won four straight titles and have a 7-4 record in their 11 appearances in the finals.
Evan Miller (REY) played a big role in the Raiders getting off to a fast start. Miller trailed the entire way as he gave up the opening takedown just 15 seconds into the match. Trailing by one late in the third period, Miller hit a lateral drop to secure a takedown and two nearfall points in the final seconds of the bout. This momentum carried through to 285lbs, where Rocco John-Daniello (REY) upset state place-winner Lear Quinton (SC). These two bouts proved to be pivotal as it forced Southern Columbia to chase bonus points down the stretch with the meat of their lineup.
Both teams had 182lbs circled as a match that could decide the entire dual. Tyler Waltman (SC) and Bryce McClosky (REY) are both ranked top five in the state of Pennsylvania in AA, and the starting weight of 220lbs created a high-pressure situation landing it as the second to last bout of the afternoon. Reynolds forced all the pressure on Tyler Waltman, as Southern Columbia needed a technical fall or fall to keep their championship hopes alive with Gaige Garcia waiting in the finale. McClosky stayed patient and wrestled a flawless bout taking the 5-0 decision. The win sealed the championship for the Raiders for the fourth year in a row.
The Reynolds Raiders used a full roster all weekend long, as they showed to be the deepest team in the AA field. The AA field has some work to do heading into next season as Reynolds only had three seniors take the mat in the championship dual.
Reynolds 34 Southern Columbia 27
220: Evan Miller, Rey dec Max Tillet, 6-5 (3-0)
285: Rocco John-Daniello, Rey dec Lear Quinton, 9-3 (6-0)
106: Kane Kettering, Rey fall Toren Cooper, 3:29 (12-0)
113: Gary Steen, Rey fall Edward Zuber, 0:29 (18-0)
120: Cole Bayless, Rey md Brady Feese, 10-0 (22-0)
126: Kole Biscoe, SC dec Liam Foore, 8-1 (22-3)
132: Kaeden Berger, SC fall Ian Yoder, 3:00 (28-3)
138: Patrick Edmondson, SC md Dreyvin Livingston, 9-0 (28-7)
145: Alex Ischo, Rey dec Brandon Gedman, 7-2 (31-7)
152: Wesley Barnes, SC fall Jaylen Wagner, 1:54 (31-13)
160: Gavin Garcia, SC md Jordan Decarmen, 10-1 (31-17)
170: Cade Linn, SC md Cole Toy, 10-2 (31-21)
182: Bryce McCloskey, Rey dec Tyler Waltman, 5-0 (34-21)
195: Gaige Garcia, SC wins by forfeit (34-27)
Catholic vs Public
I hate that this story was one of the hot topics surrounding the PIAA Championships, but wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t mention it. Notre Dame-Green Pond High School has built itself into a state power in wrestling. The program has not had its meteoric rise without its critics. Notre Dame is a non-boundary school that competes in the PIAA. Notre Dame draws students from the surrounding area for a Catholic education. This is where the waters start to get muddy. With the attraction of a top-tier wrestling program and schedule, top-level student-athletes will certainly be interested in bettering their situation. Public schools feel this gives an advantage to the Catholic schools that make a commitment to their athletics program. The debate has been a hot topic for decades in virtually every sport, and I still haven’t seen a great solution offered.
Bethlehem Catholic ran off four straight AA Dual Championships before electing up to the AAA level. That move has relieved some of the pressure as they compete with larger schools that are better able to compete with a non-boundary school drawing wrestling talent from a large area. However, you still hear the critics and some coaches have been vocal about manipulating the rules to level the playing field.
The Diocese of Allentown oversees Notre Dame-Green Pond High School and Bethlehem Catholic, and has ruled that male wrestlers will not compete against females in a dual meet situation. This is the rule that public schools have started to use in their favor, as they feel the enrollment rules give the Catholic schools too big of an advantage. Both Saucon Valley and Reynolds utilized females on their rosters to force Notre Dame to forfeit the 106lb weight class during the tournament. All three teams are competing within the rules, but it just doesn’t feel right. It should be noted that the dual outcome with Reynolds was not affected by the forfeit. Saucon Valley and Notre Dame split the four duals they met in this season with Matthew Arciuolo closing out the consolation semifinal in dramatic fashion. He secured a fall for the 34-33 Saucon Valley win.
I don’t have a solution, and can side with both the public and Catholic schools when viewing the situation from their perspective. Plenty of athletes moving into a public school district have been forced to miss time for breaking transfer rules. This doesn’t happen to the athletes going to school for the Catholic education. As long as Catholic schools sponsor their own athletic programs, I don’t think there will be a solution that satisfies everyone. I also don’t think everyone will be happy sending athletes to their home district for athletics, as it creates a logistical nightmare. Students sometimes travel a long distance for the Catholic education of their choosing.
Full results can be found on FloArena. Ian McCutcheon will catch up on the AAA tournament here, and the best matches of the weekend were captured by JD Rader.