Schuffert’s pin secures Valley’s victory in Section 3-AA opener

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, December 12, 2018 | 11:03 PM

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David Schuffert needed just a win, a measly one-point decision, to secure a victory for Valley in its section wrestling opener.

But the Vikings senior heavyweight wanted to make a bigger statement than that.

Schuffert pinned Highlands’ Cam Taylor in 48 seconds in the final bout of the evening Wednesday, giving visiting Valley a 36-30 victory over Highlands in a raucous Section 3-AA match.

“I know we needed a pin, so I went out there clear-minded and did what I needed to do,” said Schuffert, who finished seventh in the state as a junior.

Schuffert, who believes he wrestles better when he’s aggressive, said he “wasn’t that mean” Wednesday. Still, after checking in at the scorer’s table, he bumped Highlands 220-pounder Jeremiah Saunders — who was coming off a pin of his own — and then glanced at the Golden Rams’ fan section before his bout with Taylor began.

“I don’t like (Highlands),” he said. “I think it’s a rivalry match, so I just went out there. We had to win this; it’s a section match. … We wanted to start the section off with a bang.”

Valley (1-0, 1-0), a playoff team each of the past three seasons, opened the section schedule on a strong note against Highlands, which dropped from Class AAA to AA in the offseason.

The Vikings got pins from Michael Montgomery (160 pounds), Noah Hutcherson (170), Joe Ayala (195) and Schuffert (heavyweight) and decisions from 113-pounder Micah Hughes and 138-pounder Logan Rose. Kain Stone picked up a forfeit at 132.

“We knew we had a real tough match tonight,” Valley coach Dane Johnson said. “If guys didn’t come to wrestle, they definitely could beat us. They did a good job.”

Highlands didn’t win any section matches in Class AAA last season, but the Golden Rams felt confident in their ability to compete back in their former Class AA home.

They showed that ability Wednesday, as Highlands (0-1, 0-1) — which starts just one senior and two juniors — got pins from Jrake Burford, Chase D’Angelo, Blake Clark and Saunders, plus a forfeit by Evan Henry.

“(People) are going to know it’s not going to be a walkthrough,” Highlands coach Grant Walters said. “Triple-A last year, we got beat up pretty good — yes, we did. We were out of our element, we didn’t have as many kids, we didn’t have as many experienced wrestlers.

“Now, we’re back down to Double-A. This is where we should be. This is our home, and we’re going to make it our home.”

After Hughes began the match with a decision over Highlands’ Bryan Randolph, Burford — a highly touted freshman making his varsity dual debut — pinned Valley’s Travis Lasko, a WPIAL runner-up in 2017.

“Coming in, it was just like any other match,” Burford said. “I didn’t take it any differently. Coming out, I was happy that I won because it was my first varsity match and I was supposed to have a good match against him. He was pretty good.”

After the teams traded forfeits and Rose beat Highlands’ Owen Burroughs by a 6-2 decision at 138 pounds, Highlands got pins from D’Angelo and Clark to take a 24-12 lead.

The turning point came at 160, when Montgomery turned a reversal into a pin of Highlands’ Jacob Taliana — who beat Montgomery at the Eastern Area Invitational Wrestling Tournament last weekend. Hutcherson and Ayala recorded pins in the next two matches to give Valley a 30-24 lead.

“If we had opportunities to get pins, we needed to get pins,” Johnson said. “Probably our biggest win tonight was Mike Montgomery … he was huge. He was our MVP tonight, and that’s what we needed.

“We needed that pin, and we needed that win.”

Saunders’ pin of Andrew Hill at 220 set up the winner-take-all match that Schuffert took decisively.

“This group that I have thrive off of learning experiences, so this doesn’t hurt us,” Walters said. “This didn’t hurt us. This, actually, in the long run (will help) towards the end of the season because we’re going to see all these guys again. It’s all mental notes.”

Valley will travel to Penn Cambria’s Panther Holiday Classic tournament this weekend, while Highlands will compete in the North Hills Duals.

Doug Gulasy is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Doug at dgulasy@tribweb.com or via Twitter @dgulasy_Trib.

Tags: Highlands, Valley