A-K Valley wrestling notebook: Valley’s Hutcherson joins teammate with 100 career wins

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, January 22, 2019 | 6:33 PM

Noah Hutcherson wasn’t counting down — or up — to 100 wins, but he knew how important the accomplishment was when he reached it.

The Valley senior 170-pounder earned his century victory last week with an 8-0 major decision over Burrell’s Danny McCarthy, joining teammate David Schuffert in triple digits.

“I’ve been working pretty hard for it,” said Hutcherson, a four-year starter. “It’s definitely a good accomplishment. I know a lot of people that got to 100 wins that went to Valley, so it’s a good accomplishment.”

Schuffert, a senior heavyweight, earned his milestone earlier this season at the Penn Cambria Tournament.

“A hundred wins, I think it’s awesome for your high school career,” said Schuffert, now up to 113 victories. “I was nervous when I was at 99; I was nervous when I was going out for my 100th win. I had no clue how to wrestle anymore, that’s how nervous I was. … It was a weight off my shoulders.”

Hutcherson and Schuffert became the first Valley teammates in five years to reach 100 career victories in the same season: Marcus Davenport, Patrick DeWitt and Terrell Fields all accomplished it in 2013-14. Davenport and Fields both won WPIAL titles in 2014, while DeWitt won one the season prior. All three earned PIAA medals in 2014.

“I feel like it’s awesome because me and (Hutcherson) grew up wrestling since third grade,” Schuffert said. “We wrestled up all the way.”

Dual threat

Weather forced the cancellation of one of Burrell’s favorite events last weekend, the Brookville Ultimate Duals.

The Bucs traditionally enjoy the tournament because it provides them an opportunity to wrestle against some of the top Class AA teams in the state before the WPIAL and PIAA team postseason begins. Defending PIAA champion Reynolds was scheduled to be part of the field, along with Burrell, Brookville, Chestnut Ridge, Conneaut and Freedom.

“Certainly we’re just disappointed for these kids,” Burrell coach Josh Shields said. “That’s something that’s always on our radar and something we look forward to and use as a good gauge to see where we’re at going into the double-A postseason.”

Although Burrell has seen wrestlers from some of those teams at individual tournaments, the duals would have provided a Bucs an opportunity to match their full lineup against those opponents.

“It really creates that state duals environment,” Shields said. “You’ve got back-to-back-to-back tough matches, the team’s into it, matchups are important. It’s really just a warmup for the state duals and the WPIAL team championships as well.”

Proving their medal

Although the Alle-Kiski Valley didn’t crown a champion at last weekend’s Allegheny County Tournament, several area wrestlers left the two-day competition with a medal as a reward.

Plum freshman Vince Citrano led the way, as the 106-pounder continued his strong season with a second-place finish. He pinned three consecutive opponents to reach the final, where he dropped a 5-1 decision to South Park’s Joey Fischer, the top seed. Mustangs teammate Evan Stinson earned an eighth-place medal at 138 pounds.

Tournament host Fox Chapel won four medals, highlighted by Ed Farrell’s fourth-place finish at 220 pounds. Avery Bursick (sixth, 145 pounds), Jordana Matamoros (seventh, 106) and Alex Wecht (seventh, 160) also medaled.

Highlands came away with two medals: Brock White’s sixth-place finish at 160 pounds and Bryan Randolph’s eighth-place finish at 106. Riverview’s Lucas Murphy wrapped up the local medalists with his eighth place at 120 pounds.

Austin college

Burrell might be developing a pipeline to Seton Hill to complement its existing one to Pitt-Johnstown.

Bucs senior Austin Mele committed over the weekend to wrestle for Seton Hill, where he’ll join Burrell alumnus Damon Greenwald, a junior starter for the Griffins.

“Just knowing a lot of people on the team, I talked to a lot of people in the recruiting class I’m in that have committed there,” Mele said. “It was pretty exciting. When I toured, I just knew it was it. I liked the college a lot. It was everything I was looking for.”

Mele, a three-year starter, has a 17-5 record this season while wrestling at 160 and 170 pounds. He medaled at the King of the Mountain and Westmoreland County Coaches Association tournaments this season after placing fourth in the WPIAL and sixth at the PIAA Southwest Regional tournaments last season; he also competed at the PIAA tournament for the first time.

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

Tags: Burrell, Fox Chapel, Highlands, Plum, Riverview, Valley