Burrell wrestling starts fast, buries Honesdale in 1st round of PIAA team tournament

By: Paul Schofield
Thursday, February 8, 2024 | 5:56 PM

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HERSHEY — Burrell wrestling coach Josh Shields couldn’t have been happier with his team’s performance during the first round of the PIAA Class 2A team championships Thursday.

The Bucs came out strong at Giant Center, won the first nine bouts and rolled to a 55-8 victory against District 2 champion Honesdale.

Burrell (15-2) advanced to Friday’s quarterfinals, where it will face a much tougher opponent, District 6 champion Bishop McCort, which routed West Perry, 57-6.

“We’re a team on a mission,” Shields said. “Anytime you get a win in Hershey, it’s a good thing.

“I thought we’d score more than 40 against them and keep them under 20. Where we started, I knew we could build a nice lead.”

The match began at 285 pounds, and freshman Ayden Kun gave the Bucs a 6-0 lead with a second-period pin.

Sophomore Cam Baker followed with a technical fall 15-0 win at 107, and freshman Carter Thomas recorded a second-period pin to push the lead to 17-0.

“Carter has been scoring a lot of points for us,” Shields said. “It was nice to see him get a pin.

“I thought all of them wrestled well. In most of our wins, we got bonus points, and we didn’t give up a pin. I was confident our lightweights could score big.”

The Bucs had five pins. The others to collect falls were sophomore Julian Bertucci at 127, junior Calio Zanella at 145 and junior Luke Boylan at 215.

Burrell also got technical fall wins from senior Cooper Hornack at 139 and freshman Ben Catullo at 152.

Also looking strong were sophomore Jacob Stewart, who won 4-2 in sudden victory at 133, and junior Isaac Lacinski, who dominated one of Honesdale’s better wrestlers, Joe Giannetti, winning 7-2 at 172.

This is Burrell’s 21st trip to Hershey, and it was its 40th win in school history at the tournament.

“I think us and Reynolds have the most wins here.” Shields said. “We want to keep it going. The team knows our goals. We just want to keep on winning.

“Bishop McCort is very good. We’ll do our best.”

Bishop McCort is one of five private schools in the tournament. The others are Faith Christian Academy, Berks Catholic, Bishop McDevitt and Notre Dame-Green Pond. The private schools are the favorites to take home gold.

Shields said after his team won its 18th WPIAL title that the goal this weekend is to finish top four.

Burrell 55, Honesdale 8

107: Cam Baker (B) t.f. Reese Dennis, 15-0 (3:54).

114: Carter Thomas (B) p. Brett Hoey, 3:01.

121: Luca Rosa (B) major Sam Eisele, 13-1.

127: Julian Bertucci (B) p. Reed Howel, :57.

133: Jacob Stewart (B) d. Justin Scalon, 4-2 (SV).

139: Cooper Hornack (B) t.f. Duke Martin, 15-0 (4:49).

145: Calio Zanella (B) p. Cole Chesna, 4:48.

152: Ben Catullo (B) t.f. Morgan Wilcox, 20-3 (6:00).

160: Mason Avery (H) t.f. Patrick Nee, 18-2 (3:42).

172: Isaac Lacinski (B( d. Joe Giannetti, 7-2.

189: Joel Landry (H) d. Logan Shank, 3-0.

215: Luke Boylan (B) p. Joel Landry, 3:16.

*285: Ayden Kun (B) p. Logan Dietrich, 3:08.

(*) match started at 285.

Records: B 15-2, H 12-4.

Paul Schofield is a TribLive reporter covering high school and college sports and local golf. He joined the Trib in 1995 after spending 15 years at the Daily Courier in Connellsville, where he served as sports editor for 14 years. He can be reached at pschofield@triblive.com.

Tags: Burrell