South Fayette wrestlers look to rebound in WPIAL team tournament

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, January 30, 2018 | 7:39 PM

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For the past five seasons, the South Fayette wrestling has made it at least the final four in the WPIAL Class AA team tournament.

If the Lions want to continue that streak, they have their work cut out for them.

No. 5 South Fayette will start the team tournament against Fort Cherry at 6 p.m. Wednesday at McGuffey.

The Lions are coming off a 43-22 loss to Burrell in the Section 3 championship last week. Burrell captured its 15th straight section title and is seeking a 12th straight WPIAL team championship.

“With the results of the section matches, that's what I figured where we would end up,” coach Rich Chaussard said. “I told the coaches on the bus we were looking at (No.) 5 going into Burrell and that's exactly what we got. Where we were placed wasn't a surprise to us.”

Fort Cherry is coming off a 65-12 loss to Freedom, the eventual Section 1 champion, in the first round of the section tournament Jan. 24.

Chaussard, who coached Fort Cherry for 16 years, is quite familiar with Marc Zeno and the Fort Cherry program.

“We have a close relationship with them since a lot of kids are friends because are schools border each other. We are taking the mindset going in that we need to win this one to get to the next one,” Chaussard said.

After the loss to Burrell in the section tournament, Chaussard wanted to make sure the Lions had the same mindset heading into the team tournament.

“It's the same attitude that we've had for the past week,” Chaussard said. “Somebody needs to step up, do their job and maybe try to swing something that people didn't expect. We just want to go out and compete hard; that's all we ask for.”

The Lions are led by sophomore Eli Brinsky (17-7), who is ranked No. 3 at 138 pounds by the Tribune-Review; as well as senior Mike Cusick (21-4), No. 3 at 145 pounds; senior Joe Bastarolli (13-7), No. 4 at 195 pounds; and sophomore Quentin Franklin (14-5), No. 5 at 285.

This season, Brinsky took second at the Chartiers-Houston tournament, third at the Tri-County tournament and fifth at the Thomas Chevrolet tournament at Bedford.

Cusick took second at Chartiers-Houston, third at the Tri-County and first at Thomas Chevrolet. Bastarolli took sixth at the Tri-County and seventh at Thomas Chevrolet.

Franklin took third at the Chartiers-Houston, first at the Tri-County and eighth at Thomas Chevrolet.

If the Lions defeat Fort Cherry in the opening round, they will face the winner of No. 4 McGuffey and South Side at 7:15 p.m.

Even though the Lions are focusing on their first-round match, Chaussard believes the loss to Burrell last week paid big dividends in his wrestlers' confidence.

The Lions stayed competitive, which was an improvement from a 57-15 loss to Burrell at the Brookville Duals two weeks ago.

“I stressed to the kids that we could compete with them. I'm not sure some of them believed that before, but they aren't that far ahead of us. They got a great team but they aren't that far ahead of us,” Chaussard said. “Burrell is Burrell. Until someone knocks them off, they are the best.”

Andrew John is a freelance writer.

Tags: South Fayette