A-K Valley wrestling notebook: Highlands having bounce-back season

By: HSSN Staff
Tuesday, December 25, 2018 | 11:00 PM

After a difficult 2017-18 season, Highlands is having a rebound year.

A 60-16 Section 3-AA victory last week over South Allegheny gave the Golden Rams (6-5, 1-1) their first section win since the 2016-17 season.

That win, plus a pair of third-place finishes at the North Hills Duals and the Sharpsville Duals, are giving Highlands confidence as it moves into the new year.

Highlands competed in the difficult Section 3-AAA each of the past two seasons and went a combined 1-9 while competing against larger schools Butler, Knoch, Mars, Pine-Richland and Seneca Valley. The Golden Rams moved back down to Class AA this season in a section that includes Burrell, Riverview, South Allegheny, Summit Academy and Valley.

Evan Henry, Owen Burrows, Chase D’Angelo, Jeremiah Saunders and Jeremiah Nelson won by pinfall against South Allegheny. The Golden Rams then beat Sharpsville, Maplewood and Seneca at the Sharpsville Duals over the weekend.

Freshmen Jrake Burford and Brock White are two other key members of the starting group.

With just one senior among its starting lineup, Highlands believes it can make a push toward the playoffs this season and potentially more in the next few years.

“We’re just going to take it one day at a time,” coach Grant Walters said after the team’s opening match, a 36-30 loss to Valley. “We’re not overlooking anybody else. We’re just going to stay within our means. Like I told everybody last year and the year before: When we go back down to Double-A, with the group of kids we have coming up for this year, we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with.”

Fresh faces

Kiski Area boasts one of the most experienced lineups in the WPIAL, with numerous starters back from the Cavaliers’ back-to-back WPIAL Class AAA title teams. But two of their youngest wrestlers are making significant contributions as well.

Freshmen Enzo Morlacci and Stone Joseph have stepped into Kiski Area’s starting lineup at 145 pounds and heavyweight, respectively, and are putting up impressive results.

Morlacci finished fifth at the season-opening Eastern Area Invitational Wrestling Tournament and went unbeaten at the Armstrong Winter Classic, but one of his most impressive matches might have been a loss. In Kiski Area’s 60-12 victory over Section 1-AAA opponent Penn-Trafford, Morlacci went toe-to-toe with returning PIAA medalist Nick Coy, a senior, before dropping the bout in sudden-victory overtime.

“It was a great match,” Kiski Area coach Chris Heater said. “I thought Enzo wrestled smart, kept himself in good positions, and gave himself a chance to win. That’s a pretty seasoned guy (he wrestled).”

Joseph, the son of Doug Joseph — a state runner-up at Kiski Area, national champion at Gannon and the coach at Pride Wrestling club — missed Kiski Area’s first three competitions of the season because of a concussion. But the freshman heavyweight made a quick impression, getting a 20-second pin in the victory over Penn-Trafford.

“He was an uncaged beast,” Heater said of Joseph, who is replacing 2018 WPIAL and PIAA individual champion Isaac Reid in the lineup. “He looked great. He just exploded. He’s been looking forward to this, just being on the varsity team, and he looked good.”

Stone Joseph then picked up two victories at the WPIAL Showcase at Canon-McMillan, getting a pin in Kiski Area’s 39-32 win over Seneca Valley and the clinching decision in a 39-33 win over Canon-McMillan.

Holiday wrestling

While Burrell and Kiski Area travel to Canon-McMillan on Friday for the Powerade Christmas Tournament, a handful of other teams — Fox Chapel, Highlands, Plum and Riverview — will compete in the Steve DeAugustino Holiday Classic at West Mifflin on Thursday and Friday. Valley will go to the Southmoreland Holiday Classic on Thursday and Friday.

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

Tags: Highlands, Kiski School