Eighteen of the 20 heavyweights at the PIAA small-school wrestling tournament are upperclassmen.
That’s often the case at states, especially among heavier weight classes, where juniors and seniors perennially dominate. All but two 285-pound entrants in this year’s Class AA field fit that mold.
Age, though, hasn’t yet mattered to Carson Neely of Port Allegany.
NEELY’S breakout sophomore season has been well-documented.
He set out in December to make up for a 4-9 freshman year, one which fell far short of his expectations. Months have now passed, however, and at the PIAA tournament’s arrival, Neely has still not been beaten.
With a District 9 and Northwest Regional championship each inhand, the question now begs — just how far can Neely go?
That, plus the fate of seven other local wrestlers, will be decided at Hershey’s Giant Center over the next three days.
NEELY IS one of eight local wrestlers who secured their PIAA berth with a top-four finish at this past weekend’s Northwest Regional.
The 33-0 heavyweight is also the lone region champ of the bunch, and was rewarded with the fourth seed at 285 this week. He’ll be joined by teammate Miska Young at 215 pounds, plus Reece Bechakas of Kane at 152, Andrew Coriaty of Oswayo Valley at 107 and a quartet of St. Marys wrestlers in between.
“We know we can beat the kids down there, it’s just a matter of having a good match whenever we’re out on the mat,” Port coach Brad Greenman said. “I think (Neely) is ready — he knows what he needs to do and we’ve been game planning for his first-round match and then, hopefully, his quarterfinal match.”
At this level, every match is difficult. A semifinal appearance is far from out of the question for Neely, however, who will start the tournament with a bye into the Round of 16.
Neely will then wrestle either Joey Baronick of Burgettstown (Southwest region) or Charles Shepard of Hamburg (Southeast). A victory there would pit him against either Mason Nelson of Canton (Northeast) or Daniel Williams of Glendale (Southwest).
“He still has the chip on his shoulder from people not giving him the benefit of the doubt or not thinking he’s one of the best heavyweights in the state,” Greenman said. “I know he’s up there in the rankings… But there still isn’t much talk about (Neely), so I think he sees that and it drives him to put his name out there so everyone can see how good he is.”
Young, who was 4th in the Northwest and carries a 31-6 record, will begin his first state tournament against Tucker Paynter of Trinity (Southeast). A win would pit the Port junior against top-seeded Austin Johnson of Muncy (Northeast), who was runner-up at 285 last year.
Both Port wrestlers will benefit from having each other in attendance, providing a familiar face when the lights shine on the Giant Center floor.
“It’s almost like a friendly competition. If you have two teammates who are around the same weight, they want what’s best for their teammate, but in the same token they want to win their matches and do a little better,” Greenman said. “That friendly competition between guys and getting excited for each other when you get a big win, I think that’s huge for the guys down on the floor.”
CORIATY WILL make his state tournament debut at 107 pounds.
The OV sophomore is 21-7 on the year and, after finishing 2nd at Districts and 4th at Regionals, is ready to represent his school on Pennsylvania’s biggest stage.
“We’ve been trying to find competition for (Coriaty) all year at 107,” OV coach Gabe Higley said. “Sometimes, there are either not a lot of kids or no kids at all so we’ve tried to get him matches the best we can. He’s had a lot of tough competition at 114 and has had some losses, but that’s helped him with the competition at 107 and he just had an amazing (Regional) tournament.”
Coriaty needed to win three consecutive matches to qualify, which he successfully did in response to his quarterfinal loss. An experienced wrestler on an inexperienced OV roster, Coriaty was rewarded for his season-long efforts with OV’s first PIAA wrestling berth since 2018.
“He was pretty devastated when he lost his quarterfinal and we were all pretty disappointed that the match didn’t go better than it did,” Higley said. “He knew that he didn’t wrestle his best match and that he would need to have a better day (Saturday). We talked and put it behind us. Go one match at a time, one position at a time, one point at a time and the matches would work themselves out.”
Coriaty will open the tournament against Jeffrey Spofford of Conwell-Egan (Southeast). A victory would advance him to the Round of 16 and pit him against Southwest Regional champion Dominic Deputy of Chestnut Ridge.
“He hasn’t really had any experience at the state level since youth wrestling, and it’s much different. Even the regional level last year prepared him for Regionals this year,” Higley said. “We’re hoping to go down there and wrestle his best matches. We talked about him just having fun and enjoying the process of what we’ve been working hard for. We’re really proud of the accomplishment.”
THREE LOCALS will be making a return trip to Hershey, including Kane’s Reece Bechakas, who finished 4th at 152 pounds this past weekend to secure his spot.
Bechakas — this year’s District 9 champion at 152 — went to states last season as a sophomore at 145 and finished 1-2.
“I’m sure (Bechakas’) goal was to be at the top of the podium (last week) but there were a couple quality guys in there who are in the search for a state medal this year,” Kane coach Mike Swartwood said. “Sometimes, it’s just about getting there, and when you get there, you can do some damage. I think he has a couple winnable matches to start and I’m hoping he goes down there with a good attitude and produces a good tournament.”
Bechakas is 32-7 this season. He’ll open his PIAA tournament in the same bracket slot as Coriaty, wrestling Kobe Moore of Camp Hill (Southeast) with the winner getting Ty Watson of Penns Valley (Southwest).
“(Bechakas) wrestled a couple of really tough guys at the Regional tournament and wrestled them well,” Swartwood said. “He’s going to have to beat guys like that to get himself a (state) medal. I think it’s very achievable for him, he just needs to get those takedowns that he’s close to getting, or the quick turn.”
“He won a match last year and had a close match that came down to the final seconds. That experience is going to be very valuable for him and, hopefully, he doesn’t have the jitters and can get right after it.”
Waylon Wehler and Aiden Beimel each return to states for St. Marys after competing at the Class AAA tournament last year.
Beimel was 3rd in the Northwest at 114 pounds and Wehler 3rd at 172, each rebounding from a semifinal loss to qualify. Wehler, a 35-4 senior, will wrestle Holden Garcia of Notre Dame-Green Pond (Southeast) in the first round, and Beimel, a 25-8 sophomore, will open against Mason McLendon of Susquenita (Southeast).
Ben Reynolds and Jaden Wehler will both make their first PIAA appearance for the Dutch after each finishing 4th at Regionals.
Reynolds, a 16-11 sophomore at 139 pounds, will open against Cameron Mingee of Littlestown (Southeast) with the top seed awaiting the winner. Jaden Wehler, a 27-11 sophomore at 145, will start with Joey Ney of Biglerville (Southeast) and meet the second seed should he win.
The tournament will be wrestled Thursday-Saturday, alternating sessions between Class AA and Class AAA.
Class AA preliminaries and first-round matches will begin at 9 a.m. Thursday and a round of consolations will start at 1:15 p.m. The quarterfinals and a consolation rebound will be wrestled at 9 a.m. Friday, with another round of consolations scheduled for 11:45 a.m. and the semifinals set for 7:30 p.m.
