Friday, February 6, 1998

B-C wins, gains tourney berth

FREDERICKTOWN -- Beth-Center High School's wrestling team lost a spot in the WPIAL Team Tournament earlier this week. Thursday evening, the Bulldogs got it back.

Thanks to a 33-31 victory over Bentworth, Beth-Center managed to create a three-way tie with the Bearcats and Jeff-Morgan for third place in Section 3-AA.

Because the three teams are 5-3 and own victories over each other, the tie can't be broken and all three will enter the WPIAL Team Tournament.

"My heart was pumping 90 miles an hour,'' said B-C head coach Bill Mylan.

It was probably moving that fast earlier this week when the school found out one of its wrestlers, Ray Yorty, had wrestled at a weight under his certification in the Jeff-Morgan match. Beth-Center was forced to forfeit the match to the Rockets and needed a win to put it in the team tournament.

Mylan said Yorty was actually certified at 112 but when the list was rewritten, Yorty was mistakenly put down for 119. Yorty wrestled at 125 last night and dropped a 16-2 decision.

A pin by Randy Mort at 152 gave Beth-Center a 30-16 lead. But Cliff Wonsettler answered with a pin at 160 to pull Bentworth to 30-22. B-C forfeited to Jeremy Ivcic to make it 30-28 before Chad Smith decisioned the Bearcats' Matt Emery 10-6 to open a five-point bulge, 33-28.

Adam Washalack needed a pin at heavyweight because the Bulldogs would win the tiebreaker with seven bout victories. He decisioned Shane Ziats 8-3.

"We're happy to be in it and see what we can do in the first round,'' said Mylan. "It's been a great year and this win was the boost we needed.''

West Greene 51Jeff-Morgan 18

ROGERSVILLE -- B.J. Kennedy (103), Luke Vitolo (112), Andrew Courtwright (130), Shawn Whyte (135), Mike Miller (171) and John Kasecki (189) all won by falls, leading West Greene to a 51-18 Section 3-AA win over over Jefferson-Morgan.

The win clinches second place for West Greene.

Jeremy Rafferty (140) and Frank Lawrence (Hvy) had pins for J-M, which also qualified for the team tournament via its third-place tie with Bentworth and Beth-Center.

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