Gold Is Elusive In Hershey
2021 PIAA AAA Individual Championships Recap
By Glenn Kaiser
The Great Eight Suburban One League wrestlers that medaled in this year’s individual state championships could not find gold in Chocolate Town, USA. It was tough mining in the Giant Center throughout the tournament for SOL grapplers. Especially for Kyle Hauserman from Council Rock North who was the #1 ranked wrestler in the state by PA Power Rankings coming into the tournament. Hauserman dropped down to the consolation bracket at 138-pounds after a quarterfinal loss in overtime to Dylan Evans from Chartiers Valley. Evans, just a sophomore, who finished fourth in the West Super Region secured a takedown in sudden victory winning 3-1.
Hauserman, however, gathered himself, and proceeded to dig down to garner the bronze winning the consi-final, and avenging his earlier loss to Evans. This time around it was the Hauserman we were accustomed to as he handled Evans 8-4. Hauserman’s teammate Tony Burke (106lbs) struggled early as well and had to settle for 7th place after losing his first two matches. Gaining some redemption, he ended the season with a major decision win over Stroudsburg’s Josh Jasionwicz 11-3.
In a controversial 145-pound semifinal match, Bensalem’s Connor Eck stumbled at the end of the match against Norwin’s John Altieri losing 8-7. Not only was there a questionable locking hands call against Eck, there was a reversal granted to Altieri at the buzzer after Eck had won a scramble and was winning the match as time ticked off the clock. The two officials met to discuss the happenings, with the end result the locking hands and reversal stood for Altieri which ended Eck’s hopes of a state title. Eck ended up finishing fifth with his second win over Riley Bower (Williamsport) 6-3, Eck edged Bower in quarterfinal action 3-2.
William Morrow (North Penn) wrestled well at the Giant Center in the 145lb weight class. He looked good early in a quarterfinal loss to Altieri, and dropped an overtime bout to Bower 4-2 (TB2). He ended up with the 8th place medal without winning a match. Good news is he’ll be back. Quakertown lightweight Mason Ziegler (113lbs) suffered a similar fate, but was awarded the 7th place medal with a forfeit. The West champ, Manheim Township’s Kamdyn Williams failed to make weight, leaving a spot open in the 113-pound bracket all day.
Council Rock’s Matt Colajezzi finally found some precious medal in Hershey with his third trip to the Giant Center. Colajezzi, after losing 6-4 to eventual champ Jagger Condomitti (Northampton) in the semis, won his consi-semi bout over Red Lion’s Ryan Fry 6-2. Colajezzi was denied the bronze in the consolation final at 160-pounds, dropping a 3-1 decision to highly touted Cole Spencer from Pine-Richland.
The most exciting match for the SOL occurred in the 5th place bout where two Central Bucks grapplers squared off for the fifth time this season. As I predicted, Carl DiGiorgio (CBW) and Quinn Collins (CBE) met one more time for a medal (although I had hoped it would have been for bronze), as they continued this epic neighborhood rivalry. DiGiorgio overpowered Collins this time, winning the fifth-place bout handily 13-4 with powerful takedowns and control, especially with a late toss off a desperate effort by Collins at the end. DiGiorgio, with the win, is now 4-6 against Collins. With another year left for these two big men, I have a feeling they will meet again.
The West clearly had the best of the rest in Chocolate Town, USA. As they captured 10 of the 13 titles up for grabs. District 11 crowned two champs, and the only champ from District 1 was Spring-Ford’s Joey Miliano at 189-pounds. He won a 15-5 major decision over Hampton’s Justin Hart. Miliano’s teammate, Jack McGill was the runner-up at 160-pounds as he gave up a late takedown in regulation as he was winning 3-1 to force overtime. In overtime, Jagger Condomitti won in sudden victory with another takedown, denying Spring-Ford a chance at two titles. The S-F wrestlers were the only two D1 finalists, as they SOL had no finalists.
So it’s a wrap on a crazy season, but wrestling is alive, and it was displayed once again at the highest scholastic level in the greatest wrestling state in the land. Look for the D1 All-Academic Team coming soon, along with final rankings and some annual awards…
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