Back on the mats: Fans flock to Brownsville for first home wrestling match in almost two decades
BROWNSVILLE 无毛视频� The parking lot was filling up quickly at Brownsville Area High School on Wednesday as people flocked to the gymnasium for a look at something that hadn无毛视频檛 been seen there for almost two decades.
Wrestling was finally making its return into the Falcons无毛视频� varsity programs.
While there were only four scheduled varsity matches against Neighborhood Academy, the event was enhanced by middle school and elementary matchups against Laurel Highlands, another school trying to revive its wrestling program.
Clearly by the enthusiastic turnout, fans in the area are solidly behind Brownsville stepping back onto the wrestling mat.
无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 a great night for the Brownsville Area School District,无毛视频� said Falcons wrestling head coach Martin Vojacek Jr. who spearheaded the movement to bring varsity wrestling back to Brownsville.
无毛视频淚t took a lot of work to get this set up but as the gymnasium started filling up, to say it put a smile on my face is a major understatement. Southwestern Pennsylvania is a wrestling hotbed and it无毛视频檚 good to be part of it again.无毛视频�
The event began with a middle school match against Laurel Highlands. Following the varsity matches, the Brownsville Youth Wrestling Club also went up against Laurel Highlands.
In between, the Falcons lined up junior Josh Franks, freshman Ricky Pontious, sophomore Lexi Lewandowsky and senior Dylan Brachna to go up against Neighborhood Academy in varsity competition, although Brachna wound up being awarded a forfeit victory. There were no weight designations for the matches.
In the first match the Bulldogs无毛视频� Jordan Johnson won by fall against a feisty Franks in the first period.
Pontious got a rousing response from the crowd when he recorded a pin of Carlton Curry with 21 seconds remaining in the first period of the second match.
Lewandowsky, the lone female wrestler for Brownsville, fought hard and escaped a near fall twice before Adam Bulluck finally did record a pin with 58 seconds left in the second period.
Vojacek lauded the effort of his inexperienced squad which also has suffered a few injuries and other setbacks.
无毛视频淲e have six varsity wrestlers,无毛视频� Vojacek said. 无毛视频淲e had another that helped us immensely, an experienced kid, Dylan Cable, was on the roster from Altoona, but unfortunately he had to transfer back home right at the start of the season. He was a very seasoned wrestler and it was good for the kids to be around someone like that.
无毛视频淲e have two that are injured right now. Devin Drake is a freshman, a first-year wrestler, who unfortunately injured his ankle yesterday in practice. And Dominic Muzzi, another freshman, is having a wrist issue right now.
无毛视频淥f those that wrestled, Josh Franks is a junior first-year kid whose father wrestled here many years ago. He had a tough matchup.
无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e very lucky to have Ricky Pontious. The day of our hydration test and our weigh-ins I turned around and this kid is there and says 无毛视频楥oach, I want to wrestle. I无毛视频檝e been wrestling in Ohio for five years.无毛视频� He picked up his first win tonight. He was very, very excited. He needed that.
无毛视频淟exi is a sophomore who无毛视频檚 very tough but also just inexperienced. And she无毛视频檚 a female wrestling against men. You have places like Connellsville, Canon-Mac, Southmoreland who have female wrestling programs and that无毛视频檚 the new thing in the state, it was just recently sanctioned, which is good. Hopefully, somewhere down the road that无毛视频檚 something else we can talk about. But what you saw today is what I and everybody have seen from Lexi every match she无毛视频檚 had this year. She gives it her all.无毛视频�
Brachna is the lone senior on the squad.
无毛视频淚 wish he was only a freshman for wrestling purposes,无毛视频� Vojacek said. 无毛视频淗e无毛视频檚 a great kid.无毛视频�
Vojacek admitted he wasn无毛视频檛 sure what kind of crowd the event would draw.
无毛视频淚 was hoping for a decent turnout, but this 无毛视频� 无毛视频� Vojacek said, spreading out his hands while smiling. 无毛视频淭he school needed this today. You can see the atmosphere here is unbelievable, especially when one of our kids gets a win. It feels very good.
无毛视频淲e feel we无毛视频檙e on the right track. Being a new program, we无毛视频檝e bumped into a lot of roadblocks but the administration, the athletic department, the school board, they无毛视频檙e open and willing to talk to me at any time for resolutions, which is nice.无毛视频�
Brachna was happy to be part of the celebration of wrestling that the night was.
无毛视频淚t feels wonderful,无毛视频� Brachna said. 无毛视频淚无毛视频檝e been trying to push to get wrestling back here since my seventh grade year. This was my last shot to do it and I couldn无毛视频檛 be more thankful for this opportunity.
无毛视频淲e无毛视频檙e improving every single day on and off the mat. I feel this program can go a long way.无毛视频�
Vojacek commended his coaching staff of assistant head coach Todd Frisher and assistant coaches Tyler Girvin, Tyler Fisher and Jackson Gwyer.
无毛视频淭odd Fisher is just unbelievable with the kids, very knowledgeable,无毛视频� Vojacek said. 无毛视频淗e had a distinguished wrestling career at Beth-Center. It was hard to get him and hard to get coaches in general but it is a blessing that he无毛视频檚 here, and he brings Jackson Gwyer and his brother Tyler Fisher with him, and they both also wrestled at Beth-Center. They无毛视频檙e very good with the kids. They understand it无毛视频檚 a new program.
无毛视频淭yler Girvin comes to us from Frazier. He was one of Frazier无毛视频檚 first wrestlers when they started their program several years ago. They started out with three kids and he was one of them. So he relates that experience to them. He tells them look at Frazier now, we could someday be like that.
无毛视频淗onestly I无毛视频檓 so appreciative and lucky to have these coaches on staff.无毛视频�
Another coach who was present was John Armel, the longtime coach of the Falcons无毛视频� last wrestling team.
无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 really fun to watch this,无毛视频� Armel said. 无毛视频淚t无毛视频檚 awesome to come back here and see this. My hat无毛视频檚 off to these guys, Martin Vojacek and company. They did a great job putting it back together, the presentation to the board and getting it back up and running.
无毛视频淚 coached here for over 20 years. I miss it. We had a solid program here at one time. I无毛视频檓 hoping it takes off here again.无毛视频�
Vojacek has a positive outlook of the new program.
无毛视频淲hat we无毛视频檙e starting to see is our inexperience, that无毛视频檚 the only issue,无毛视频� Vojacek said. 无毛视频淥bviously as a first-year program we无毛视频檙e working on that every day in practice. The kids are in shape and buying into the program and, as you can see, they无毛视频檙e all fighting very hard out there. We expect them to go out on the mat and not only do their best but we don无毛视频檛 want them to stop. That无毛视频檚 where we are right now, and the skill and technique will come.
无毛视频淥ne of the problems we have with our freshmen is, traditionally, in other programs, these kids would be on JV teams wrestling seventh, eighth and ninth graders. But in order to have a varsity team they have to wrestle at that level and they无毛视频檙e getting tough draws against much more experienced wrestlers.
无毛视频淲e无毛视频檝e wrestled at Jefferson-Morgan, Mount Pleasant, down in Pittsburgh against Carrick, and they all have experienced wrestlers and they无毛视频檙e going up against seniors who无毛视频檝e wrestled all their lives.无毛视频�
The next wave of Brownsville varsity wrestlers looms.
无毛视频淥ur junior varsity team is all seventh graders,无毛视频� Vojacek said. 无毛视频淭here无毛视频檚 seven of them (Wyatt Petrus, Adam Vojaek, Anthony Dulaney, Chase Beck, Kody Gates, Dre无毛视频檝on Taylor Jr. and Garren Broadwater) and they无毛视频檙e a good group of kids.
无毛视频淎dam is my son. He was one of the main drivers for me to get this program going. He was always telling me, 无毛视频楧ad, I really want to wrestle.无毛视频� Finally I just took the bull by the horns and we got it going. It was a team effort.无毛视频�
Vojacek was pleased to have Laurel Highlands participate.
无毛视频淲e matched up very well,无毛视频� Vojacek said. 无毛视频淭hey looked good and I wish them nothing but the best, just like any other program around here. Wrestling is one of those sports where we all root for each other.无毛视频�
Jimmy Harris, the assistant coach of the LH middle school program under James Wilkins and the head coach of the LH youth program, would like to see the Mustangs be in a similar situation as the Falcons a year from now.
无毛视频淲e plan on coming back with a varsity team next year,无毛视频� said Harris, who is a 2002 Laurel Highlands graduate and former Mustang wrestler. 无毛视频淛ames is a heck of a guy. There无毛视频檚 not too many like him. People were asking me if it无毛视频檚 time to start a wrestling program and I said, 无毛视频業 don无毛视频檛 know, maybe not yet.无毛视频� But James got a hold of me and turned that 无毛视频楴ot yet,无毛视频� into 无毛视频榃e无毛视频檙e starting this year.无毛视频�
无毛视频淥ur elementary team is a first-year program and is doing well. We started off with 30 kids and we have about 42 now. It无毛视频檚 been very successful. Tonight was very exciting with all the fans here.It was nice to let the youth experience what we got to experience at a high school level.无毛视频�
Harris, like Vojacek, has a son, Jimmy Harris III, who loves wrestling.
无毛视频淗e无毛视频檚 4-years old. He practices it and we just have fun,无毛视频� Harris said. 无毛视频淚 love the sport, it无毛视频檚 the one sport I fell in love with out of all of them.无毛视频�
The Brownsville area seems to be falling in love with the sport again as well.