PIAA makes right move on brackets

by Drew Markol, The Intelligencer

Posted on March 3, 2010

After years and years of wondering what those clandestine sideline cell-phone calls were about, the PIAA has finally wised up and changed the way it handles the brackets for its Class AA and AAA tournaments.

For the first time, the PIAA will not release its 16-wrestler brackets until Sunday - when all of the statewide regional tournaments are completed - and they'll do it by random draw.

In other words, instead of all of the state's coaches knowing what each weight class bracket looks like, they now won't know until it's too late. The PIAA officials will pull a bracket out of a stack of papers and that bracket will be for 103 pounds. And then 112, and so on.

"You would see coaches every year at regionals on the phone talking to other coaches from other regions trying to figure out whether to have their wrestlers lose a match (on purpose, in order to be on the opposite side of the state bracket from an athlete they could have trouble with)," one area coach said.

"And since District Three's regionals are the week before, you knew from the brackets where their kids would be and you could adjust. It would just drive you nuts to see a coach get off the phone and then watch his kid not wrestle to his ability. You knew what was going on."

So, in effect, the tanking should cease.

"This is the smart thing to do and it should have been done sooner," District One steering committee chairman Denny Kellon said. "Nobody will know and the kids can just go out and wrestle."

Last week could have gone much better (I only picked seven of the 14 champions correctly), but what can you do? Hopefully I'm a little smarter this week.

So, with no fanfare, here go the picks to win gold this weekend:

103 pounds: Corey McQuiston (West Chester Rustin); 112: Josh DiSanto (Pennsbury); 119: Matt Malfaro (Boyertown); 125: Matt Rappo (Council Rock South); 130: Ryan Ginsburg (Upper Merion); 135: Josh Dziewa (Council Rock South); 140: Joe Marino (Garnet Valley); 145: Jim Jones (Haverford High); 152: Shane Springer (La Salle); 160: John Staudenmayer (Plymouth Whitemarsh); 171: Bobby Lavelle (Council Rock South); 189: Jamie Callender (Council Rock North); 215: Joe Stolfi (Souderton); 285: Brendan Walsh (Garnet Valley).

Give the District One committee folks credit for getting the Class AAA North and South tournaments finished in pretty good fashion.

Both tournaments were hamstrung by the snow, forcing Friday's opening rounds to be cancelled and meaning everything had to be crammed into Saturday. (Well, almost everything, since a couple of matches for third and fifth had to be held Monday).

By holding the championship matches simultaneously on two mats, not having a parade of champions, and not having the medal ceremonies for each weight class, things were wrapped up a little after 9 p.m. Normally, when things go as planned and the weather cooperates, these tournaments end around 8 p.m. So only being off by an hour was impressive.

And at regionals, the wrestlers will receive their district medals and be recognized.

** The Class AAA Southeast Regional begins Friday at Council Rock North (5 p.m.) with four rounds of wrestling.

The first matches, one in each weight class, will pit the fifth-place finishers from District One North and South meeting for a spot in the pigtail round.

After that, the pigtails - four matches in each class - will be held. Following that will be the quarterfinals and the first round of consolations.

On Saturday (9 a.m.) wrestling begins again with the semifinals. The championship round and the consolation finals (the top four in each class qualify for Hershey) begin at 6 p.m.

** The combined District One/Three and 11 Class AA Southeast Regional begins Friday night at Wilson West Lawn (5 p.m.) and starts up again Saturday morning at 9:30.

This tournament is always tough for District One wrestlers, since they're competing for state berths against the "heavyweights" from District 11 and District Three.

New Hope-Solebury's Tommy Villareale enters the event with the best shot at advancing after his win at last week's district tournament at 160.

Villareale is the only local wrestler in the main draw, meaning he doesn't have to win a pigtail match first, to stay in contention for a gold medal. The senior enters the tournament with a 23-7 mark.

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