Blair Academy feels right at home in winning NHSCA Final Four

FROM THE EXPRESS TIMES

Russell Parsons felt right at home in the Easton Area Middle School gym -- and the rest of his Blair Academy teammates made themselves right at home as well during Saturday's NHSCA Final Four of Wrestling.

Parsons, a Clinton Township resident whose father, Russell Sr., attended Easton, was one of five Buccaneers to pin Red Rovers in the championship match Saturday as the Buccaneers cruised to a 53-6 defeat of Easton.


"It's a little special to be here," said Parsons, a 152-pound junior who pinned Kyler Kilpatrick in 5 minutes and 10 seconds in the final match. "I've wrestled all these guys (from Easton) before, I know all these guys and all my relations and friends can come watch me and everyone here knows me."


His father, Easton Class of 1986, played linebacker for an East Penn Conference championship team.


"And Steve Powell was my gym teacher," Russell Sr. said.


Powell's Rovers went down scratching and snarling against Blair, which is the consensus No. 1-ranked team in the nation, but the oh-so-focused Bucs generally escaped Easton's biggest bite.


"After we beat St. Ed's last week (27-22) we just knew we had to get back in the room and keep working," Parsons said. "We knew we can't slow down. Winning an event like (the Final Four) is a tribute to how hard we work in the room and it shows working hard pays off."


Blair Academy made the final by slamming Franklin (Mass.) 65-6 and Delaware Valley (Pa.), 53-9 and added non-pool defeats of Council Rock South (60-13) and J.W. Robinson of Fairfax, Va. (66-7).

Easton (13-1) took two matches off the Bucs, each remarkable in its own way.

In the showcase individual match of the night, Red Rover senior and returning state champion Mitch Minotti -- who had completed his drop to 145 pounds in time for Blair Academy -- defeated Dylan Milonas 4-2 at 145 in a contentious and tense bout.


"It didn't help me that I didn't get a warmup matches (Delaware Valley, the Red Rovers' previous opponent, had forfeited to Minotti); I haven't had that many matches this year that have tested me," said Minotti, who did get a good early workout with an 8-6 win over returning Virginia state champ Brooks Martino of Robinson. "I don't wrestle too many kids who are as quick and as savvy as Dylan and he's definitely tough. He has great hips and really good conditioning. But once I got the reversal, I felt comfortable holding him down."

The bout had its controversies. Milonas was awarded a very dubious first-period takedown, a call that drew instant scorn from the crowd, and Minotti scored a reversal before Powell could protest the call. After an extended animated discussion, the officials took the Blair Academy takedown away, prompting the Bucs to howl but to no avail and Minotti led 2-0.

A penalty point and a Milonas escape tied the bout at 2 in the second period. Minotti's relentless moving forward on the bottom in the third eventually allowed him to pop out from behind and reverse Milonas with 35 seconds lef, and Minotti rode out the match on top.


"Personally I don't think I wrestled that well today," Minotti said. "Between my injury and all the forfeits, I'm not used to going all six minutes and my conditioning isn't what it should be. But I got challenged twice today and I did what I had to do to win."

Easton senior Francis Slover took the other points against Blair with a 5-4 win over David Farr at 220 pounds that saw Slover fall behind 4-0 in the first minute and rally, earning a third-period escape and takedown for the win.


"All I was thinking was that I needed to make up the points I gave up," said Slover, who was giving up 20 pounds to Farr. "He and I wrestled in the summer and I caught him with a (big move) and beat him, maybe I was lucky, I guess. But I knew I couldn't stop and just kept going."

Slover said the key was to be smart while coming.


"Against a Blair wrestler you have to be a lot more cautious than usual -- you can't do any stupid stuff in matches like this," Slover said.

Easton reached the final by dispatching Council Rock South, 54-19, Robinson, 66-3 and Collins Hill of Suwanee, Ga., 43-19. The Rovers tacked on a 52-12 thumping of Delaware Valley in a warmup for the final.


"I feel we had a successful day as a team; everybody wrestled really well, even against Blair," said Slover after over 12 hours in the gym. "Now, I just want to get some sleep."

NOTES: The Outstanding Wrestler award went to 113-pounder Ryan Millhoff of Collins Hill, who defeated CR South's returning state champ Billy Rappo 3-0 ... Easton senior 120-pounder Peter Stanley made his return to lineup after injury and went 3-1 with a tough 3-1 loss to Blair's Joseph McKenna as his only defeat.

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