Greensburg Central Catholic's Nico Cortese returned to the wrestling mat Friday night after sitting out the past month with a concussion.
Cortese, the top ranked Class AAA 103-pound wrestler in the WPIAL, sustained the injury during a semifinal-round match at the Beast of the East tournament on Dec. 18.
He was cleared yesterday morning to compete at the 53rd annual Westmoreland County Coaches' Association wrestling tournament last night at Greensburg Salem High School, and the Greensburg Central Catholic sophomore said he's glad to be back on the mat.
"I sat around for a month," Cortese said. "I haven't been in the wrestling room, so I'm a little out of shape."
Cortese didn't have any problems last night in his two matches. He pinned Yough's Andrew Dyson in the first round and then rolled to an easy 11-1 victory over Kiski Area's Tom Magness in the quarterfinals.
"Some of the coaches' jokingly asked me how many injury time-outs I was going to take," Cortese said. "I didn't know what was going to happen."
Cortese knows today will be a lot tougher, but he's ready for the challenge. He has a month to get back into shape before the individual tournaments begin.
He'll face a talented freshman in Hempfield's Jesse Reilly in the semifinals. In the other semifinal match, Greensburg Salem's Kenny Trumbetta will meet Penn-Trafford freshman Shane Young.
The 103-pound weight class has numerous talented wrestlers who'd like a shot at Cortese, the returning 103-pound champion. The tournament committee seeded nine wrestlers at 103.
Reilly advanced by defeating Valley's Jeremy Lookabaugh, 9-0, in the opening round and edging Mt. Pleasant's Colin Sheridan, 5-3, in the quarters.
Trumbetta, a junior, blanked both of his opponents. He breezed to a 9-0 victory over Derry's Ben Myers in the first round, and then took care of Kiski School freshman Robert Blotzer, 5-0, in the quarter.
"It's tough to score on Kenny," Greensburg Salem coach Randy Parsley said.
Young used a third period takedown to defeat Greater Latrobe's Nathan Pennesi, 2-1, in the quarters. Young had a bye in the first round.
Penn-Trafford coach Vince Testa said he was pleased with Shane Young's performance.
"He's a tough kid," Testa said. "There was no pressure on him like there was in the dual meet. All the weight classes are tough."
Penn-Trafford, which was in second place with 85 points, advanced nine wrestlers to today's semifinals at 11:30 a.m.
"We wrestled well," Testa said. "We've had a good week of practice, but to win this tournament you have to keep it rolling in day two."
Testa said he wasn't surprised that his team advanced nine. One Penn-Trafford wrestler who is returning from an injury, A.J. Brentzel, looked strong in his two victories at 171. He had two first period falls.
First place Burrell (88.5 points) was next with seven wrestlers, while Hempfield Area and Mount Pleasant advanced six.
Mount Pleasant was in third place in the team standings with 79 points, followed by Kiski Area with 69, Hempfield with 65.5 and Greater Latrobe 62.
"I was really pleased with the lightweights," Hempfield coach Vince DeAugustine said. "Sometimes they lack confidence against tough competition. I'm hoping their performance in the opening two rounds helps their confidence."
Along with Reilly, the other Hempfield wrestlers to advance were Jack Bachman (112), Josh Testa (119), Mark Alcorn (125), Jake Kemerer (130) and Justin Schiavone (171).
Bachman upset Kiski Area's Zach Cecchetti, 4-3, in a rideout, Alcorn pinned Greensburg Salem's Mark Alcorn and Kemerer defeated Kiski Area's Tony Clark, 6-1.
"They're all going to meet tough kids in the semifinals," DeAugustine said. "But I'm confidence they'll all compete."
DeAugustine said Kemerer is capable of defeating anyone he faces. He'll meet Burrell's Shane Welsh in the semifinals.
All the returning and former champions advanced. Others to advance along with Cortese were Greensburg Central Catholic's Rudy Chelednik (119), a 2004 champion, Kiski Area's Tyler Oravec (135), Zach McKendree (145) and Scott Joseph (189), Penn-Trafford's Ryan Tomei (275), Mount Pleasant's Lee Vanella (125) and Derry's Troy Dolan (119).
If Kiski Area wants to win its seventh consecutive team title, then the Cavaliers have a lot of work to do in the wrestle backs. Kiski Area only has five wrestlers in the semifinals.
There were a couple of first-round upsets. Greater Latrobe's Bill Lechner used six nearfall points in the final period to upset Kiski Area's Mike Spisak, 9-7, at 125, and Mount Pleasant's Stanley Young toppled Hempfield's Mike Nudo, 6-5, in a rideout.
Lechner and Young, however, lost in the quarterfinals.
