The 1998 East West Wrestling Tournament was held at Bellwood-Antis, in the Middle School gymnasium on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 1998. Teams represented were United, Glendale, Northern Bedford, Burgettstown, Curwensvile, Portage, Punxsutawney and the host Bellwood-Antis.
Team trophies were given out for the champions, Runner-up and third place. Individual awards were given for First, Second and Third. Six places were wrestled.
Bellwood-Antis had the highest finish in the three year history of the tournament in the present format of the East West Tournament for head coach Jim Torsell. The East West Tournament began as a team tournament before the format was changed to an individual tournament. The Blue Devils finished six with 125 points and was just three points away from fourth place. Indiana won the tournament with 186.5 followed by runner-up United with 175, Glendale 152, Punxy 128 and Curwensville 126 rounding out the top five, B-A, Burgettstown 88, Northern Bedford 89 and Portage 95.
Three Blue Devils wrestled into the championship finals with Vince Torsell claiming the heavyweight crown and Todd Fuoss (112) and Jeremy Diehl (171) settling for second. Chad Acker (135) and Jason Shura (160) placed third, Skip Dunmyer (125) and Chris Miller (189) placed fifth and Tom Kovac (152) was sixth.
Vince Torsell pinned Punxy’s Mike Stewart in the first round in 0:34 and advanced to the finals when Aaron Ferrance of Portage, was forced to injury default when he couldn’t continue in the semifinals. Torsell then edged Jack McCoy of Burgettstown 2-1 for the title.
At 112, Todd Fuoss drew a bye in the opening round and pinned United’s Chris Rodgers in 3:36. In the finals, Fuoss dropped a close 9-7 decision, who had pinned his way into the 112-pound championship.
Jeremy Diehl, the Number two seed pined Mike Komonczi of Curwensville, in 1:21 and decked Number Two seed Craig Young of Punsutawney, in 3:44 to earn his way into the finals at 171. Joe Shick of Indiana doubled up Diehl 4-2 to claim the championship.
Chad Acker pinned Justin Reasy of Northern Bedford, in the quarterfinal round at 135, at the 2:36 mark before getting edged 6-5 by Jeremy Reed of Indiana, in the semis. In the consolation brackets, Acker decisioned Joey Myers of Portage, 10-4 and earned third place with a solid 6-1 win over Curwensville’s Matt Harnish.
At 160, Jason Shura pinned Chad Clark of Northern Bedford, in 4:41 before getting shut out by two-time East-West champ John Burda of United, 8-0. In the consis, Shura majored Mark Harnish of Curwensville, 17-6 and then doubled up Wally Henry of Indiana, 6-3 for third place.
Skip Dunmyer dropped his opening match at 125, by a point to Andy Yackobosky of Indiana, 5-4, then fell to Chad Monfordini of Portage, by two points in what was a tough weight class. Dunmyer finished fifth by virtue of a forfeit in the fifth place consifinal.
Wrestling at 189, Chris Miller was pinned in the opening quarterfinal round, then scored a takedown in overtime to defeat Luke Baker of Burgettstown, 10-8 before getting pinned by Northern Bedford’s Justin Smith in 1:45. In the consifinal for fifth place, Critter pinned Bob Cutler of Curwensville, in 2:10.
Josh Hayes lost a 6-4 decision to Jake Myers of Portage, defeated Phil Appleman of Punxy, 7-1 then lost a 5-1 match at 130 to Jeff Lych of United. In the consifinal for fifth place, Hayes lost to Myers again, this time 8-4 for sixth place.
Tom Kovac was pinned by second seed Josh Barnett of Punxy, in 5:25 at 152, decisioned Glendale’s Matt Caracciolo 6-3 then was pinned by Thom Stancomb of Indiana, and Brandon Davis of Burgettstown, to finish sixth.
Bellwood-Antis had no entry at 119, and Adam Culp (119 and Justin Walker (145) both went 0-2.
United claimed the most champs with four followed by team champion Indiana with three, Curwensville two and the Blue Devils, Northern Bedford, Burgettstown and Glendale one each.
The East West Tournament alternates between Bellwood and United with the Blue Devils hosting one year and United hosting the next.
