Quaker Valley seniors Matt Danna and Bruce Anderchak captured their third section championships Feb. 14 at the WPIAL Class 2A Northern wrestling tournament held at Keystone Oaks.
“Matt and Bruce both won their third titles,” QV coach Austin Heinl said. “They are now tied with the most section titles won by the other three-time winners at Quaker Valley, Conner Redinger and Jack Kazalas.”
In the finals, Danna won via a technical fall in 4:09 in the 160-pound weight class against Laurel’s Braxton Carr. The final score was 19-4.
Danna jumped to 38-9 overall this season with 18 falls and 11 technical falls. He also improved to 127-30 for his career.
“I entered the tournament with first place as my goal,” Danna said. “I wanted to have a strong performance for my first postseason tournament of the season and last section tournament of my career. The last two weeks, I focused on preparing physically and mentally for this tournament and the upcoming tournaments.
“My goal for the remainder of the season is to create strong performances in matches while having fun. I think this can carry me far into the postseason.”
Anderchak pinned North Catholic’s Michael Pierro at the 55-second mark in the 121-pound final. The QV senior improved to 30-1 overall with 14 falls and 11 technical falls.
He also boosted his career record to 149-29.
“My goal was to wrestle as hard as possible,” Anderchak said. “I knew if I did that I would come out a section champion.
“And I was very impressed with how our team performed. We had some very strong performances from our older and more experienced guys as expected, but also the younger guys that found a way to qualify were very impressive.”
Anderchak, who started out 25-0 this season, began this week two victories away from tying the QV wrestling all-time win record of 151 held by Kazalas.
“My goals for my final postseason are to have fun, enjoy the moments and wrestle hard,” Anderchak said. “I know if I am enjoying the process and being grateful for the opportunity to compete that my best wrestling will come out and that will yield strong results.”
Joining his teammates as a section titlist was 189-pound junior Trey Dunlap, who secured a 19-3 technical fall in 4:36 in the championship round against Beaver County Christian’s Carmine Battaglia.
“Trey won his first section title” Heinl said. “Trey keeps getting better every time he competes. I’m excited to see how he progresses through the postseason.”
Dunlap won 19-3 and boosted his season record to 33-11 with 20 falls and three technicals falls. He also jumped to 64-45 for his career.
“I’m happy with our performances at the section tournament,” Heinl said. “Bruce Anderchak, Matt Danna and Trey Dunlap all competed extremely hard, which led to them dominating their brackets even against tough competition.
“We also had a lot of young underclassmen perform well and qualify for the first time for the WPIAL tournament — Damien McClay, Jake Neff and Angel Perez. These young guys are gaining valuable experience, and hopefully it will propel them forward to keep getting better. ”
QV’s Harper Sipes landed in the runner-up spot at 145 pounds at the sectional event as he was pinned in 1:52 by Central Valley’s Ethan Bosco in the finals. Sipes, a junior, ended the tournament with a 24-9 record this season and 50-34 for his career.
The Quakers qualified seven wrestlers for the section tournament: Danna, Anderchak, Dunlap, Sipes, Perez, Neff and McClay.
“I believe Quaker Valley’s performance was overall successful,” Danna said. “Seeing the young wrestlers on the team, whether it’s their first year or they just started wrestling, move on to the postseason was great and important for their careers.
“Having four finalists and three first-place medalists also carries a lot of momentum for the WPIAL tournament.”
Perez, a freshman, pinned North Catholic’s Brendan Valentine at the 26-second mark to finish fifth at 285 pounds.
Neff, also a freshman, lost a 5-4 decision to Ellwood City’s Nathan Chandler to end up in sixth place at 172.
And McClay, a sophomore, was pinned by Beaver County Christian’s Connor McKinney at 2:46 to place sixth at 133.
The WPIAL Class 2A individual championships were set for Feb. 20-21 at Chartiers Valley.