Antonino Walker and fellow Plum seniors celebrated their high school wrestling careers and wrestling futures as they finalized decisions to compete at the next level.
Walker, who committed to Division I Edinboro, as well as Sam Snyder (Division III Saint Vincent), Carson Yocca (Division II Ashland) and Rylen Campbell (Ashland) were recognized during a ceremony May 6 at Plum High School.
"I love the Edinboro program and the coaches,” Walker said. "I have a couple of friends up there. (Pine-Richland graduate) Anthony Ferraro is one of them, and one of my friends from Young Guns (Elizabeth Forward senior Damon Michaels) is wrestling for Edinboro, too. We’re rooming together. I am excited to get up there and start off my first season in a good way.”
Walker and Michaels met in the 152-pound finals at the Allegheny County tournament in January. Walker won, 1-0.
Walker finished his senior year 39-7 with a section title, a third-place finish at regionals and a trip to states. He joined the exclusive 100-wins club at Plum, as he finished his four-year career 109-22.
Snyder (21-10), Campbell (18-6) and Yocca (36-12) also helped Plum qualify for this year’s WPIAL Class 3A team tournament, and all three wrestled at the WPIAL/Southwest Regional individual tournament.
Walker said it is a special thing to have five Plum wrestlers from one senior class go on to wrestle in college.
Jack Tongel, 26-14 and a PIAA qualifier as a senior, finalized his decision with Division I Pitt during the signing period in November.
He was on hand May 6 to celebrate with the other four newly minted collegiate wrestlers.
"I don’t know when the last time was that five from one class went on to wrestle at the college level. It’s been a while, for sure,” Walker said. "I am so happy for every single one of them.”
Walker, Campbell and Tongel each represented Plum at the postseason National High School Coaches Association individual nationals tournament April 5-7, in Virginia Beach.
Tongel, at 170 pounds, went 2-2, while Walker, at 152, went 7-2 with several matches over a three-hour period on the second day of competition.
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Campbell wrestled at 126 and went 1-2.
The trio also will wrestle at the NHSCA National Duals from May 25 to 27. Walker and Tongel will be on Team Defend This Island, while Campbell will represent Team Alien.
Junior Trent Reese and sophomore Owen Campbell will be teammates on Team Off The Hook.
Hall of Fame returns
Scott McGough was a standout on the Plum baseball team from 2005 to 2008 and had hopes of playing professionally.
After pitching in college at Oregon, he has risen up the ranks in Major League Baseball and also in Japan’s top pro league.
Now, as member of the Arizona Diamondbacks, McGough continues to ply his trade.
In November, he will come home to Plum to take his place alongside many of the school’s athletic greats as a member of the Plum Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2024.
After a six-year hiatus, much of which came at the mercy of the covid pandemic, the hall of fame is back in 2024 with eight individuals and the 1969 boys golf team set to be enshrined.
The banquet and induction ceremony will be Nov. 14 at Edgewood Country Club.
Also, to be inducted are Scott Benzel (1993), Nolan Cressler (2012), Andy DeFazio (1995), Richard Foutz (1970), Bill Wilmore (1990), Ronit Yurovsky (2012) and Bill Rometo (1970).
Rometo was a longtime coach of the Mustangs football team, and his father, coaching legend William Rometo Sr., was a member of the first class in 2005.
The class features athletes from a wide range of sports at Plum, including golf, football, basketball, baseball, wrestling and tennis.
This year’s class is the 14th to be inducted since the hall of fame was formed in 2005. The eight individual honorees bring the total to 109.
The 1969 WPIAL champion boys golf team is the first team to receive enshrinement.
Plum girls flag football
Plum sported a 3-5 record through the first four weeks of its inaugural season in the high school girls division of the Pittsburgh Flag Football League.
The Mustangs fell to Greensburg Salem, 26-15, and McKeesport, 16-14, in the season openers April 14, but they won at least one game in each of the next three weeks.
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Plum suffered a 20-0 loss to East division leading Gateway on April 21 but was able to shut out Jeannette, 18-0.
On April 28, Plum edged Propel Braddock Hills, 13-12, and lost to Woodland Hills, 33-2.
On May 5, the Mustangs got the better of McKeesport, 12-6, and suffered a close 8-6 loss to Penn Hills.
"Arguably, the East division is the most competitive of the five divisions,” Plum co-coach Fran Sciullo said.
Plum was scheduled to play Jeannette on May 12 but the Jayhawks were forced to forfeit the game, giving the win to the Mustangs to move them to 4-5.
Plum hoped to cap the regular season with a win against Woodland Hills before taking on Gateway in a non-division exhibition game.
Gateway went into Week 5 undefeated at 8-0.
Senior Amelia Faust led the team through the eight division games with 18 receptions, while Faust and junior Selina Boea paced the running game with 23 attempts each.
Boea recorded a team-best five touchdowns on offense, while sophomore quarterback Kailey Burton completed 49 of 79 pass attempts with four touchdowns.
Senior Anna Zanchi, an exchange student from Italy, led the team with three interceptions. She returned one for a touchdown.
Junior Kaylee Rodriquez also recorded a pick-6 and a team-best 22 flag pulls.
Michael Love is a TribLive reporter covering sports in the Alle-Kiski Valley and the eastern suburbs of Pittsburgh. A Clearfield native and a graduate of Westminster (Pa.), he joined the Trib in 2002 after spending five years at the Clearfield Progress. He can be reached at mlove@triblive.com.
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