Port Allegany wrestlers on top once again

by Tom Roof Olean Times Herald

Posted on March 23, 2009

They were No. 2 for most of the year, but before it was finished, the Port Allegany High School wrestlers were back in a most familiar spot - atop the Times Herald's Big 30 rankings.

For the seventh straight year the Gators have ended the season as the No. 1-ranked team among the 16 wrestling schools that make up the Big 30 mat region.

Even since the 2002-03 season, when Port replaced Bolivar-Richburg and edged out Salamanca, no one else has hardly been close.

Oh, this year there was the chance. Smethport, picked to challenge the Gators for the Allegheny Mountain League title, topped the initial Times Herald poll and held that spot until Port took over in Week 9.

But it almost seemed as if the Hubbers were just keeping the seat warm for the rightful owners. When the two teams met for the first time in the semifinals of the District 9 Team Duals, Port prevailed by a narrow 32-30 margin.

It wasn't until the following week, though, when the Gators put the final stamp on the takeover, hammering the Hubbers, 43-27, in a match that also secured Port its seventh straight AML championship. To top it off, coach Sean Lathrop's matmen followed that performance with a strong fourth place finish at the District 9 Tournament while Smethport took a sixth.



Indeed, the Gators, finishing with a 17-9 overall record and 8-0 mark in the AML, left no doubt they deserved the Big 30's top spot. And, for the sixth straight year, relegated Smethport (10-3) to the No. 2 slot in the Times Herald's rankings.

Rounding out this year's Top 5 were Portville at No. 3, followed by Bradford High and Olean High.

Portville finished at 17-5 for its highest finish since back-to-back No. 1 rankings in 1996-97 and '97-98. Bradford (15-10) was in the rankings for the first time since the 2001-02 season, while Olean (11-3) made its first appearance since being ranked sixth during the 1994-95 season. The Huskies last made the top five two years prior to that when they were ranked third behind Port Allegany and Franklinville.

Overall, in the 25-year history of the Times Herald rankings, the Gators have been ranked No. 1 eight times, while Smethport has been ranked No. 1 twice and second 10 times.

n In another wrestling note, in an age when the sport has struggled at times, a whiff of good news has filtered through District 9 and the Northwest Region with the announcement that the DuBois campus of Penn State University is moving ahead with its plans to add wrestling and women's soccer for next year.

Those sports will get started in the fall, joining cross country and women's volleyball, and men's and women's basketball.

PSU-DuBois athletic director Scott Feldmann has already hired a new wrestling coach in Matt Park, a 1990 Brookville graduate, who most recently was working as an assistant to Rich Esposito at Brockway.

Park has already indicated he wants to build the program with District 9 wrestlers and then move out from there.

Feldmann expects the DuBois schedule to include matches against Thiel, Mercyhurst, Gannon, and Mercyhurst Northeast and that the team will compete for now in the National Collegiate Wrestling Association post-season tournament.

(Tom Roof, a Times Herald sports writer, can be reached at troof@oleantimesherald.com)

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