East Xtra: Burrell's sixth title in row was a bolt from the blue
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Burrell's Dakota DesLauriers (top), wrestling against Hempfield Area's Kyle Spangler in the 182-pound title match at the Powerade Tournament on Dec. 30, registered a pin in the WPIAL team championship match to help the Bucs win their sixth title in a row.
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Jefferson-Morgan coach Scott Rhodes couldn't have summed up Burrell's sixth consecutive WPIAL Class AA title performance any better.
"The key thing is that [Burrell] had more in the tank," said Rhodes, after Burrell shocked the top-seeded Rockets, 34-31, in Saturday's WPIAL Class AA title match at Chartiers Valley High School. "They wanted it more than we did."
The same was true for Burrell's semifinal match against Chartiers-Houston, which took place last Friday at Ringgold High School. Burrell was seeded No. 3 in the 15-team WPIAL Class AA bracket, while Chartiers-Houston was No. 2.
"We had three bouts go to overtime and Burrell won all three by the same score, 6-4," said Chartiers-Houston coach Bill Sutton, after his squad dropped a 33-28 decision to the Buccaneers. "If we score a takedown in the overtime of any of those bouts, it's a six-point swing and we're in the finals.
"I guess Burrell wanted it more than we did."
Burrell came into the season as a longshot to win another WPIAL title, as the Buccaneers had to replace seven graduating starters who combined for a 265-64 record last season.
Then came the news that a pair of returning starters who combined for 50 wins would not be back. Zach Kelly, a PIAA Class AA qualifier who had 29 wins as a freshman, transferred to Kiski School, and John Andrejcik was out for the season after having shoulder surgery.
Nobody outside the Burrell practice room believed that the current Buccaneers squad could win another championship and add to their WPIAL record of five consecutive titles. But it was a different story inside the Burrell practice room.
"I knew we were going to win," said Burrell junior Cory Klems, the hero in Saturday's title match. "There was no way we were going to lose. Not with these guys. Not with this team."
Klems completed an improbable Burrell comeback with a 3-1 decision against Jefferson-Morgan's Ryan Mayfield in the 220-pound bout. It was the final bout of the match and broke a 31-31 tie.
"It was a lot of pressure knowing that I just couldn't lose," said Klems, who scored the deciding takedown with 30 seconds left. "I had to win. When I got the takedown, I just held on for dear life. I didn't want the bout to go into overtime."
The victory was even more impressive when one considers that Burrell trailed, 25-0, after the match's first five bouts.
"It's tough to stay positive when you're down that much in a match," said Burrell's Dakota DesLauriers, who celebrated his third WPIAL team title. "We tried to keep everybody's hopes up. We believed in ourselves."
DesLauriers (31-0) put Burrell within striking distance with his pin of Jefferson-Morgan's Joe Phillips in the 182-pound bout. The Rockets then forfeited to Buccaneers senior John Davidson, who wasn't even on Burrell's roster when the season began, in the 195-pound bout. That tied the bout and set up Klem's heroics.
"I wasn't quite sure what I had, but I could see we had talent when I started conditioning workouts," said Burrell coach Bud Sines, who came to Burrell after coaching from 1995 until 2009 at Wisconsin's Brookfield East High School. "It was just a question of getting everybody into the practice room at the same time."
Davidson wrestled when he was younger, but decided to concentrate on rugby throughout his high school career.
"We picked up Davidson out of the halls right after Christmas and he's undefeated," said Sines, referring to Davidson's 8-0 record, which includes six pins. "We told him that wrestling would help him get in condition for rugby season, and he bought it."
The same was true with senior Hayden Greenwald, a spot starter the previous three seasons, who decided not to wrestle this season.
"We convinced Hayden to come out and help the team in the team playoffs," said Sines. "And he came up with a big win in the semifinals."
Greenwald, who posted a 4-1 win at 160 pounds and has an 8-1 record this season, recorded just one of Burrell's key wins in the semifinals against Chartiers-Houston. Freshman Jason Roberts, sophomore Corey Falleroni and senior Kevin Best recorded overtime victories for Burrell at 106, 145 and 152. The biggest of the three was Falleroni's upset of previously unbeaten Tanner Sutton.
"Falleroni's win was a surprise to most, but not to me," Sines said. "Corey has been working his butt off to find a spot on the team. He was actually injured last Wednesday [during the opening rounds of the tournament] and then came out in the semifinals and wrestled the match of his life. Hopefully, he's got two more years of those matches."
DesLauriers is one of four Burrell wrestlers who started in three consecutive title matches. The others were Greenwald, Joseph Naviglia and Phillip Marra.
"This title is different than the other two," DesLauriers said. "Noboby expected us to win. We were the underdogs going in. Nobody expected us to come out on top again."
Burrell will try to continue its improbable run today at the PIAA Class AA team tournament at Hershey's Giant Center.
"Anything can happen with us," said Klems, when asked about Burrell's PIAA chances. "If we wrestle hard, we can go as far as we want."
DesLauriers echoed those thoughts.
"Our goal is to place," DesLauriers said. "We're not going to stop here. We're looking to place."
First Published February 9, 2012 12:00 am
