Branden
Stearns Wins Brawl-At-The-Mall Title
Travis Goss Takes 2nd
To
say Branden Stearns had a good day wrestling Sunday would be
gross understatement. Stearns beat two AA state place winners
and a state qualifier at the first annual Brawl-At-The Mall
tournament
at the new Born To Run Sports Complex, in Grove City.
Due
to a small turnout, Stearns needed only a single win to claim
the 190 pound title, but it was a tall order. Stearns faced
Slippery Rock's Trevor Gallo, who claimed 6th place at this
year's PIAA AA tournament.
Gallo
scored the first points with a second period reversal and took
a 2-0 lead, but Stearns reversed the Rocket wrestler, took him
to his back for five and hung on to win the bout, 5-2. Stearns
also won exhibition bouts against Mercer's Braden Bice, who
took 5th in the 275 lbs. weight class at the PIAA AA tourney
and Bald Eagle Area's Regional 3rd placer, Travis Stem.
Stearns
nailed Stem with a takedown and took the Eagle wrestler straight
to his back for a 4-0 lead. Stem got a second period takedown
to cut Stearns lead to 4-2. Stearns escaped to make it 5-2,
but Stem fought off a switch attempt, got another takedown and
cut the lead to 5-4. Stearns managed a late escape and made
the final 6-4. Stearns was locked in a tight, 5-4 battle with
Braden Bice, but hit a takedown at the buzzer for a 7-4 win.
Travis
Goss won his semi finals bout in the 180 lbs. weight class,
a 2-1 squeaker over Conneaut Lake's Ryan Courtney. Goss scored
a takedown on a single, for his only points of the bout. In
the finals, Goss met Mercer's Dustin Kelly. He was only down
2-1 in the second stanza, but gave up 3 back points on a bar
arm combination. Goss nearly scored back points of his own in
the 3rd, but ended up out of bounds and lost the bout, 5-1.
Goss
wrestled his final match of the day, an exhibition against Warren
180 pounder, Brian Shontz. Goss got the first takedown on a
spin behind and pulled out a solid 4-1 win.
05-02-04
