08-02-2025
Bishop McCort moves on, Chestnut Ridge falls in PIAA Team Wrestling Championships
ALTOONA, Pa. (WTAJ) – There won't be a rematch of last year's semi-finals match in the PIAA Team Wrestling Championships between Chestnut Ridge and Bishop McCort. The Lions lost to Berks Catholic 51-11 in the quarterfinals, while the No. 2 ranked Crushers crushed Montoursville 58-8.
With a match that went deep into overtime, Bishop McCort heavyweight Caleb Rodriguez provided an unlikely spark to the Crushers early in the dual with a 7-4 win over Landon Morehart.
'He did a great job sparking us there,' Bishop McCort junior Bo Bassett said. 'I think that got the momentum rolling and then we were able to kind of take it from there.'
Bo Knows Commitment! No. 1 wrestling recruit Bo Bassett heading to Iowa
The Crushers were in fact able to take it from there, winning 9 out of the final 10 matches by either technical falls or falls.
Bishop McCort now faces Berks Catholic in the semi-finals on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. before possibly having revenge against No. 1 ranked Faith Christian, who handed the Crushers a loss in the PIAA Team Championship Final last year.
'We know what everybody's looking forward to but (we're treating it like) it's one match at a time. The biggest match for today was Montoursville (and on Saturday) it's going to be Berks Catholic,' Bishop McCort head coach Bill Bassett said. 'After we get through them, we'll worry about Faith Christian.'
'When you're wrestling the toughest state in all the country. You've got to be ready to go every round,' Bo said. 'We're really excited for that one in the finals, but we still have got one to take care of in the finals and then we're all locked in on the national finals.'
Stillwater's newest Cowboy, No. 2 wrestling recruit Jax Forrest commits to Oklahoma State
Meanwhile, Chestnut Ridge was tied with Berks Catholic at 5 after Jayden Imler won by tech-fall in the second bout of the meet. The two teams split matches at 107 and 114 pounds, but then it was all downhill for the Lions.
NC State commit Dominic Deputy was caught in a cradle and was stuck on his back for close to a minute, leading to a pin for Berks Catholic's Neil Bitting. After bouncing back and winning at 127 lbs., Chestnut Ridge would go on to drop the last six matches either by tech-falls or falls.
The PIAA Team Wrestling Championship Finals are set for 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
