HERSHEY — Sports don’t always produce storybook endings, but it sure is sweet when they do — especially in Chocolate Town.
With Thomas Jefferson coach Michael Ladick and his father, Bob, set to retire after the season, the Jaguars sent their beloved coaches out on a high note with a spectacular performance at the 2025 PIAA Class 3A championships at Giant Center. In all, five wrestlers from Thomas Jefferson qualified for the PIAA tournament, while three earned top-three finishes, two made it to the state finals, and senior Maddox Shaw went out on top as a back-to-back PIAA champion.
Who could have possibly scripted it any better?
“It’s wonderful,” Ladick said. “So much came together in the last week and a half. … No. 1 public school in Pennsylvania for [Class] 3A, and we’re proud of that.”
As if that weren’t enough, the Jaguars followed up their team title at last week’s inaugural PIAA West Regional tournament with a second-place finish at the PIAA Class 3A tournament, bringing home the first PIAA team trophy in program history. Along with Shaw’s 152-pound title, senior Bode Marlow finished in second place at 172 pounds, while fellow senior Shep Turk took home third place at 285.
Both Marlow (50-4) and Turk (47-7) are headed to Pitt next year, with Marlow going to wrestle and Turk going to play football.
It was an all-WPIAL affair in the 152-pound final, as Shaw (38-2) defeated Connellsville’s Evan Petrovich (47-9) — another Pitt recruit — for the third time this season with a 4-2 decision. Shaw controlled the match from start to finish, only surrendering a meaningless reversal as time expired.
“Ladick has done so much for me. He’s helped me through so much,” Shaw said. “I’m glad I can send him off on such a high note.”
Speaking of Pitt recruits, Belle Vernon junior Elijah Brown made history while erasing the Leopards’ “finals curse” with a 4-3 victory against Kiski Area’s Cooper Roscosky (41-8) in the 215-pound championship bout. After the previous five Belle Vernon finalists each came home with silver medals, Brown (48-1) is now the Leopards’ first PIAA champion in school history.
“So much work went into this,” Brown said. “Keeping my spot at the top, it’s really awesome. … It’s super cool making history.”
The moment was extra special for Belle Vernon coach Bob Bove, who chose to watch from a secluded corner of the arena while sending his assistants out to coach the match. Having already experienced his fair share of heartbreak while coaching in the state finals, Bove decided it would be best to watch from afar while rooting on his prized pupil.
“It was nice to finally break [the curse],” Bove said. “I hope those other guys know that they paved the way so we could figure this thing out. It’s a pretty awesome feeling.”
Along with the four finalists competing in the all-WPIAL championship bouts at 152 and 215, two other local wrestlers came up just short in their state finals matches in Class 3A.
At 133 pounds, Latrobe senior Luke Willochell took home his second silver medal and fourth PIAA medal overall after losing an 8-3 decision to Council Rock South’s Anthony Mutarelli. A Wyoming recruit, Willochell finishes his decorated career with a record of 166-17.
As for Marlow, his 172-pound championship bout against State College’s Asher Cunningham was a completely different story than their previous meeting in last week’s West Regional final, which Cunningham won by 18-0 technical fall. This time around, Marlow gave Cunningham everything he could handle, proving he was no pushover while even scoring a takedown against the Penn State recruit.
In the end, Cunningham came out on top with a 12-6 decision for his third state title, while Marlow improved on his third-place finish from his junior year with a second-place finish as a senior.
“He’s such a smart athlete,” Ladick said about Marlow. “There’s levels to this, and Cunningham is at another level. But Bode Marlow today started to climb that ladder just a little bit more, and it really showed.”
Girls
For the second year in a row, Canon-McMillan was responsible for crowning the only girls champion from the WPIAL.
In a dominant display to cap off a nearly flawless tournament, Big Macs sophomore Marlee Solomon cruised to a 14-0 major decision win against Conneaut’s Daylee Watson in the 112-pound final. Solomon (39-3) follows in the footsteps of Canon-McMillan grad Valarie Solorio, who made history last season as the first-ever PIAA girls wrestling champion.
“Sometimes I get defensive, but when I want to do something, I can do it,” said Solomon, who has only been wrestling for less than three years. “I don’t want victory to defeat me. I want to keep going and getting better.”
After spending her freshman year competing in California, where she placed fifth in the state at 100 pounds, Solomon moved to Canonsburg and made an instant impact for the Big Macs. After capturing WPIAL and West Regional titles, Solomon entered her first PIAA tournament ranked No. 8 in the country in her weight class by FloWrestling — and judging by her performance, it might not be long before she climbs to the top of the list.
“I want to win worlds [one day], so I think this should be the first step,” Solomon said. “I sacrificed so much time into wrestling that it has to be worth something. I want to be at that No. 1 spot, and I’m going to get there.”
Solomon racked up bonus points in three of her four wins over the weekend while allowing only one point in the entire tournament. She also scored an 11-0 win in the semifinal round against Brashear senior Tamara Humphries, who put on a show in the consolation bracket on her way to a third-place finish.
“I felt really good. I felt really strong out there,” said Humphries, who placed fourth at last week’s West Regional tournament. “I don’t regret any of the matches I had. … I gave it everything I had.”
After posting a record of 4-1 with three bonus-point victories in her second trip to Hershey, Humphries (20-6) becomes only the third City League wrestler ever to earn a PIAA medal and the first girl from the City League to do so.
“It’s much bigger than me,” Humphries said. “We deserve to be up there. We deserve the recognition that we don’t get. … I’m just happy that I can leave my mark and let people know it’s possible.”
Two other local girls came home with silver medals after runner-up finishes, as Plum’s Alaina Claassen fell to Quakertown’s Carolina Hatalla by 5-0 decision in the 190-pound final, then Southmoreland’s Zoey Murphy got pinned by returning state champion Brenda Banks of Panther Valley in the 235-pound championship bout. Banks electrified the crowd all weekend with her pinning prowess, scoring four consecutive first-period falls on her way to her second PIAA title.
Class 2A boys
In a disappointing year for the WPIAL in Class 2A, only one local wrestler advanced to the championship finals — Central Valley junior Antonio Boni.
Unfortunately for Boni (47-4), he ran into a buzzsaw in the 127-pound finals against Faith Christian Academy sophomore Joey Bachmann (45-2), a returning PIAA champion with a career record of 83-2. Ranked No. 6 in the country in the weight class, Bachmann scored a pair of takedowns in the first and second period while negating all of Boni’s offensive attacks on his way to a 7-0 decision.
The most notable bout of the tournament took place in the Class 2A 133-pound final, as heralded Bishop McCort junior Jax Forrest derailed Northern Lebanon senior Aaron Seidel’s quest for a fourth state title with a 7-1 win.
An Oklahoma State recruit ranked No. 2 in the country pound-for-pound, Forrest (50-0) scrambled out of a late takedown attempt by Seidel in the third period, then scored his own takedown as time expired to polish off his historic win. Now a two-time PIAA champion, Forrest improves to 133-3 for his career, while Seidel (57-2) finishes his career as Pennsylvania’s all-time wins leader with an overall record of 206-4.
Steve is a sports writer at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Email him at srotstein@unionprogress.com.
