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Williamsport places 3 medalists at PIAA Class AAA wrestling tournament

By Evan Wheaton 5 min read

HERSHEY -- It's hard to play NBA 2k two-on-two with a group of five. Someone has to sit in the back of the hotel room and chirp the rest.

In between the heat of wrestling some of the nation's top high school talents, Williamsport's five state qualifiers would grind Xbox, binge movies and chow down together.

These are the moments Cael Nasdeo, twins Riley and Braden Bower, Charles Crews and Roman Morrone will miss the most.

"Coming up together and being able to get an outcome like this, it's great for us," Crews said. "Twenty years later when we get back together, we're going to have a great topic to talk about."

Like all good things, a sensational season for the Millionaires came to an end in the Class AAA tournament at the Giant Center Saturday. Crews, Nasdeo and Riley Bower all placed on the podium.

Nasdeo lost to eventual 113-pound state champion Zachary Jacaruso of Delaware Valley via a 4-0 decision. Having wrestled through injury for a bulk of the season, Nasdeo medical forfeited out of the remainder of the state tournament, earning a sixth-place finish.

"It's a little bittersweet. Great placing, I thought I wrestled really, really well," Nasdeo said. "A little banged up, I didn't think it was worth it to wrestle any matches. I tried wrestling that last one, just a little too much pain."

The Penn State commit was down 1-0 entering the third period before Jacaruso made a nearfall late in the contest.

"I have no problems with my semifinal matchup at all. He's a tough kid," Nasdeo said on Jacaruso. "I thought I wrestled him about just near perfect. Just that one turn on me, that's what stopped me from winning the state title last year."

Crews started the day by getting pinned twice, negating his chance of earning his 100th career win. In the fifth-place bout, Crews placed fifth at heavyweight after a 2-1 decision over Greensburg Salem's Billy Mcchesney.

Sitting on 99 wins and placing within the top five at states, and placing at Fargo over the summer, Crews' final day of varsity competition was fitting, as the senior did what he always has.

He just kept going.

"I feel I left it all out there, you know? I worked my butt off trying to get that win, but I couldn't so I just kept thinking of getting the next best thing," Crews said. "When I realized I couldn't get first, I kept saying to myself, 'Get third.' When I couldn't get third, I said, 'Get fifth.'"

Braden Bower and Morrone were eliminated before the final day. Upon falling to the seventh-place match to start the day, Riley Bower, like Crews, made a rebound.

Riley Bower took a 4-2 decision over Central Mountain's Griffin Walizer to take home a seventh-place medal and call it a varsity career.

"It's definitely bittersweet watching Braden lose just before I went out there to wrestle," Riley Bower said. "We're all family, we'll all be talking to each other for a while. Also just something to hold over Braden for a while."

While most of the Millionaires are going their separate ways, the Bower twins will be wrestling at Bucknell.

Williamsport coach Brian Nasdeo was named the Pennsylvania Wrestling Coaches Association Class AAA Coach of the Year. It's understandable why.

Over the course of the 2021-22 season, the Millionaires had their best finish at the Top Hat since the mid 90s, won their first ever King of the Mountain team title, placed in the top 20 of the Powerade, took first in both districts and states, handed Central Mountain its first dual meet loss since joining the HAC conference and almost tied the program record for most wrestlers sent to the state tournament.

"It's great to see him get the award. He's a great coach and has done everything to help this program, not just me but everybody the last 10 years, taking this program to new levels," Nasdeo said on Brian.

The lone junior to make the trip to Hershey, Nasdeo rode out the ends of his best friends' careers. The group met on the floor of the Giant Center one last time before saying goodbye.

"It's going to be really hard. I was just thinking about it last night, this is really the last time I wrestle with these guys," Nasdeo said. "Next year, we still got some good kids. Some of the kids who were backups, they've still been coming even though they haven't wrestled. It's going to be hard to fill their spots, but hopefully they can try to step it up."

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