Pete Stoelzl ’81
Career Record: 55-7-2
Tournament Championships: 2x Easton Holiday Tournament CHampion, Top Hat Champion
1981 – 132 lbs.: District Champ, Regional Runner-Up (31-3)
1980 – 126 lbs.: District Champ, Regional Champ, State Fourth (23-3-2)
1979 – 126 lbs.: (1-1)
Pete Stoelzl won a pair of D11 titles, a state medal, and was one of the anchors of the “Magnificent Seven” that led Easton to the 1981 state championship. His funky, “gumby” style was ahead of its time and made him a fan favorite on the excellent run of Dave Crowell Easton teams.
Stoelzl earned a pair of spot starts as a sophomore, getting pinned by rival Charlie Brita (Freedom) in his first varsity bout then earning his first win against Darrell Schwartz (Crestwood).
Stoelzl became the full-time starter as a junior, where he was once again pinned by Brita in his season opening bout. He won the James B. “Pat” Reilly Invitational, outsourcing the field 32-9, including a 5-0 shut out of future Voorhees coach Tom Angstadt (North Hunterdon). In January, he defeated D11 champ Tony Wittic (Bethlehem Catholic) 5-2 and majored Southcentral Regional champ Craig Hetrick (Lower Dauphin) 14-4. He closed his regular season with a 2-2 draw with New Jersey bronze medalist John Rutledge (Phillipsburg). Following the regular season, Stoelzl made the cut to 126 pounds, where he had to eliminate with Andy Causa, who was slated as the top seed at 126. At the D11 tournament, Stoelzl looked strong at his new weight class. He opened with a first period fall and a 17-2 major. He blanked Jim MIller (Parkland) in semifinals to set up a rematch with Brita – the only wrestler to defeat Stoelzl in his career so far. Third time was a charm, as Stoelzl was the one on the offensive in a 5-3 win for a D11 title. At Regionals, Stoelzl pinned Jeff Dunn (Pittston) in the second period then scored all the offensive points in a semifinal win over D4 champ Ken Shull (Williamsport). For the second straight week, he met Brita in the finals, and extended his margin with a dominant 11-6 win to even their career series at 2. Stoelzl was one of two Easton wrestlers to qualify for the state tournament, and started out with a thriller Stoelzl and Eric Henry (Kittanning) were tied 2-2 at the end of regulation and were tied at 2 in overtime, when Stoelzl used his funk and propensity to roll to put Henry on his back in a five point reversal to advance to quarterfinals. In Friday morning’s quarters, he dominated Larry Mihalko (Warren), 8-2 to punch a ticket to semis. There, he met future Clarion head coach and four-time NCAA qualifier Ken Nellis (Shaler). Stoelzl took Nellis down in the first period, and was leading 3-1 headed into the third. A Nellis escape cut the lead to 3-2, then in the final minute, Nellis threw Stoelzl to his back for a takedown and a pair of backpoints to deny Stoelzl a finals trip with a 6-3 loss. Nellis went on to win his first of two state titles, while Stoelzl dropped a 6-5 consolation match to Rich Tourtiotte (Clearfield) to finish fourth in the state.
Stoelzl was expected to be one of the hammers in Easton’s lineup for the 1981 season. He started the year with a 5-1 win over Tom Vresics (Bethlehem Catholic) in Easton’s eye popping 43-10 win over the preseason co-favorite War Hawks. Stoelzl entered the Top Hat tournament at Williamsport undefeated and looked the part of a state title contender, pinning his way to the finals. There, he held on to beat Jake Missingman (Williamsport) 8-7 as one of Easton’s three champions on their way to a team title. The following week, he ran through the Reilly Invitational with a pair of pins and a 9-1 major decision over Steve Sozanski (North Hunterdon). Against Parkland, Stoelzl rolled up 38 points in a 38-6 backpoints clinic over Steve Anderson. His only regular season loss came to Tom Jamicky (North Hunterdon) in early February. From there, he rebounded in a massive way, scoring a 9-5 win over Ken Peifer (Shikellamy) in Easton’s dramatic 22-21 win over the Braves to stake their claim as the best dual team in Pennsylvania. The following weekend, Stoelzl downed Russ Storm (Phillipsburg) 8-6 to win Easton their second straight East Penn Conference title with an undefeated season. Once again, Stoelzl dropped to 126 for the postseason as Easton pulled their entire lineup down to chase an individual tournament team title. Stoelzl was a man possessed at the D11 tournament, making finals with a pin, 11-4 decision, and an emphatic semifinal fall. There, he met future NCAA champion Scott Turner (Freedom), a dynamic sophomore who was already a state qualifier. But Stoelzl whipped him in the finals, using two takedowns, a reversal, and a turn to win 8-3 for his second straight D11 title. The following weekend at Regionals, Stoelzl cruised in his quarterfinal with an 18-7 win over Dave Evans (West Scranton). In semis, he racked up a ton of points in an 11-9 win over D4 champ and eventual state finalist Troy Dagle (Selinsgrove). That set a rematch with Turner for the Northeast Regional title. After a 2-2 tie at the end of regulation, Stoelzl escaped to take a 1-0 lead in overtime. But a locked hands call and a Turner escape thwarted his chance to repeat with a 2-1 overtime decision for Turner. So despite being tabbed “Easton’s best hope for a state champion”, Stoelzl had to drop into the bracket as a regional runner-up, which placed him on the top half with a looming quarterfinal match up with pre-tournament favorite Mike Carr (Erie Tech), younger brother of three-time NCAA champion Nate Carr. Stoelzl was pushed in his first round match by Bill Smith (Cumberland Valley), whose debatable first period takedown put Stoelzl in a hole early. But he fought back to tie the match at 6 at the end of regulation, then used a pair of overtime takedowns to knock Smith out of the tournament with a 4-1 OT score. That set up Carr and Stoelzl in Friday morning’s quarterfinal session. The two were 0-0 late into the first period, when Carr hit a fireman’s carry and put Stoelzl on his back for five points as the period ended. Stoelzl took bottom in the second and quickly escaped, but Carr fended him off on their feet, then wisely took neutral to avoid Stoelzl’s mat wrestling prowess to hold onto his 5-1 victory. However, that evening, Carr suffered one of the biggest upsets of the tournament when Troy Dagle, who Stoelzl handled the week before at Regionals, upset the Erie star to make a Cinderella run to state finals, Unfortunately for Stoelzl, only wrestlers who lost to finalists were eligible to wrestle-back for medals, and Dagle’s upset knocked Stoelzl out of the tournament. After the season, Stoelzl represented D11 in their match versus the WPIAl All Stars at the Dapper Dan, where he beat Jim Black 11-5.
Following his wrestling career, Stoelzl coached at Pen Argyl, first as an assistant to John Piper then as the head coach from 1993-1997. He was also the head coach at Pius X from 2013-2015 and has been on staffs at Wilson, Easton, and Salisbury.
History of Easton Wrestling 