Charleroi’s Vargo impressive in first year with Bentworth

By Jeff Oliver

MVI Sports

Chris Vargo is not your typical ninth grade student.

Although he certainly doesn’t see it that way.

For starters, he lives in Fallowfield Township and attends Charleroi Area High school.

However, he is a wrestler and since Charleroi doesn’t have its own wrestling program, he competes for nearby Bentworth through the PIAA co-op program.

And at Bentworth, Vargo is not just any wrestler; he’s one of the best in the state.

Competing at 113 pounds, he wrapped up his first season of varsity wrestling by winning WPIAL 2A and PIAA Southwest Region titles, and finishing in third place in the PIAA championships recently in Hershey.

He capped off a 20-2 season, by coming out of the losers bracket of the state championships. Vargo dropped his first match to Gavin Bradley of Athens, losing a tough 6-4 decision. But, he then rallied to win three straight matches to earn the bronze medal.

In his final match at states, he earned a 2-0 shutout against Coen Bainey of Bald Eagle.

“Losing the first match (at states) was kind of a setback,” Vargo admitted. “But I’m glad I pulled it altogether after that. That made the experience not too bad.”

Vargo said he was not in awe wrestling against the state’s top competition at the Giant Center in Hershey.

As a member of the Quest School of Wrestling program, Vargo shrugged about the PIAA experience and said, “I’ve been in bigger events. This probably felt no different.”

He also said he didn’t think it was a big deal attending one school district and competing for another.

“It’s not that much different (than competing for Charleroi), other than the fact that I had to travel to Bentworth every day,” he said. “I was the only kid going there, so it wasn’t that big of a deal to me.”

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