Bound for Hershey

Centre County claims five titles, sending 12 to PIAA tournament

ALTOONA — It was a night of reruns at the Northwest Class AAA Regional wrestling tournament, but in three cases, the ending was different.

All five of the championship finals involving Centre County wrestlers were rematches from last week’s District 6 finals, but at 145 , 160 and 215 pounds, a new champion was crowned.

Philipsburg-Osceola’s David Wood avenged last week’s 2-1 overtime loss to Bald Eagle Area’s David Fisher with a 3-2 win at 145. At 160, State College’s Chris Decker topped BEA’s Landis Wright 8-5 after losing 12-9 last week, and at 215, State College’s Justin Masorti downed Bellefonte’s Josh Jones 4-3 in the overtime rideout after falling 6-2 in overtime last week.

In the other sequel, BEA’s Quentin Wright edged State College’s Kyle Fluke 11-9 in overtime at 125 while the Eagles’ Seth Nyman dropped Hollidaysburg’s Eric Shaw 5-3 after beating him 3-1 a week ago. Wright won by default over Fluke last week.

Joining the finalists in qualifying for the PIAA tournament this week are State College’s Steve Bosak and Adam Homan at 112 and 119, respectively, and BEA’s Travis Stem at 215. All three finished third.

In the team race, BEA was first with 124 points while Clearfield was second with 106.5. State College was fourth with 96.5, P-O was 14th with 30.5 and Bellefonte was 15th with 30 points.

“We came into the tournament with 10 guys and of those only a couple were here last year, “said Eagles’ coach Skip Pighetti. “Last year, we only took three to Hershey and this year we’re taking five so that’s a good accomplishment.”

Little Lion coach Shad Benton was equally happy with his team’s production.

“I thought our team wrestled very well this weekend, “he said. “To get five kids to Hershey is a good accomplishment and I think all five can do well there.”

In the night’s most entertaining bout, Quentin Wright and Fluke wound up knotted at 9-9 at the end of regulation. Wright struck first with a takedown but Fluke quickly reversed him to his back for a five-point move. Wright reversed with 53 seconds left in the first period and Fluke escaped with 32 seconds left to make it 6-4 after two minutes.

In the second period, Wright escaped with 40 seconds to go and got a takedown and two back points in the last five seconds for a 9-6 lead. Fluke picked up a penalty point for interlocking hands with 1:10 left in regulation and reversed Wright with a minute to go. In overtime Wright got in deep on a takedown shot, Fluke countered with what appeared to be a takedown but Wright rolled through and got the takedown with 26 seconds left in the period.

“That was a great match, “Pighetti said. “Those are two scrappers who go 100 percent out there. That match was a tossup that came down to who wanted it most and Quentin came out on top, but I think you’ll see both of them go pretty far in the state tournament.”

“Kyle wrestled well, “Benton said. “He was wrestling a good guy. Those two kids wrestled hard. I don’t think you could ask for anything more.”

At 145, Wood and Fisher spent the first period on their feet. In the second period, Wood escaped quickly and then took Fisher down at the 1:09 mark. Fisher escaped near the end of the period and added a second escape in the third to set the final.

“That was a nice win for David, for P-O and for David’s family, “said Mountie coach Dave Caslow. “David is very bright and he learns something everytime he wrestles. Last week, even though he didn’t get the win, he earned the confidence to achieve what he did tonight.

“I thought the key to the match was the takedown in the second period. He didn’t get that last week. The second key was not allowing Fisher to take the offense in the third period. David controlled tie-ups and position and he took enough shots in the third period to neutralize Fisher.”

Wood is P-O’s first PIAA qualifier since James Yonushonis and its first regional titlist since Aaron Levonick.

“You appreciate Hershey more when it’s been denied you, “Caslow added. “We’ve had other years when we’ve taken more kids but none of them had won it. David’s winning the whole thing made it sweet.”

In the Landis Wright-Decker rematch the pace was slower this time around. Wright got the initial takedown with 25 seconds left in the first period. In the second period, Decker escaped and then took the lead with a takedown at the 1:11 mark.

In the third period, Decker caught Wright for two back points, gave up a reversal and then escaped and got the clinching takedown with 47 seconds showing. Wright escaped with eight seconds to go to close the scoring. It was the fourth time the two had met this year with the first three decisions going to Wright.

“Chris was finally able to beat Landis, “Benton said. “This time we wanted to wrestle him on the mat a little more. Last time we tried to take him on his feet. Those are two of the best in the state at that weight.”

“This match was similar to last week’s when Landis got behind 7-1. This time Decker wreslted a good match, was able to get his legs in and did what he had to do to win the match, “Pighetti added.

Nyman’s win over Shaw was built on a pair of second-period takedowns and an escape. Shaw had three escapes.

“Seth is a very focused wrestler right now, “Pighetti noted. “He’s got a couple of shots that are working for him and he’s using them.”

The Masorti-Jones bout was another physical battle similar to last week’s.

Masorti drew first blood with a takedown with seven seconds left in the period but Jones immediately reversed to tie the score at the buzzer. In the second period, Jones escaped quickly for a 3-2 lead and they finished the period on their feet. In the third period, Masorti escaped in 15 seconds to make it 3-3 and that’s how the regulation and the first overtime period ended. In the 30-second rideout Masorti managed to kick free for the winning point with four seconds left.

“Justin was able to score the first takedown and that was big, “Benton said. “Those two are about as even as two wreslters could possibly be. They’re both big, strong football-type guys.”

“Masorti is very hard to score on, “said Raider coach Larry Walker. “He’s very strong, has excellent quickness and excellent hips. You have to get him out of position to score on him and we did that at times but we didn’t finish when we needed to. Then we relaxed at the edge just a little and gave up the takedown.

“That was the fourth time those two wrestled and this time it didn’t go our way. But it’s tough to go 4-0 against someone. Josh wreslted well, he had a good tournament and he’s going to Hershey.”

Bosak earned his spot at Hershey by beating Joe McCullough of Erie Cathedral Prep 6-4 in the consolation finals.

Homan won his 100th career match by beating Adam Green of Conneaut Lake 3-0 in the consolation semifinals and then controlling Lewistown’s Mike Robinson in the 30-second rideout period for a 2-1 win.

Stem lost to Masorti,4-3, in the semifinals then came back to beat Kevin Deiner of Erie Prep, 6-3 to make a retun trip to the PIAA tournament.

Notes: District 6 had seven champions while District 10 had four and District 9 had three, all from Clearfield. … Clearfield’s Brad Pataky became only the sixth four-time Northwest Regional champion when he won by technical fall over John Heynoski of Cathedral Prep 16-0 in 2:19.