In the absence of a major upset on the first day of the District 6 Class AAA Tournament, Hollidaysburg did pull off some minor ones Friday night at the Altoona Fieldhouse.
Hollidaysburg's No. 5 seeds, Larett Miller (171) and Matt Milardo (189), beat No. 4 seeds. Miller pinned Indian Valley's Nikolas Christine in 4:30 in the quarterfinals, and Milardo won by injury default over Lewistown's Cole Welham.
The Golden Tigers, who are in eighth place in the team standings with 34 points, advanced four into the semis, including, as expected, Damian Huff (103) and Damian Lascoli (160).
"We got some good results in some of our bouts," Hollidaysburg coach Mike Moore said. "At times, we were sloppy in that quarterfinal round, and we need to clean that up for tomorrow. Two of our guys beat the fourth seeds as fifth seeds, and the two Damians looked pretty good."
Thirteen wrestlers from the Mirror coverage area reached the semifinals. Philipsburg-Osceola advanced five into today's semifinals, which begin at 11 this morning.
Bryan Descavish (103), Brian Evans (112), Kenny Myers (135), Logan Walstrom (145) and Luke Greenawalt (152) reached the semis. A couple third-seeded Mounties did get upset.
Andrew Greenawalt (130) lost to Johnstown's sixth-seeded William Leeth, 6-2, and State College's unseeded Jack Haffner pinned Brad Anstine in 2:31 at 215. Haffner pinned the sixth seed, Indian Valley's Zachary Hassinger, in the preliminaries.
"I was a little disappointed in our round," P-O coach Tim McCamley said. "We didn't wrestle with a lot of fire the way we should have. There were some good matches, and we wrestled some hard matches, but I'm not really pleased with some of the outcomes. We had five in and should have had more. Losing two three seeds on the first night shouldn't happen."
The Mounties are in fifth place with 43.5 points - a half point ahead of Altoona. Bellefonte leads the team race with 81 points and 10 semifinalists, while Bald Eagle Area is second with 75. Expected leaders Central Mountain (69) and Westmont Hilltop (65.5) are third and fourth, respectively.
Altoona pushed four through in returning champion T.J. Brandt (112), Wendell Myers (135), Jake Hines (140) and Braeden Luciano (285).
"We followed our seeds," Altoona coach Joel Gilbert said. "We only have two guys out of the tournament [Amedeo Perini and Cody Neary]. Now we have to go get them tomorrow. Our kids wrestled some tough matches against some of the best guys in the tournament."
Brandt, the only area returning district champion, disposed of State College's Daniel Sills in 22 seconds in the Mountain Lion sophomore's only bout.
Miller took a 7-6 lead into the third period, where he hooked up a cradle and pinned Christine in 4:30.
"Larett wrestled a hard match," Moore said. "He's got a good crossface cradle, is a pretty strong kid and he's long. He's been doing a real good job this year with that cradle. He's a kid that can end it fairly quickly if he gets that hooked up."
Milardo held a 3-2 lead over Welham when Milardo was called for using a chicken wing with 13 seconds left, giving a point to Welham. They went off the mat with 6 seconds remaining and Welham injured his ankle and couldn't continue.
"[Milardo] has been nursing a bad knee all season," Moore said, "and this past week, we thought it would be a better idea to take it easy this week. The first match of the tournament is always a tough match in terms of the conditioning part and feeling fatigued."
There will be at least one Myers in tonight's championship finals. Wendell Myers, a former district runner-up, and Kenny Myers will tangle in the semis.
Kenny Myers rang up a 15-0 technical fall of State College's J.B. Holden in 2:48, and Wendell Myers, who has beaten the Mountie junior twice this season, pinned Indian Valley's Jake Bender in 58 seconds.
"They wrestled twice at New Oxford, and Wendell got the best of him," McCamley said. "Hopefully, it's Kenny's turn."
"It's going to be a good match," Gilbert said. "It's going to be a barnburner. It's going to be worth the price of admission. A Myers is going to win - hopefully from Altoona."
Notes: Johnstown's second-seeded Malcolm Harris was nearly upset by Lewistown's Cody Hower in the quarters, but a late Harris rally preserved a 13-11 win. ... Lewistown's Jake Schultz wore a T-shirt with the words "Lewistown 4 Life" on it. The Lewistown and Indian Valley school districts will merge next school year.
CLASS AAA TOURNAMENT
KEY, TEAM STANDINGS
1. B-Bellefonte 81; 2. BEA-Bald Eagle Area 75; 3. CM-Central Mountain 69; 4. WH-Westmont Hilltop 69.5; 5. PO-Philipsburg-Osceola 43.5; 6. A-Altoona 43; 7. IV-Indian Valley 39.5; 8. H-Hollidaysburg 34; 9. L-Lewistown 31.5; 10. SC-State College 26; 11. J-Johnstown 22.
PRELIMINARIES
119-Reese, CM, pinned Folk, IV, :46; 125-Perini, A, maj. dec. Hanley, CM, 11-3; Baney, BEA, pinned Vanatta, H, 1:12; Hower, L, pinned Bainey, PO, 3:25; 130-Kovac, A, dec. Besch, L, 7-0; 135-Barnard, BEA, pinned Lauver, L, 4:19; Bender, IV, pinned Walls, H, :43; 140-Popchak, WH, dec. Knarr, IV, 4-3; Gribble, BEA, dec. Smith, J, 6-4.
145-Cable, B, pinned Campolongo, SC, 1:37; 152-Lash, IV, maj. dec. Neary, A, 10-2; Nulton, WH, pinned Bilofsky, H, 5:29; 160-Knode, A, dec. Thompson, PO, 9-2; 171-Stefan, WH, dec. Martinez, SC, 10-4; 189-Varner, BEA, pinned Regel, B, 1:07; Haffner, SC, pinned Hassinger, IV, 4:24; Barnes, A, dec. Stover, CM, 6-4; 285-Dombroski, PO, pinned Hicks, BEA, 1:44.
QUARTERFINALS
103-Descavish, PO, pinned Wert, B, :15; Huff, H, pinned Querry, A, :53; 112-Brandt, A, pinned Sills, SC, :22; Lewis, B, dec. Sherry, BEA, 6-5; Bechdel, CM, pinned Pearce, IV, 5:47; 119-Polacek, WH, maj. dec. Reese, CM, 12-0; Bair, L, dec. Rocco, PO, 4-3; J. Giedroc, BEA, pinned Millward, SC, 3:17; Traxler, B, pinned Price, A, 1:51; 125-Loht, IV, tech. fall Perini, A, 15-0, 4:00; Fisher, B, dec. Kunig, SC, 3-1; Walsh, WH, dec. Baney, BEA, 6-4 OT; Harris, J, dec. Hower, L, 13-11; 130-Hough, WH, pinned Kovac, A, 1:07; Grove, IV, dec. Miller, CM, 8-4; Leeth, J, dec. A. Greenawalt, PO, 6-2; Wortman, B, dec. Dillon, BEA, 4-3; 135-Gavlock, CM, maj. dec. Barnard, BEA, 13-2; Grau, B, maj. dec. Kushner, WH, 11-3; Myers, PO, tech. fall Holden, SC, 15-0, 2:48; Myers, A, pinned Bender, IV, :58; 140-Schultz, L, tech. fall Popchak, WH, 17-1, 4:20; Alterio, B, dec. Smith, PO, 12-7; Hines, A, dec. Struble, CM, 11-6; Bosak, SC, pinned Gribble, BEA, :28.
145-Brill, CM, pinned Cable, B, 3:03; Granite, BEA, dec. Spickler, IV, 3-1; Patton, WH, tech. fall Pennington, A, 18-3, 5:37; Walstrom, PO, maj. dec. Haubrick, L, 20-10; 152-T. Buckwalter, CM, pinned Lash, IV, :28; Shawley, B, dec. McElhaney, SC, 5-2; L. Greenawalt, PO, maj. dec. Lowber, 14-3; N. Taylor, BEA, pinned Nulton, WH, :57; 160-Hoffman, BEA, pinned Knode, A, :30; Lascoli, H, pinned Patrick, WH, 1:01; Powers, CM, pinned Brune, L, 3:07; Grieb, B, pinned Michael, IV, 1:52; 171-J. Taylor, BEA, pinned Stefan, WH, 1:08, Miller, H, pinned Christine, IV, 4:30; Perryman, B, pinned Schmitt, A, 1:21; B. Buckwalter, CM, pinned Peachey, L, 5:04; 189-Burnheimer, WH, maj. dec. Varner, BEA, 14-1; Milardo, H, won by injury default over Welham, L, 5:54; Haffner, SC, pinned Anstine, PO, 2:31; Simon, J, dec. Barnes, A, 5-0; 215-Searer, L, pinned Mathews, PO, :47; Stacey, CM, dec. McClure, B, 8-2; Shovestull, WH, pinned Butcher, A, 5:39; Sharkey, BEA, pinned White, J, 1:07; 285-Duplin, WH, pinned Dombroski, PO, :57; Luciano, A, dec. Barton, H, 1-0; Poorman, B, pinned French, L, 3:00; Corl, CM, pinned Kreider, IV, :56.
SECOND ROUND CONSOLATIONS
119-Price, A, pinned Folk, IV, 4:35; 125-Hower, L, dec. Hanley, CM, 16-9; Kunig, SC, pinned Vanatta, H, :19; Bainey, PO, dec. Perini, A, 11-7; 130-Dillon, BEA, pinned Besch, L, 1:55; 135-Bender, IV, pinned Lauver, L, 1:33; Barnard, BEA, pinned Walls, H, 1:31; 140-Knarr, IV, maj. dec. Gribble, BEA, 11-0; Smith, PO, dec. Popchak, WH, 7-4.
145-Haubrick, L, pinned Campolongo, SC, 4:24; 152-Nulton, WH, dec. Neary, A, 8-3; Lash, IV, pinned Bilofsky, H, 4:16; 160-Michael, IV, pinned Thompson, PO, 2:56; 171-Peachey, L, dec, Martinez, SC, 8-1; 189-Barnes, A, dec. Regel, B, 10-3; Hassinger, IV, won by injury default over Welham, L; Varner, BEA, maj. dec. Stover, CM, 10-1; 285-Kreider, IV, pinned Hicks, BEA, :12.
