With 10 seeds in the top four, Philipsburg-Osceola expected to do well on the first night of the District 6 Class AAA Tournament Friday at the Altoona Fieldhouse.
It did, but just not as well as the Mounties expected.
P-O pushed eight wrestlers through to today's semifinals, have all 14 still alive and trail Central Mountain by five points, 68-63, in the team standings. The Wildcats have nine semifinalists and 13 still wrestling. Westmont Hilltop (59) is third.
Article Photos
Mirror photo by Gary M. Baranec
Philipsburg-Osceola’s Bryan Descavish (top) works during his victory over Hollidaysburg’s Mark Kociola at 113.
Bryan Descavish (113), Brian Evans (120), Caleb Shively (126), Andrew Greenawalt (138), Logan Walstrom (145), Jared Smith (152), Jeffrey Thompson (160) and Jay Prentice (170) reached the semis.
Fourth-seeded Chris Thompson dropped a 3-2 decision to Bald Eagle Area's returning district champion Travis Giedroc in a loaded 106-pound weight class.
"I was hoping for a few more," P-O coach Tim McCamley said. "With all the fourth seeds wrestling fifth seeds, some of those are hard to determine which one is which. We did okay.
"The object now is to get to the top four. It's not going to be easy. We have really tough draws in the semifinals because we had so many four seeds, and most of them are looking at top seeds."
Sixteen area wrestlers advanced to the semifinals, which are scheduled for 11 this morning. Four each from Altoona and Hollidaysburg advanced.
Altoona's D.J. Hollingshead (120), T.J. Brandt (126), Connor Lesniak (152) and Markief Knode (160) advanced to the semis, but second-seeded Mante Barnes was pinned by State College's Jack Haffner in 3:19 in the quarters. Barnes, the highest seed to lose, bounced back in his consolation bout to win.
"We didn't wrestle real well in that round," Altoona coach Joel Gilbert said. "We had some tough matchups, but you've got to open up and let it fly out here, and we didn't let it fly. We have to come back the hard way now. Hopefully, we got rid of the first-round jitters and we're ready to go to the next round.
"[Barnes] went out and I think the nerves got to him a little bit tonight. He just didn't open up. There's eight guys at that weight class that could win, and you have to open up and let it fly."
Hollidaysburg's Damian Huff (106), Laret Miller (182), Matt Milardo (220) and Matt Barton (285) reached the semis. Miller won by pin, and Huff earned a decision.
Milardo pinned Johnstown senior and former Altoona wrestler Kawan Butcher in 1:47 in the quarters.
"He's certainly capable of doing that," Hollidaysburg coach Mike Moore said. "I think the weight class change gave him some confidence, and he looked good."
Barton, a third seed, got a scare, going to the overtime tiebreakers against Johnstown's Jeremiah Mitchell, but Barton rode Mitchell out in the second rideout to win, 3-2.
"He's not getting angles," Moore said, "and he's going to have to do a better job coming up in these next few rounds."
Chris Thompson was leading, 1-0, in the second period when Giedroc, who lost to Thompson in the dual meet, scored a takedown. Thompson escaped to tie the score, but Giedroc escaped in the third to win.
"That was probably the worst draw of the night with the fourth and fifth seeds," McCamley said. "That's a defending district champ he has to wrestle right off the bat. He wrestled hard. He didn't take advantage of some of the openings he had."
The fifth-seeded Shively held a lead over State College's fourth-seeded Ty Millward for most of the bout, but Millward's late third-period takedown tied the score, 8-8. But Shively took Millward down 15 seconds into OT to win, 10-8.
"Shively is a tough kid," McCamley said. "He doesn't have a lot of matches under his belt. I think the nerves got the best of him a little bit tonight, but he came back and won when he had to."
Descavish, Greenawalt, top-seeded Walstrom, top-seeded Smith and Jeffrey Thompson won by fall, while Evans had a major decision, and Prentice won by decision.
Hollingshead and two-time champ Brandt won by fall, while Lesniak won by major decision, and Knode earned a 3-1 decision over Bald Eagle Area's Dustin Coakley to set up a semifinal against Central Mountain state champ Brian Brill.
Altoona 285-pounder Austin Rosenberry had Bellefonte's second-seeded Garrett Poorman on his back in the first period and led, 5-2, going into the second. Poorman, however, pinned him in 2:42.
"His uncle [Doug Rosenberry] has been working with him a little this week," Gilbert said, "and he taught him that little throw. I thought we had an opportunity there."
Notes: Hollidaysburg (33) is in seventh place, and Altoona (32) is eighth. ... The Mountain Lions went 3-1 in the only consolation round. ... Johnstown's returning district runner-up Gervon Simon was beaten by BEA's Aaron Varner, 9-1, in the 195-pound quarters. ... The championship finals are set for 7 p.m.
CLASS AAA TOURNAMENT
KEY, TEAM STANDINGS
1. CM--Central Mountain 68; 2. PO--Philipsburg-Osceola 63; 3. WH--Westmont Hilltop 59; 4. B--Bellefonte 48.5; 5. BEA--Bald Eagle Area and MC--Mifflin County 47; 7. H--Hollidaysburg 33; 8. A--Altoona 32; 9. SC--State College 25; 10. J--Johnstown 13.5
PRELIMINARIES
113--Noll, BEA, pinned Rimbeck, A, 5:49; 138--Haun, SC, dec. Fetterolf, B, 7-3; 145--Walls, H, maj. dec. Owens, SC, 11-1; 160--Wolk, H, pinned Ashcraft, SC, 2:50; 195--Stacey, CM, pinned Welham, MC, 5:59; 285--Dombroski, PO, pinned Hicks, BEA, 1:14.
QUARTERFINALS
106--Kauffman, SC, pinned Querry, A, :17; Giedroc, BEA, dec. C. Thompson, PO, 3-2; Blackburn, WH, pinned Underhill, MC, 1:50; Huff, H, dec. Rosenberger, B, 8-1; 113--Corl, B, tech. fall Noll, BEA, 15-0, 1:37; Descavish, PO, pinned Kociola, H, 2:15; Sills, SC, dec. Zipf, WH, 11-7; Bottorf, CM, pinned Folk, MC, 1:08; 120--Traxler, B, pinned Mical, WH, 1:49; Evans, PO, maj. dec. Horner, SC, 11-2; Hanley, CM, dec. Pearce, MC, 6-2; Hollingshead, A, pinned Stine, BEA, :33; 126--Brandt, A, pinned Musser, B, 1:24; Shively, PO, dec. Millward, SC, 10-8 OT; Besch, MC, pinned Mills, WH, 2:33; Bechdel, CM, maj. dec. McCaslin, BEA, 11-2; 132--Harris, J, tech. fall Holden, SC, 16-0, 6:00; Fisher, B, pinned Millard, PO, 3:34; Caprio, CM, maj. dec. Bender, MC, 15-4; Walsh, WH, pinned Price, A, 1:57; 138--Dillon, BEA, pinned Haun, SC, 2:27; Helsel, WH, pinned Pennington, A, 3:54; Greenawalt, PO, pinned Smith, J, 2:39; Miller, CM, maj. dec. Bair, MC, 13-4; 145--Walstrom, PO, pinned Walls, H, 1:09; Leeth, J, dec. Reese, CM, 5-2; Knarr, MC, maj. dec. Garrison, WH, 15-1; Wortman, B, pinned Luciano, A, 2:20.
152--Smith, PO, pinned Owens, SC, :41; Patton, WH, pinned Baney, BEA, 5:37; Lesniak, A, maj. dec. Cable, B, 10-2; Gavlock, CM, pinned Hess, MC, 1:46; 160--Brill, CM, pinned Wolk, H, :43; Knode, A, dec. Coakley, BEA, 3-1; J. Thompson, PO, pinned Phillips, B, 1:33; Michael, MC, maj. dec. Cramer, WH, 9-0; 170--Taylor, BEA, pinned Bilofsky, H, 2:50; Lowber, MC, dec. Martinez, SC, 10-7; Prentice, PO, dec. Barron, WH, 7-0; Powers, CM, pinned Buckrop, A, 1;17; 182--Burnheimer, WH, pinned Alvarez, SC, :32; Grieb, BEA<pinned Lumadue, PO, :37; Miller, H, pinned Peachey, MC, 2:11; Buckwalter, CM, pinned Cain, B, :25; 195--Shawley, B, maj. dec. Stacey, CM, 9-0; Kowalewski, WH, dec. Anstine, PO, 6-2; Varner, BEA, maj. dec. Simon, J, 9-1; Haffner, SC, pinned Barnes, A, 3:29; 220--Searer, MC, maj. dec. Porter, CM, 13-3; Milardo, H, pinned Butcher, J, 1:47; Shovestull, WH, dec. Gray, PO, 4-1; Sharkey, BEA, pinned Sinclair, A, 1:39; 285--Duplin, WH, pinned Dombroski, PO, 2;22; Kahley, MC, dec. Stover, CM, 5-1; Barton, H, dec. Mitchell, J, 3-2 OT TB2; Poorman, B, pinned Rosenberry, A, 2:42.
FIRST ROUND CONSOLATIONS
113--Folk, MC, pinned Rimbeck, A, :52; 138--Bair, MC, pinned Fetterolf, B, :47; 145--Luciano, A, dec. Owens, SC, 3-2; 160--Cramer, WH, dec. Ashcraft, SC, 8-3; 195--Barnes, A, dec. Welham, MC, 7-3; Rosenberry, A, pinned Hicks, BEA, :20.
