Dublers finish fourth; Sipes gets fifth
PIAA wrestling
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HERSHEY -- It says a lot about their competitive nature in wrestling, but Glendale brothers Zeke and Suds Dubler wanted to be higher up on the medals stand at the PIAA Class 2A Championships.
In the end, though, they wore fourth-place medals around their necks from the toughest high school state tournament in the nation on Saturday afternoon at Hershey's Giant Center. The state medals were the first for both Zeke and Suds.
Altoona freshman Luke Sipes also earned his first state tournament medal, claiming fifth place at 152 in the Class 3A Championships.
The Dublers both lost by one point in their respective third-place bouts. Zeke dropped a 3-2 decision to Newport's Ganon Smith at 160, and Suds followed with a 2-1 loss to Benton's three-time state placer Nolan Lear at 172.
"At the end of the day, I'm glad I got my first medal, but I'm never going to be satisfied until I'm on top of the podium," Zeke said after climbing down from the medals stand. "All of the kids I lost to (in the postseason) were tough opponents.
"Three of them were ahead of me on the podium this year at three, two and one with (Holden) Garcia, (Grant) MacKay and Smith. I had a good season, had some good wins, but it's time to get back to training and get ready for next year."
A third-period stalling point was still stuck in Suds' craw after the medals stand ceremony.
"Fourth place isn't too bad," he said. "It's my first medal, so I'm kind of happy. I think I definitely disagree with one of the stalling calls I was given. I didn't agree with that at all, but I just have to be more aggressive when I wrestle."
After a scoreless first period against Smith, Zeke (38-5) scored first with a reversal in the second period. Smith tied it with a reversal in the second, and Dubler appeared to have gotten another reversal before time expired in the period, but the referee didn't call it. The referee and the mat judge conferred, but the call was upheld.
"I thought I had that reversal," Dubler said. "I had a leg in and had a crossface, and he didn't have my far ankle. I don't know what they're looking at."
Smith escaped in the third to go up by one. With 10 seconds left, Dubler hit a lateral drop, and his feet were inbounds, but the official ruled him out.
Suds (40-4) went to the third period down 1-0 Lear, but he escaped 30 second into the period to tie the score. Twenty seconds later, Dubler went out of bounds and the referee called him for stalling the second time, giving a point to Lear.
Dubler motioned to the official that Lear had grabbed his head gear before going out of bounds, which is a penalty point. But the referee didn't change the call. That point was the deciding one.
"I think they wrestled great," Glendale coach Brian Storm said. "You always wish they ended the year on a win. I thought it was really awesome seeing them on the podium and getting medals. It was great to see Suds finally get on that podium. I think he deserves it. He worked hard. I'm excited for them both with whatever their future holds."
Sipes rebounds from loss
Sipes (36-3) reached Saturday morning's semifinals, but he dropped an 8-1 decision to Chartiers Valley's eventual champion Dylan Evans. Latrobe's Jack Pletcher nipped him, 2-1, in the consolation semifinals.
But Sipes, who had his sights set on a state title this season, outlasted Pine Richland's Kelin Laffey, 3-2, in a dramatic ultimate tiebreaker in the fifth-place bout.
"I'm happy that I ended in an odd number," Sipes said. "Obviously it's not the goal, but I finished strong, and I'm proud of that."
"That's awesome for a freshman," Altoona coach Joel Gilbert said. "He ended on a good note. It was a tough day."
Sipes went 3-2 in the tournament.
"I thought everyone in my bracket was pretty close," Sipes said. "In two of my matches, I didn't do what I needed to get done, but I was pretty proud of my tournament. It's not what I expected, but I'll be back next year."
In his semifinal loss, Evans put constant forward pressure on Sipes while locking on his arm with a Russian tie. The result was Sipes getting called four times for stalling, which yielded four points for Evans. Evans also had a takedown and two escapes.
"I knew he was going to put me in a Russian tie," Sipes said, "but I didn't know he was going to push me around like that. He wasn't really doing anything with it. He wasn't really shooting out of it."
In the consolation semifinals, Sipes held a 1-0 lead until Pletcher took him down with 8 seconds left in the bout to win.
In the fifth-place bout, Sipes and Laffey went into overtime and the tiebreakers tied, 1-1. They traded escapes in their respective 30-second tiebreakers, making the score 2-2.
In the final 15 seconds of the ultimate tiebreaker, Sipes got to his feet and turned and bowled Laffey backward, but Laffey held on. Sipes did a funk roll, but Laffey clung to both of his lower legs. Sipes kicked out after three or four attempts with 1 second left on the clock to win the bout.
"I knew I had to keep kicking away at the end," Sipes said. "I was just hoping and praying his lock would break. There was 1 second left when it finally broke, and I was so happy."
"We had talked earlier in the week that maybe we shouldn't even go down when we wrestle that guy," Gilbert said. "We ended up getting out three times, so it was a testament to Luke and what he's done in the sport.''