Photo for the Mirror by Chris Wechtenhiser Altoona’s Braiden Weaver tries to put Wyoming West’s Dorian Hoffman on his back.

HERSHEY — Altoona’s Braiden Weaver turned 16 years old on Wednesday. On the first day of the PIAA Class 3A Championships, the freshman was celebrating with a win in the first round.

Weaver earned a hard-fought 3-2 decision over Wyoming Valley West’s Dorian Hoffman in the first round on Thursday at Hershey’s Giant Center.

“He wrestled well,” Altoona coach Joel Gilbert said. “He kept up a good pace, scored a takedown and rode the guy tough. He looked good in all positions.”

Unfortunately, and very surprisingly, teammate Luke Sipes, a semifinalist as a freshman last season, won’t be joining him in the quarterfinals.

Sipes, a returning fifth-placer, dropped a 3-1 decision to Lebanon’s returning seventh-placer Griffin Gonzalez in the first round.

Fellow Mountain Lion Caleb Fasick also dropped a close one – a 4-3 decision to Sun Valley’s Hunter Delaney in the preliminary round. His career came to an end with a 10-3 loss to Spring-Ford’s Quinn Smith in the first round of consolations.

“Tough day,” Gillbert said. “We ended up 1-3 on the day. But I thought our wrestlers wrestled well.”

The quarterfinals and second round of consolations are set for 2:15 p.m. today. The third round of consolations follows at 5 p.m.

Sipes received a bye in the consolations, so he’ll be wrestling on the second day.

Against Hoffman, who beat Gettysburg’s William Yordy, 9-2, in the preliminary round, Weaver scored a crucial takedown with 51 seconds left in the first period. He rode the rest of the period, taking a 2-0 lead into the second.

“He had a nice ankle pick,” Gilbert said. “He set the kid right on his behind. It was like finding that second or third move to take your opponent down.”

Weaver escaped 24 seconds into the second period and was curiously called for stalling with 54 second left.

“The other guy got a two-on-one, and we backed out,” Gilbert said. “That was probably the only thing passive we did in the whole match.

He was hit with another stalling call with 18 seconds remaining, giving a point to Hoffman. Hoffman escaped with 5 seconds left, but Weaver avoided danger from there.

“He cut him at the end to give him a point, but down here you’ve just got to advance,” Gilbert said. “It doesn’t matter about how many points you advance by. You have to advance, and he advanced tonight.”

Weaver (36-4) will wrestle Butler freshman Santino Sloboda in the quarterfinals. Sloboda (38-1), a Southwest Regional runner-up, advanced with a 3-0 win over Perkiomen Valley’s Max Tancini.

“If he continues to wrestle like that, good things are going to happen,” Gilbert said. “He’s going to be a tough out for anybody in this tournament as it continues because he gets stronger as the tournament goes on. I think he’s ready to go.”

Sipes defended a couple deep Gonzalez shots in the first period. The Mountain Lion escaped quickly in the second, but Gonzalez took him down with 39 seconds remaining in the period.

Sipes took an injury timeout with an apparent shoulder injury. Sipes, of course, had his right shoulder surgically repaired in the offseason.

Sipes continued and released Gonzalez early in the third. Sipes just missed on some takedown attempts, including one as time expired. Gilbert showed a photo he had of Sipes behind Gonzalez, and Gonzalez’s left knee was on the mat.

“There were a few questionable calls in that one,” Gilbert said. “That’s a part of the game down here sometimes.”

After getting a bye in the first consolation round, Sipes (38-4) will wrestle the winner of Waynesburg Central’s Nate Jones and Abington Heights’ Brian Heard in the second round of consolations. Neither Jones nor Heard are one of the eight returning placewinners at the weight.

Sipes is still a win away from breaking the program single-season win record he shares with D.J. Hollingshead

“We expect Luke to come back tomorrow and wrestle just as hard as he did today,” Gilbert said. “We’re proud of the way he wrestled today. It just didn’t work out.

Fasick (30-10) was losing 3-1 to Delaney when he scored a takedown with 37 seconds remaining. Delaney escaped with 22 seconds left, and time expired on Fasick.

Smith took Fasick down four times in his final bout, but Fasick did get a takedown. A Super Regional qualifier two years ago, Fasick missed the post season last year with an elbow injury.

“Fasick had a great career at Altoona,” Gilbert said. “He really didn’t start wrestling until about eighth grade. He wrestled a few years in elementary school and then went on to play basketball. Last year, he dinged up his elbow, so it was kind of a comeback story for him.”

“Overall, I think I had a pretty good season,” Fasick said. “I battled back after I missed all of last year. Obviously I’m pretty disappointed. It wasn’t the result I wanted. I had a very fun career, great four years here at Altoona.”