Area wrestlers able to bounce back in earning medals
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By Todd Irwin
sports@altoonamirror.com
HERSHEY -- It's kind of fitting that after enduring frustrating losses, questionable officiating and timely wins at the PIAA Class 3A Championships, Altoona's Braiden Weaver and Luke Sipes ended their time in Hershey on respective high notes.
The finished with gutsy takedowns before their bouts went to overtime.
Weaver took Perkiomen Valley's Max Tancini down with 15 seconds remaining in a scoreless bout to win, 2-0, and secure a fifth-place medal -- the best performance of wrestlers from the Mirror coverage area.
Sipes, who may have been the most frustrated area wrestler because of a couple official calls in losses, avenged his first-round loss to Lebanon's Griffin Gonzalez by taking Gonzalez down with 10 second left to win, 3-1, in the seventh-place bout.
"I'm not going to lie -- I thought I was going to give it up," Weaver said. "I just kept on circling, circling and then eventually I caught his legs up in a bunch, and I just took him down."
"It feels good to avenge the loss in the round of 16," Sipes said. "It kind of stinks wrestling for seventh and eighth in my opinion, but I had it going for me that he beat me early in the tournament. That really stung. It kept me going."
Weaver was achingly close to wrestling for third place, but he dropped a 4-3 decision to Pennridge's Colby Martinelli in the consolation semifinals.
Down 4-1, Weaver headlocked Martinelli at the edge of the mat in the final 20 seconds for a takedown. A Flo Wrestling video appeared to show that Martinelli's back was exposed on the mat at an angle of 45 degrees or less for at least two seconds after the headlock. That would have been two nearfall points. But the official never counted.
"It shows his resiliency," Gilbert said. "All three of these kids down here are very resilient. They're able to focus, get their mind set on the next match and forget about the bad calls and the other things that happen to them and go forward."
In the fifth place bout against Tancini, Weaver chose neutral for the third period instead of choosing bottom.
"He's really good on top," Weaver said. "He may be one of the best people in this tournament on top."
They appeared headed to overtime. But as Weaver was defending Tancini attempting to spin around behind the Mountain Lion with both on their knees, Weaver double-legged Tancini and got the takedown.
"He wrestled well. It was a very smart match," Altoona coach Joel Gilbert said. "He was very aggressive out there. He scored when he had to do - at the end of the match."
Weaver went 4-2 over three days, including a pin in 4:02. He was knocked into the consolations by Butler's eventual fourth-placer Santino Sloboda, 4-2, in the quarterfinals. Martinelli finished third.
"I think it went really well," Gilbert said of Weaver's performance in the tournament. "Fifth place as a freshman is a great achievement. I think Sipes is the only other fifth place finisher we've ever had as a freshman."
"I learned a lot," Weaver said. "I need to work on bottom when people throw legs in. I need to learn to get out better."
Nothing is a given in the toughest high school state tournament in the nation, but Weaver, who finished 39-6 and set the school's freshman single-season win record, could climb higher on the medals stand next season.
"Next season, it's going to bring a lot of motivation," Weaver said. "I'm going to train really hard this time. I'm going to take it seriously. Next year, I'm training to get first. I'm just going to focus on what I need to work on."
Sipes very well could have been wrestling for better placement, but there were some questionable calls in two bouts that might have made the difference in his two losses.
In the first encounter with Gonzalez, a Sipes shot with 50 seconds left appeared to have led to a takedown. A photo sent to Gilbert and the video seem to confirm that.
In his consolation semifinal, where he lost to Owen J. Roberts' Sam Gautreau, 2-1, after a Gautreau takedown with 6 seconds left, Sipes still had control of his opponent's leg when the takedown was awarded. The lead official met with the mat judge and Gilbert, and the takedown was upheld.
"That was a tough pill to swallow," Sipes said. "I was really heartbroken after that one. But I've got to realize I have two more shots at this - my junior and senior year. That's all out of my control. It's just going to fuel me in the future to work even harder than I've been."
A motivated Sipes converted a single-leg shot on Gonzalez with time winding down in regulation.
"I think I finally opened up," Sipes said. "I committed to my attacks. I got in during the first match, but I couldn't finish. Even in the second match, I got in deep one time, and I could not finish. He has really good defense. In the second shot, I got in deep, shoe-topped him and I finished this time. That's the difference."
"It was real special," Gilbert said. "Redemption is sweet. He was able to get in on a shot. He was able to finish that shot, which he wasn't able to do Thursday night. He looked really good out there. He worked from all positions. He controlled the ties. He was able to finish the shot, and that's what it takes down here to win."
Sipes, who set the program's single-season win record at 41-5, went 3-2 at a weight class with eight returning placewinners. One of those wins was a 3-1 overtime decision over Boiling Springs' two-time Class 2A placewinner Michael Duggan in the blood round of consolations.
"He's had a rough weekend," Gilbert said. "It shows a lot of resiliency in him coming back and continue to work to place high at this tournament. Sometimes you can't control (the official calls). You have to forget about them and move on.
"It's just a true testament to him and his family and his beliefs in the sport and the things that he has done and put into it. We're real proud of what he's done."
Dubler places eighth
Glendale senior Zeke Dubler finished out his high school career by finishing in eighth place at 160 pounds in the Class 2A tournament.
Dubler also had a rematch in his seventh-place bout. The Southwest Regional runner-up pinned West Perry's Justice Hockenberry-Folk in 4:07 in the first round.
But in their seventh-place bout, Hockenberry-Folk received a stalling point with 20 seconds left to tie the score, irking Zeke's brother Suds, who has been assisting coach Brian Storm in the postseason. Hockenberry-Folk then escaped with 2 seconds remaining to win, 3-2.
Dubler, who placed fourth last season, finished his senior season with a 41-7 record and 30 pins and his career with a 126-26 mark and 83 pins. The season and career pins marks are program records.
The Lehigh recruit's hopes of wrestling in the state finals were dashed by Lackawanna Trail's Deegan Ross, 11-6, in the quarterfinals.
"Zeke had kind of a rough weekend," Glendale coach Brian Storm said. "I didn't think he was really stalling there. The kid was running, and Zeke was trying to lift. The kid was hooking his leg when he was lifting, and he had no option other than to walk forward in my opinion.
"But we had to score points there. We had to get a takedown or some other kind of points. But Zeke's had a great career. I'm proud of him, and he should be proud too. It's a tough tournament."
Deputy gets silver
Chestnut Ridge freshman Dominic Deputy reached the championship finals at 107, but he suffered a 6-1 loss to Northern Lebanon's returning and unbeaten state champ Aaron Seidel.
Seidel (48-0) notched three takedowns and was a bear from the top position. Deputy finished with a 40-4 record.
"He wrestled okay," Ridge coach Josh Deputy said. "There are a couple hurdles that we've still got to get over. His losses this year were to the 107-pound champ, the 114-pound champ (Notre Dame-Green Pond's Ayden Smith) and the national prep champ (Wyoming Seminary's Davis Motyka).
"He's there. Just one more step. Obviously you don't want him to lose, but this will keep him hungry. Now he's got a taste of it. It's going to get easier and easier for him."
Dominic went 3-1 in the tournament with a pin, two decisions, including an 8-5 decision over Trinity's Will Detar in the semifinals.
Afterward, Deputy said he'd back drilling at 5 a.m. on Monday in preparation for the Journeymen World Classic and World Team Trials in late April in Las Vegas. After that, he'll focus on bringing home a gold medal from Hershey.
"I'm looking forward to it a lot," Dominic said.
Ridge teammate Calan Bollman placed sixth at 145 - his third state tournament medal after a second and a fifth.