BEDFORD — Sometimes in wrestling tournaments, seeds can be deceiving.

Central Cambria sophomore Hadyn Strittmatter provided a classic example of that in this past weekend’s Bedford Thomas Automotive Wrestling Tournament at the Bedford Area High School gymnasium.

Strittmatter, whose season to date has been abbreviated by a knee injury, entered the tournament as the ninth-seeded wrestler in the 133-pound weight class, with only 11 matches under his belt and an 8-3 record.

Strittmatter showed that he was deserving of a much higher seed, however, as he knocked off three higher-seeded wrestlers, including the top seed, en route to his championship match against second-seeded Beth-Center senior Mason Wright Saturday afternoon.

It was only in that bout that Strittmatter met his match, as Wright hammered out a surgical 9-1 major decision to win the 133-pound title.

Strittmatter was one of two wrestlers from the Mirror’s core coverage area to reach the tournament’s championship round Saturday. The other, Central High School junior 285-pounder Blair Miller, also finished second, getting pinned in the title match by top-seeded West Greene senior Colin Whyte in 5:11.

Strittmatter has faced more than his share of physical adversity over the past year, but it hasn’t affected his confidence. After a dislocated elbow caused him to miss most of his freshman season last winter, he sustained knee damage in mid-December this season that required surgery.

Despite those obstacles, Strittmatter felt that he could win his weight class at the very competitive Thomas Automotive Tournament.

He wrestled like it too, racking up a fall and technical fall on Friday against his first two opponents before scoring a 13-4 major decision over top-seeded West Greene senior Noah Collins to reach Saturday’s semifinal round. Strittmatter scored a third-period escape in the semis to log a 1-0 decision over Huntingdon senior Chris Gibson and earn a berth in the championship bout against Wright, who registered a 3-point takedown in each of the three periods en route to his victory.

“Obviously, getting first place would have been ideal,” said Strittmatter, whose season record is now 12-4. “Coming in here as the ninth seed, I knew that I had the potential to win it. But over the past two seasons, with the elbow injury last year and the knee injury this year, I’ve had very little match experience.

“It was real nice to have some success here and show that I can compete with all of these guys,” Strittmatter added. “I’ve always been confident that I can hang in there with the top wrestlers in the state, and this proves that I can back up what I’ve been saying.”

On Friday, Strittmatter handily beat a 25-match winner in Collins in the quarterfinals, then used a defensive style of wrestling in Saturday’s semifinals to defeat a 26-match winner in Gibson.

However, Wright (25-8 this season), controlled the championship match.

“I came in with the expectation of winning, but it just didn’t go my way,” Strittmatter said of the title bout. “He controlled the hand-fighting, and he wrestled a better match than me.”

Central Cambria coach Matt Niebauer said Strittmatter being seeded ninth in his weight class at the tournament was extremely deceiving.

“He’s been injured, so he didn’t have the necessary points for higher seeding,” Niebauer said. “Seeding does matter, but everybody still has to go out and win their matches. It’s good to see Hadyn have success – he’s struggled over the last year with injuries. He had surgery on his knee earlier this season, and fortunately, (the doctors) didn’t have to do anything really extensive. They just had to clean his knee up a bit.

“We know the kind of talent that he possesses, but, due to the injuries, he just hasn’t been able to show it,” Niebauer added. “He’s put in a lot of time and effort, and he’s battled back. (Working hard) is usually what is going to determine if you will do well, and he has worked very hard.”

Central’s Miller (27-6 this season) was the second seed behind Whyte (30-3) in the 285-pound weight class.

Miller pinned his first two opponents in the tournament Friday, then punched his ticket into the championship match with a 13-1 major decision over 26-match winner and third seed Scout Frantz of Pine Grove in Saturday’s semifinals.

Whyte controlled the title bout with Miller, though, building a 7-0 third-period lead before applying the pinning combination with 49 seconds left in the bout.

“I feel all right, but I wish I could have done better,” Miller said. “This was a big learning experience. This is a good tournament and a good tune-up right before districts.”

Central coach Dave Marko agreed.

“Blair had a great weekend,” Marko said. “This is an excellent in-season tournament that is a good steppingstone and will help all of our wrestlers to gauge where they’re at and what they need to do to improve for the postseason.”

Other area medalists

Central, which finished 10th in the 31-team standings, had six wrestlers place eighth or better at their weight classes. Along with Miller, other placewinners for the Scarlet Dragons included Ty Matthews (third, 107), Kaden Horn (fourth, 145), Carsen Mowery (fifth, 121), Nathan Morris (sixth, 107), and Joel Morris (eighth, 127) … Central Cambria placewinners, along with Strittmatter, were Burk Niebauer (third, 139) and Jeremy Hajzus (sixth, 189), while Northern Bedford’s Knox Dibert placed sixth at 285, Nolin Snider finished seventh at 215, and Eli Dutchcot placed eighth at 114.

Notable

Burrell of District 7, with 180 ½ team points, barely nosed out runner-up Huntingdon (179) for the team title, while Chestnut Ridge followed closely in third place with 177 ½ team points … Huntingdon had eight wrestlers place eighth or higher, including three tournament champions in Doug McKim (160 pounds), Grady Clark (172), and Landon Erdman (215) … Led by four-time Thomas champ Dominic Deputy, who won the 127-pound title, Ridge boasted seven placewinners, including other champions Kooper Deputy (107), Garrett Weyandt (114), and Jayden Imler (189).

KEY, TEAM SCORING: 1, BUR–Burrell, 180 ½; 2, HUN–Huntingdon, 179; 3, CR–Chestnut Ridge, 177 ½; 4, GR–Greenville, 153; 5, CLF–141 ½; 6, NSCH–North Schuylkill, 130 ½; 7, LM–Line Mountain, 129 ½. 8, NG–Northern Garrett (Md.), 122; 9, TV–Tri Valley, 120; 10, CEN–Central, 118 ½; 11, BC–Beth-Center, 114 ½; 12, CC–Central Cambria, 92; 13, PG–Pine Grove, 91 ½; 14, WG–West Greene, 81; 15, MIL–Milton, 80 ½; 16, BED–Bedford, 79; 17, NEW–Newport, 73; 18, MEY–Meyersdale, 68 ½; 19, EV–Everett, 67 ½; 20, BB–Berlin Brothersvalley, 66; 21, NEB–Northeast Bradford, 62; 22, NB–Northern Bedford, 59; 23, TM–Tussey Mountain, 57; 24, NS–North Star, 55; 25, SH–Southern Huntingdon, 48 ½; 26, CT–Conemaugh Township, 37 ½; 27, FR–Frazier, 35 ½; 28, SOM–Somerset, 33 ½; 29, CK–Claysburg-Kimmel, 27 ½; 30, FAL–Falconer, 26 ½; 31, S–Sayre, 12 ½.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

107–K. Deputy, CR, pinned Wolfgang, TV, 0:45. 114–Weyandt, CR, dec. Ickes, CR, 5-1. 121–Rothermel, LM, dec. Santamaria, TM, 7-3. 127–D. Deputy, CR, dec. Baker, BUR, 8-1. 133–Wright, BC, maj. dec. Strittmatter, CC, 9-1. 139–Opel, NG, dec. Stewart, BUR, 3-2.

145–Gentile, GR, tech. fall Gates, NSCH, 19-3, 5:24. 152–Erdely, FR, dec. Mataria, GR, 4-2. 160–McKim, HUN, maj. dec. Ryan, CLF, 12-4. 172–Clark, HUN, dec. Savage, LM, 7-6 UTB. 189–Imler, CR, dec. Cox, GR, 8-3. 215–Erdman, HUN, pinned Miller, NEW, 1:38. 285–White, WG, pinned Miller, CEN, 5:11.

THIRD-PLACE MATCHES

(Listing results of wrestlers from the Mirror’s core coverage area)

107–Matthews, CEN, won by medical forfeit over Christ, CT. 139–Niebauer, CC, dec. Perrino, GR, 8-1. 145–Diehl, CLF, dec. Horn, CEN, 7-0.

FIFTH-PLACE MATCHES

(Results of area wrestlers)

107–Thomas, BUR, pinned N. Morris, CEN, 2:31. 121–Mowery, CEN, pinned Pickrel, NG, 1:26. 189–Peruso, HUN, won by medical forfeit over Hajzus, CC. 285–Brown, MEY, maj. dec. Dibert, NB, 10-0.

SEVENTH-PLACE MATCHES

(Results of area wrestlers)

114–Miernicki, NSCH, pinned Dutchcot, NB, 0:56. 127–Cronin, BC, pinned J. Morris, CEN, 4:19. 215–Snider, NB, pinned McGraw, NSCH, 2:41.