Both will be wrestling in the finals of the PIAA Championships at 4 p.m. Saturday at Hershey’s Giant Center.

Ciampoli advanced to the 160-pound finals in the Class 3A tournament on Friday night with a 4-2 win over North Penn’s Johnny O’Brien in the semifinals.

“It definitely feels great,” Ciampoli said, “especially after coming out of there with a seventh last year. I’m getting better, and what I’m doing is working.”

Scott captured a 7-2 victory over Northwestern Lehigh’s Luke Fugazzotto in the semifinals to advance to the Class 2A 189-pound title bout.

Photo for the Mirror by Chris Wechtenhiser Tyrone’s Kyle Scott takes down Fort LeBoeuf’s Aiden Struchen in the Class 2A quarterfinals on Friday in Hershey.

“It’s awesome,” Scott said. “I’ve been dreaming about this for awhile. I think it’s really cool, but I’m still a man on a mission.”

Altoona’s Braiden Weaver was denied a finals appearance at 133 by Whitehall’s returning state champion Wilmont Kai, who pinned the Mountain Lion senior with an odd move in 2:36 in the semis.

Ciampoli and O’Brien went through the first period scoreless. O’Brien escaped 25 seconds into the second period, but Ciampoli took the lead for good with a patient takedown with 58 seconds left. Ciampoli shot, had O’Brien over his shoulders and worked his way into a takedown.

“I definitely don’t want to rush a finish like that,” Ciampoli said. “I’ve been working on my finishes a lot lately, so credit to my coaches and practice partners.”

Ciampoli escaped with 1:05 left in the third and avoided any danger the rest of the way. When time expired on his 100th career win, Ciampoli smiled broadly and held up the No. 1 fingers.

Photo for the Mirror by Chris Wechtenhiser Altoona senior Braiden Weaver works his way to a major decision over Boiling Springs’ Drew Scherer in the 3A quarterfinals on Friday. Weaver lost in the semifinals later in the day.

“That was a huge win,” Altoona coach Joel Gilbert said. “The kid has the heart of a warrior. He went out and battled against a tough, tough opponent. He’s really wrestled well. We’re happy for him.”

Ciampoli (37-6), who finished seventh in Hershey at 139 last year, will wrestle West Scranton’s Tommy Schechterly (39-6), a 10-1 winner over Oxford’s top-seeded Jon Smith in the semifinals.

“It’s going to be exciting,” Ciampoli said. “It’s going to be fun. I’m going to wrestle as hard as I can and whatever happens happens.”

“If he stays on his game, is able to focus on scoring points out there and not get caught up in the moment, I think he has a very good chance,” Gilbert said.

Ciampoli bulldozed to his second straight technical fall in the tournament in the quarterfinals, rolling up a 19-4 rout in only 3:48 against Nazareth’s Dominick Tunison.

Ciampoli was aggressive early against Tunison, nailing a takedown 13 seconds into the bout. He added two more takedowns with strong leg attacks in the period to take a 9-2 lead into the second period.

After escaping quickly to start the second period, Ciampoli took Tunison down 11 seconds later for his fourth takedown. He added two more takedowns, including his sixth one with 12 seconds remaining, to get his 13th technical fall.

Scott took Fugazzotto down with 55 seconds left in the first period and just missed getting another takedown at the end of the period.

“I feel like I need a first period takedown,” Scott said. “It makes them not want to wrestle back.

“It was a different takedown than what he normally does,” Tyrone coach Quentin Wright said. “I actually looked over to the assistant coach and I said ‘I didn’t know he could shoot that shot.’ It was a little bit surprising, but it was a good thing.”

Leading 4-1 entering the third period, Scott rode for the first 50 seconds until giving up an escape.

“I would have rather wrestled more offensive,” Scott said. “I stayed on my toes, but I didn’t risk anything because tomorrow is all that matters.”

Scott stayed active late into the bout and Fugazzotto attempted a desperation headlock before time expired. Scott slipped through the headlock and got a takedown.

“It was a last little kaboom move,” Scott said. “It didn’t work, obviously. My positioning is second to none.”

Scott pointed upward as he realized he had advanced to the finals.

“It’s extremely special, especially for a kid like Kyle, who has been working his whole life and doing the right things,” Wright said. “I told him before the match it’s going to be a dogfight. You’ve got to go out there and fight for every point.”

Now the 45-0 Scott, who finished fourth last year, will wrestle Faith Christian Academy’s three-time state champion Adam Waters (32-2) in the finals. Scott lost by technical fall, 21-5 in 5:20, in last year’s semifinals.

Waters reached the finals with an 18-3 technical fall in 4:00 over Derry Area’s Brady Brown.

“I’m super excited” Scott said. “It’s kind of a joke, but tonight I’m going to watch ‘Rocky 4′ just to get me hyped up. I’ve been thinking about this match for a long time.”

Scott was unstoppable in a 17-2 technical fall over Fort LeBoeuf’s Aiden Struchen in 3:37 in the quarterfinals.

Scott nailed two takedowns in the first period, including the second one with 16 seconds left in the first period.

Scott escaped quickly in the second period and notched his third takedown 26 seconds into the period. Scott put Struchen on his back for four points and a 14-1 lead. Scott finished up the domination with a takedown with 23 seconds left, securing his 19th technical fall of the season.

“Kyle really opened up the first two matches here,” Wright said. “He was wrestling like the way he wrestles me in the practice room — just opened up, just going for it and imposing his will.”

Weaver was dominant in reaching the semifinals, racking up a 12-1 major decision over Boiling Springs’ Drew Scherer in the quarterfinals.

Weaver drew first blood by taking Scherer down 56 seconds into the bout. He then expanded his lead by scoring a four-point nearfall with 9 seconds left in the first period.

Scherer released Weaver 31 seconds into the second to make the score 8-0. Scherer chose bottom for the third period, but Weaver controlled him from the top position, getting another four-point nearfall with 26 seconds left.

Weaver’s win over Scherer was the 151st of his career. He picked up his 150th win in a 1-0 battle against Abington Heights’ Mason Whitney in the first round on Thursday night.

Everything seemed to be going according to plan for Weaver in the semifinals. After a scoreless first period, he was attempting to break free from Kai, but then Kai pulled off an odd-looking tilt with both arms wrapped around Weaver’s chest from behind.

Kai tilted Weaver for back points, adjusted, went chest to chest and got the fall.

“I’m not really sure what he did,” Gilbert said. “It was a very odd pin. Kai is a state champion and a very good wrestler in the country. He did something we haven’t seen before and you’ve got to give credit to him.”

Weaver, assured of at least sixth place, will wrestle in the consolation semifinals at 9:30 a.m. today.

“We’re hoping he’ll respond and come back on it, look to score points and continue to get the next best thing,” Gilbert said.

Williams earns first medal

Glendale’s Daniel Williams earned his first state medal in his Class 2A third state tournament appearance.

Williams recorded a 3-2 tiebreaker decision over Laurel’s Casey Wilson in his first bout of the day. Williams was down 2-1 in the second 30-second tiebreaker, but he reversed with 16 seconds left to go ahead and rode the rest of the way.

Williams needed only 45 seconds to catch Conneaut’s Drew Dygert in a standing cradle and pin him in 45 seconds in the consolation quarterfinals. He’s assured of at least sixth place by advancing to Saturday’s consolation semifinals.

Three fall in blood round

Altoona’s Deklan Barr (35-9) wasn’t able to pick up a medal at 127 in his second state tournament appearance.

He earned a 7-0 win over Boyertown’s Boden Waite in his first consolation bout of the day. But he was eliminated with an 8-3 loss to Butler Area’s Santino Sloboda in the blood round.

Sloboda scored a reversal in the second period of a scoreless bout. Barr notched a reversal with 34 seconds in the period to tie the score. Sloboda broke the bout open by reversing Barr to his back for six points.

Altoona’s Dominic Picciotti lost his quarterfinals bout, 15-3, to Council Rock South’s Quinn Bagnell. He was then eliminated by Palmyra’s Elijah Foltz, 10-3, in the blood round.

Central’s Ty Matthews made the Class 2A quarterfinals on Thursday, but he dropped a 7-4 overtime decision to Bishop McDevitt’s Blake Klipp at 107.

Klipp was leading 4-0 in the second period when Matthews took him down with 57 seconds left in the period to make the score 4-3.

Matthews tied the score with an escape early in the third, but the bout went to overtime, where Klipp got a takedown with 39 seconds left in OT.

Matthews was eliminated in the blood round with a 4-2 loss North Penn-Liberty’s Bodhi Nickerson. Matthews only managed a reversal with 16 seconds left in the bout.

The sophomore star for the Scarlet Dragons finished with a 43-10 record.

Cuevas, Clouse fall short

Bellwood-Antis 100-pound senior Juliette Cuevas and Northern Bedford 106-pound freshman Rachel Clouse were eliminated short of making the girls medal round.

Cuevas lost by technical fall, 16-1 in 3:19, to Montour’s Kristen Walzer. Clouse dropped a 7-5 decision to Montgomery’s Jenna Houseknecht.

Clouse held a 5-0 lead going into the third, but Houseknecht got a takedown and four-point nearfall with 1:06 remaining.