Fresh from their quality performances over the weekend, at the Cambria County War Memorial in the Southwest Regional Wrestling Tournament, Tyrone wrestlers A. J. Schopp and T. J. Albright will continue their ascent up the final ladder in high school wrestling-the PIAA state championships at the Giant Center in Hershey.
The top eight from each of the 14 weight classes will earn a medal, but each of the 16 wrestlers at their respective weights have already shown their talents and dedication to simply get to this point.
Tyrone will be well represented by Schopp, a freshman who is capping a brilliant first season on the mat, and Albright, who is closing out a great career with his third trip to Hershey. Albright is second to Terry Tate (149-24) on the Tyrone career win list with a current mark of 133-42. Schopp is fresh from an outstanding effort to nail down the Regional championship
At 103 pounds, A.J. Schopp (37-3) will open his state tournament against Bryan Smith (35-8), a sophomore from Bethlehem Catholic, who finished fourth in the Southeast regional over the past weekend. The winner of Schopp’s match will face the winner of a first-round match between Northeast third placewinner Derek Lelby (31-7), a sophomore from Troy, and Northwest runner-up Garet Pisani (40-3), a freshman from Ridgway.
At 125 pounds, T.J. Albright (32-10), the third place fnisher at regionals, will battle Andrew Arnold (36-3), a senior from Northern Lehigh, who was the Southeast runner-up last weekend. The winner will battle the winner of the match between Northeast Regional champ Tyler Erdman (45-8) of Line Mountain, and Southeast fifth-place winner Victor Konno (29-14), a junior from Northwestern Lehigh.
The PIAA state wrestling tournament will be wrestled at the Giant Center in Hershey with Double-A action beginning with the preliminary round on Thursday morning at 9 a.m. First-round consolations will follow at 12:15 p.m. Friday will begin with quarterfinals at 8 a.m., with second-round consolations at 9:45 a.m. Semifinals and third-round consolations will be wrestled Friday evening at 6:30 p.m., with fourth round consolations at 9 p.m. On Saturday, the consolation finals for third, fifth and seventh places will begin at 12:30 p.m. The championship finals will start at 2:30 p.m.
For those wrestling enthusiasts who wish to also watch the Triple-A event, the preliminary round will begin on Thursday at 4 p.m. with first-round consolations at 7:15. On Friday, quarterfinals will start at 1 p.m. with second-round consolations at 2:45 p.m., Semifinals and third-round consolations will start on Saturday morning at 8 a.m., with fourth-round consolations at 10:30 a.m., third, fifth and seventh place finals at 6 p.m. and championship finals at 8 p.m.
