Tyrone returned to the always tough Thomas Chevrolet Wrestling Tournament on Saturday and came back with two second places and three seventh place finishes.
In the team race, Bedford rain away from the rest of the 22-team field wrapping up the first place trophy by the time the third fifth and seven place consolation finals were wrestled. Bedford finished with 208 points, North Star was a distant second with 180.5, Chestnut Ridge was third with 173, Penn Cambria fourth with 165.5 and Huntingdon rounded out the top five with 141. The Golden Eagles were 10th with 96 points, just a half point behind Beth-Center in ninth with 96.5.
A. J. Schopp (26-2), the second seed at 103, pinned his way into the finals, decking Levi Diehl of Hyndman, in 1:32, Jesse Runk of Huntingdon, in 3:59 and Andrew Lucarini of Fort Cherry, in 1:08. In the finals, Schopp fell behind Joe Lascari of North Star, 4-1 with time running out, when he tilted Lascari for three back points to send the match into overtime. With 22 seconds remaining in the one-minute sudden death overtime period, Lascari got the winning takedown to the first place medal.
At 125, second seed T. J. Albright (21-6) began the tourney with his 10th straight win by pin, decking Jefferson-Morgan’s Nathan Elkins in 2:38, then decisioned Cody Feathers of Claysburg-Kimmel and 5-1 and shut out Paul Myers of Penn Cambria 7-0 to reach the finals. Facing Sam Zimmerman, who earlier defeated top seed Glenn Winslow of Cambria Heights, traded reversals with Albright in the second period, then escaped and slipped an Albright desperation move for a takedown with three seconds left, for a 5-2 win and the championship.
Jacob Smerekar (152), Shayne Tate (160) and Donnie Conrad (189) all placed seventh for the Eagles.
Smerekar (17-9) defeated Tussey Mountain’s Zane Bussard 8-3, before a 7-2 loss to Chris Stay from Beth-Center, knocked him into the consolation brackets. There, Jake beat Nate Yingling of Central Cambria, 7-3 and dropped a 6-3 decision to Northern Bedford’s Ethan Boyd. In the consolation match for seventh place, Smerekar made a third-period takedown the difference in a 3-1 win over Jerin Miller of Chestnut Ridge. Tate (16-12) dropped his opening match to Jeff Corbin of Hyndman 8-7, then defeated Mike Resh of Northern Garrett, MD, by fall in 2:23, and edged Dave Cress of North Schuylkill, in a high-scoring affair, 11-10. After dropping a 10-5 decision to Andrew Oxenrider of Tri-Valley, Tate bested Alex Fisher of Berlin-Brothersvalley, in the seventh-place consi-final. Conrad (17-9) lost a 4-2 decision to Bedford’s Nick Beegle in his first match, then pinned Brooke Lohr of Richland in 1:31 and decisioned Nick Stultz of Chestnut Ridge, 4-3 in overtime. Tyler Baker of Berlin, edged Conrad 7-6, before Donnie got a measure of revenge by using a second-period reversal and third-period takedown to down Beegle 4-1 for seventh place.
Anthony Romano (130) went 3-2 and Cody Weaver (135) and Brandon Oswalt (285) each finished 2-2.
Romano (10-11) opened his tournament with a 9-5 win over Mike Caldwell of Cambria Heights, but then dropped an 11-2 major decision to top seed and eventual 130-pound champ Nathan Link of Penn Cambria. In the consolations, Anthony beat Anthony Jardina of Richland, 7-1 and Pat Connah of Central Cambria, before falling out of the tournament. Weaver (9-10) pinned Cameron Diamond of Tussey Mountain, in the preliminary round, before getting pinned by top seed and 135-pound champ Zack Lee of Berlin. In the consolations, Cody pinned Kelby Ramp of Newport, then dropped out of the tourney. Oswalt 2-6) won for the first time in the 2006-07 season. Oswalt was pinned by Matt Ling of North Star, then pinned Justin Carr of Northern Garrett, MD, in 2:01 and Cody Sauers of Tri-Valley, in the same exact time, 2:01, before getting eliminated.
Justin Schopp (171) and Dustin Weaver (215) went 1-2, for Tyrone, while Donnie Hunter (112), Tyler Poorman (119) and Cory Mills (140) each finished 0-2.
