David Miller won a pair of matches and district VI-AA champs Brice Mertiff and Terry Tate each won a quarterfinal match on Friday, to gain spots in this afternoon’s semifinals. The Southwest Regional at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena is the third step on the way to the PIAA State Tournament in the Giant Center at Hershey Thursday through Saturday, March 10-12.
Having already been battle-tested by Eastern Sectional and District VI tournaments, the Southwest Regional represents the final level to be climbed to earn what every Pennsylvania high school wrestler sets his sight on from the beginning of wrestling practice back in early November, or as many of the Golden Eagle wrestlers know, the end of the football season=whenever that happens to be. With PIAA gold so close, this is the toughest height to climb, so far, both in mental preparation and quality of competition.
David Miller (40-6) became the first Tyrone wrestler to qualify for the semifinals. Miller, who is 116-41 during his high school career, won by a 20-3 technical fall over Nick Schepis of Carlynton, in 5:30 in the preliminary round at 135, then downed Fort Cherry’s Bryan Pleskovich 6-2, in the quarterfinals for his berth in the semifinals where he will wrestle District V champion Brent Wilson (29-6) of Hyndman.
Brice Mertiff (34-5) decisioned Jeff Havelka of Burgettstown, 14-0 in the quarterfinals at 160. In the semifinals, Brice, 96-43 during his high school career, will wrestle District VII second seed Todd Cessna (32-3) of Elderton.
Terry Tate (41-0) continued on his pin parade by decking Kevin Hartung of South Side Beaver, in the quarterfinals for his 32nd fall of the season in 2:28. Tate, with a 143-24 career mark will wrestle District VII fifth seed Chris Taueetia (32-12) of Burrell, in his semifinal match at 275.
Heath Walk (28-10) was edged 2-1 in the closing seconds of his prelim at 171, when Tyler Patterson of South Side Beaver, scored a reversal with Walk leading 1-0. In the first round consolations, Walk squeaked by Luke Miller of Chartiers-Houston 4-3, then was forced to default out of the tournament in the third period of his second round consolation match against Logan Downes (38-4) of Valley. Downes was leading 7-0 when Walk tried to stand and fell back down. Walk had to injury default with a possible concussion, leaving the mat on a stretcher for precautionary measures. The oft-injured Tyrone junior has a career 49-18 mark.
Anthony Romano (18-12) dropped his preliminary match to Patrick Gouin of Washington, 10-4 to fall into the consolation rounds. After drawing a bye through the opening consi round, Romano then dropped out of the tournament when District VII champ Josh Shields (32-13) of Burrell, scored a takedown in overtime to defeat the Tyrone 103-pounder in a battle ninth graders. Romano finishes his first varsity season with a 17-13 record for the Golden Eagles.
At 119, Robert Waite (26-10) was eliminated from the tournament, falling to Shane Welsh of Burrell, 11-4 and Ty Vanilla of Mount Pleasant, 8-6. Waite ends his junior season with a career mark of 71-41.
Wrestling will begin this afternoon at noon with the semifinals and the consolation quarterfinals. Consolation semifinals will be wrestled at 2:30 p.m. The consolation finals for third and fifth places will begin at 5:30 and the championship finals are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
