The second week of post season wrestling begins Friday afternoon at 5 p.m. at the Tyrone Area gymnasium for all Double-A wrestlers. The top five qualifiers from last weekend’s sectional tournaments at Tyrone and Penn Cambria will meet, with the top five from each weight class moving on to the Regional Tournament at the War Memorial in Johnstown on March 4-5.
This is the first year that a sectional tournament has been used, as a result of the number of teams involved at the Double-A level, since the 1988-89 season. Prior to that, sectionals were held for some years. That format was different in that once a wrestler lost in the sectional, he was eliminated. Last week at both locations, there was a full wrestleback with double elimination to field the best five athletes at each weight.
Local wrestlers will be represented at 12 of the 14 weights, with only the 125 and 215 weight classes open.
Two rounds will be wrestled on Friday, a pigtail with a number of byes and the quarterfinal round in which everyone will wrestle.
At 103, Tyrone freshman Anthony Romano (15-9) will face Richland sophomore Tyler Morder (26-10) in a quarterfinal match. Romano edged Morder 2-1 in the opening round of the Team Dual Tournament. Tyrone sophomore T. J. Albright (31-7) will battle Penn Cambria 10th grader Paul Myers (19-10) in the quarterfinals at 112.
Eagle junior Robert Waite (24-7) will get a quarterfinal match at 119, against Forest Hills junior Travis Moss (9-10). At 130, Tyrone junior Josh Hunter (15-24) will wrestle Westmont-Hilltop senior Mike Bair (19-11) in a pigtail match, with the winner going against East top seed Ryan McIntyre (30-3) of Claysburg-Kimmel in the quarters.
Eagle senior David Miller (36-5) will face Richland senior John Whistle (19-7) in a quarterfinal match at 135. Tyrone sophomore Jacob Smerekar (20-16) will meet Westmont senior Dan Golias (25-6) in a quarterfinal matchup. In the District Team Duals, Golias downed Smerekar 5-1.
Eagle senior Brice Mertiff (30-5) will get the winner of a pigtail match between Penn Cambria junior D. J. Chverchko (21-18) and Juniata Valley junior Tony Erb (13-16), in a quarterfinal match at 160. Tyrone junior Heath Walk (25-7) will wrestle a 171-pound quarterfinal match against the winner of a pigtail involving senior R. J. Hostetler (17-10) of Forest Hills, and Southern Huntingdon junior Brandon Shope (9-20). Tyrone senior 275-pounder Terry Tate will meet the winner of the pigtail match between Forest Hills junior Adam Bourdess (18-17) and Glendale senior Allen Collins (14-6), in a quarterfinal match. Tate pinned Bourdess in 1:40 during the Team Duals.
Bellwood-Antis 140-pound junior Josh Ervine (20-11) will wrestle a pigtail bout against Westmont senior Vince O’Donnell (20-13), with the winner facing Southern Huntingdon junior Justin Berrier (28-2) in the quarterfinals. Blue Devil senior Ronnie Colyer (11-19) faces pigtail opponent Stillwell (10-10), a sophomore from Ligonier Valley, at 152, with the winner to battle Forest Hills senior Art Moss (33-3). B-A senior Dwayne Cherry (16-9) will wrestle Richland sophomore John Whistler (20-13) in a pigtail at 189, with the winner battling Forest Hills senior Sean Kisel (38-2).
Wrestling will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday with the pigtails, with the quarterfinals to follow at approximately 6:30 p.m. Wrestling will begin on Saturday with first round consolations at 10:30 a.m., consolation quarterfinals at 11:30 a.m. and semifinals at 1 p.m. Consolation finals for third and fifth place will start at 6 p.m. and championship finals will go at 7:30 p.m.
