Nine Tyrone wrestlers fought their way through the first day of the District VI, including Thad Westley (125), David Miller (135) and Terry Tate (275) who all won a pair of matches to earn a place in today’s semi-finals which will begin at 1 p.m.
Thad Westley (33-6 overall and the top seed at 125) waltzed through the first two rounds, winning by fall over Sean Kenney (3-5) of Glendale, in 3:03 and won by a 14-1 major decision over Justin Berrier (19-10) of Southern Huntingdon. In the semifinals, Westley will face senior Jason Hughes (23-6) of Westmont-Hilltop. Hughes wrestled his way into the semis by pinning fourth seed Ron Repak 24-6) of Richland, in the quarterfinal round.
David Miller (28-10 and the third seed) pinned Chuck Gouse (6-10) of Portage, and decisioned Nathan Owens of West Branch, 15-9 to reach the semifinal round. In the dual meet, Miller edged Owens by a single point, 5-4 victory. Miller will meet another familiar wrestler in the semis. Dave shut out Preston Shawver (28-5) of Penns Valley, 6-0 in the King of the Mountain Tournament second round, then was pinned by the Ram sophomore in the consolation final for seventh place. In the final dual meet of the season, Shawver bested Miller 10-8 in overtime.
Terry Tate (29-5) pinned his way into the semi-finals. The Tyrone sophomore decked Chace Huzsek (2-12) of Somerset, in just under a minute (0:59) and then showed Darnell Jones (1-1) of Bishop McCort, the lights for a fall in 1:50. Tate will wrestle undefeated junior Jon Meese (24-0) of Marion Center, in the semis.
Bellwood-Antis senior Jared Ervine is the lone Blue Devil going into the semi-finals. Ervine (19-8) won an 11-1 major decision over Tim Tice of West Branch, in the first round, then continued his battles with Claysburg-Kimmel junior Jeremy Knott with a 5-4 triumph over Knott (28-3). Knott has two of his three loses to Ervine, getting majored 14-5 by Jared in the Blair Huntingdon County Tournament plus the loss in the quarters. Knott edged Ervine 5-2 in the dual, but trails 2-1 in the war. Ervine will face another tough opponent in the semi-finals in Glendale’s Rob Reynolds. The Viking senior (24-5), the third seed, majored Nick Rebar (17-7) of Moshannon Valley in the quarterfinals.
Knott was one of three No. 2 seeds who lost on the first day of wrestling, the others were Ryan McIntyre (25-6) of Claysburg-Kimmel, at 125, who was pined in the quarters by Mount Union’s Clyde Hendrickson and Brice Mertiff (22-12) of Tyrone, who was beaten by Jason Evans (14-10) of Somerset, 14-12 after trailing 9-2 after one period.
Robert Waite (103), Dane McCloskey (119), Brett Harris (130), Adam Swayne (140), Brice Mertiff (145), and Max Soellner (215).
Robert Waite (18-14) pinned Aaron McConnell (12-10) of Cambria Heights, in the opening round, but then was administered a 17-2 tech fall by top seed Adam Whetstone (25-3) of Claysburg-Kimmel. In the second round consolation, Waite gets sophomore Nathan Stains (14-13) of Southern Huntingdon. Waite pinned Stains in 1:41 in the fifth place consi-final of the Blair/Huntingdon County Tournament.
Dane McCloskey (23-11) won by an 11-1 major decision over Jon Pollock (12-14) of Portage, before losing a low scoring 2-1 decision to John Whistler (19-6) of Richland. In the second round consolation, Dane will wrestle Nathan Berezansky (19-10) of Central Cambria.
Brett Harris (26-11) opened with a fall in 4:14 over Aaron Reifer (14-6) of Moshannon Valley, then lost a 9-2 decision to third seed Dominic Inzana (23-1) of Cambria Heights. Harris will wrestle Glendale’s Jeff Paup (16-10) in a second round consolation match.
Adam Swayne (13-17) lost a 17-8 major decision to Dustin Charney (18-7) of Cambria Heights, and then in the first round consolation match pinned Richland’s Travis Ling (6-19) in 3:51. In the second round consolation, Swayne will meet Corey Diffibaugh (21-10) of Claysburg-Kimmel. Diffibaugh defeated Adam 5-1 in the Team Duals.
Brice Mertiff (22-12) opened the districts with an 18-5 major decision over Seth Bicker (8-10) of Marion Center, before falling way behind to Jason Evans in an eventual 14-12 loss. In the second round consolation, Brice will face Mark Ferrance (15-10) of Portage.
Max Soellner (4-5) pinned Tyler Bennett (1-5) of Marion Center, in the pigtail round, then ran into top seed and undefeated Josh Kirsch (32-0) of Mount Union. Kirsch pinned Soellner in 1:04. In his opening consolation match, Max won by forfeit over John Sigado (12-13) of Portage. In the second round consis, Soellner will wrestle Brian Gresh (11-5) of Central Cambria.
The Blue Devils still have four wrestlers alive in today’s second round consolations. Will Edwards (119), Josh Ervine (125), Dan Himes (145) and Dwayne Cherry (160) will begin when wrestling resumes at 10:30 a.m.
Will Edwards (15-6) fell behind early in his opening match against Chuck Boring (20-8) of United, and couldn’t quite catch up, dropping a 9-8 decision. In the first consolation round, Will pinned Travis Charney (3-4) of Cambria Heights, in 4:12. In the second round consolation, Edwards will meet Ray Harris (16-11) of Penn Cambria.
Josh Ervine (13-16) lost an 8-0 major decision to Jason Hughes of Westmont-Hilltop to fall into the consolation rounds, where he won his first match by pinning Cory Monfordini (7-10) of Portage. In the East West Tournament, Monfordini edged Ervine 7-6. Ervine will wrestle Steve Sudik (13-15) of West Branch, in the opening consolation round this morning. Ervine pinned Sudik in the dual in 2:12.
Dan Himes (8-5) won two of three on Friday at districts. The B-A senior won a 10-0 major decision over John Fiorili (3-13) of Blairsville. Third seed James Moss (28-7) of Forest Hills, pinned Himes in the quarterfinals in 1:40 and Dan came back to down United’s John Stahl 7-3 in the first consolation round. In the second round consolation matchup, Himes meets Alan Collins (21-6) of Glendale.
Dwayne Cherry (15-14) opened his district tournament with by beating the third period buzzer by three seconds to pin John Starr (12-19) of Mount Union, in 5:57. In the dual meet early in the season, Starr notched a 10-8 overtime decision over Dwayne. Then the B-A sophomore ran into top seed and undefeated Jared Ricotta (28-0) of West Branch, who pinned Cherry in 0:57. Cherry will meet David Douglas (14-15) of Central, in today’s second round consolation.
The Eagles Andrew Hiller (112) J. D. Shaw (152), Chris Tremmel (160) and Justin Clark (189) and the Blue Devils Shane Evans (103), Mike McGeary (112), Ron Colyer (135), Padraig Flynn (140), Mike Thomas (171), Dustin Earnest (189) and Chris Carrier (215) were elimintaed from the tournament on the first day.
There were no top-seeds who were upset, three No. 2 seeds as mentioned previously, no third seeds and six fourth seeds.
As expected, Forest Hills, with five top seeds, leads in the team race with 112 points and eight semi-finalists, followed by Mount Union, 91 points and six semi-finalists, Penns Valley 87 points and six semi-finalists, Tyrone 69 and three, United 68 and four, West Branch 67.5 and two and Westmont-Hilltop 66 and four. Bellwood-Antis is tied with Southern Huntingdon for the 18th position with 30 points and one semi-finalist.
