Five began the Southwest Regional. Three fell down the hill, richer for the experience. Two continue on to the final stop on the high school wrestling journey to reach the summit.
Tyrone’s talented duo of T. J. Albright (112) and Robert Waite (119) earned a place in the 16-man bracket at the Giant Center in Hershey this weekend. Albright fell just short of a Regional title, falling in the championship finals, while Waite was victorious in his third place consolation match.
Albright (31-4), who posted his 100th career win in Friday evening’s quarterfinals with a pin over Dustin Brodmerkel of South Side Beaver, trailed District 5 champ Gary Pfahler (33-8) 4-2 in the third period of Saturday afternoon’s semifinals, when he reversed Pfahler to his back for a four-point move that carried the Tyrone junior to a 7-4 triumph. In the finals of a studded weight class that featured nine ranked wrestlers, Albright ran into Jordan Shields. Shields (41-4), a tough sophomore from Burrell. Shields took a 2-0 lead on a first-period takedown, but exploded for a reversal and seven back points in the middle period to run his advantage to 11-0. Albright controlled the action during the entire third period, but couldn’t turn Shields for points.
Albright opened the Regionals on Friday afternoon with an 8-2 decision over David Burrows of Derry Area.
Waite (40-5) came back after getting knocked off 13-7 by Vitaly Ivaschenko of South Park, the eventual runner-up to two-time Regional and defending state champion Troy Dolan (38-1) of Derry Area in the quarterfinals. The Tyrone senior, who earned his 100th win at the District 6-AA Team Duals earlier this year, rebounded to post four wins in the consolation bracket to claim the third-place medal at 119 and continue on to Hershey.
Waite started his comeback with a fall over Caleb Musselman of Northern Bedford, on Friday night, then scored a wild 12-10 win over Joel Rudy of Blairsville, holding off Rudy after the Blairsville wrestler closed the score with three last-period takedowns. Waite then repeated a win from the District championship match two weeks ago with five second-stanza nearfall points in an 11-7 victory in the consolation semifinals. Finally in the consolation final for third place, Waite led Paul Myers on Penn Cambria just 1-0 after two periods, before scoring a three-point nearfall from the top to begin the third period and then adding a takedown and two more back points for a solid 8-1 win.
“This was the overall goal, to get through one tournament at a time,” explained Tyrone coach Blair Packer. “I thought both T. J. and Robert did very well here at Regionals. I was very pleased with their performances. You always want to come out with two firsts, but somebody has to lose and somebody has to lose in every match. Coming out with a second and a third at this tournament, is not too bad. I am proud of both kids.
“You have 16 kids in each weight class (at Hershey) and we need to find a way to get into the top eight. I think both are capable of that. They are definitely in the caliber of being able to place, it just depends on which place we can fight our way into.”
After losing two teammates on Friday night, Bellwood-Antis senior Josh Ervine (28-7) had a fine season come to an end at the hands of an old nemesis. Southern Huntingdon senior Justin Berrier handled Ervine 10-4, for the third time this season in the consolation quarters. Ervine (80-44, the fourth best career win total in Blue Devil wrestling history) decisioned Joe Geary of Mount Pleasant, 5-2 before getting pinned by Brent Willison of Hyndman, and doubling up Lance Faidley of Somerset, on Friday.
On Friday, B-A senior Eli Colyer (24-7) was pinned by Ed Petrosky of Highlands, pinned Josh Switzer of Elderton, and lost an 8-1 decision to Zack Pisano of Burrell, and junior Ricky Shawley (23-9) dropped two straight matches, falling to Devon Maloney of Burrell, by 14-2 major decision, and then was eliminated 7-0 by Vinnie Destefano of Charleroi.
“Our kids all came here and lost matches, but they were in all those matches,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Ron Wilson. “If they can take nothing else away from these Regionals, they know that they can compete with this level of competition. That is a positive. These guys have kind of shown the way for the kids coming behind them, that they can compete on this level. This should do us well for the future, as far as work ethic in the kids and success at this level.”
Regional notes: Juniata Valley senior Garrett Scott (23-0) won his third Regional title and will head to Hershey in search of his fourth PIAA state championship. Scott was on the mat for less than four minutes (a pin in 0:27, and 16-0 tech fall in 3:14) to reach the finals, but had to rely on his riding abilities to edge West Greene’s Cody Renner 2-0 in the finals. Scott tied his cousin Brock Scott for most wins at Juniata Valley. Garrett Scott is 130-0 against everybody else he has wrestled and 0-2 against former Forest Hills grappler Jake Strayer. Now wrestling and nationally ranked at Penn State, Strayer defeated Scott, then a freshman in the District and Regional finals in 2003, but was upset at states before the two could meet for the third time. Only nine other wrestlers have won four state titles…..Donnie Ament won his third straight Regional title and improved his career mark to 175-27, tied for most career wins in the state of Pennsylvania….Two District 6 wrestlers reversed fates in the Regional finals. At 152, Matt Moore (35-1) of Blairsville, gained revenge against David Sunderland (35-1) with a 3-0 win over the Southern Huntingdon senior. Sunderland handed Moore his first loss in the D-6 finals 4-2 on overtime. Then at 171, Central Cambria senior Steve Makin (35-4) pinned freshman Zac Bennett (36-3) in 1:28, after dropping a 1-0 decision in the district final two weeks ago….Dolan, Scott and Ament all successfully repeated from last year’s Regional, but senior Nathan Tomporoski (38-3) of Highlands, was unable to defend his 2005 crown, when Penns Valley senior Nathan Andrews (36-2) pinned Tomporoski in 2:54 of the finals at 215….Senior 130-pounder Donnie Clark (32-0) of West Branch, Scott, and senior 189-pounder David Pisarcik (46-0) of Mars, are the only undefeated wrestlers to reach the state tournament out of the Southwest regional…. District 7 was the big winner with eight champions and a total of 34 wrestlers advancing to Hershey, while District 6 had six champs and will send 25 to the PIAA state tournament and District 5 had no individual champions and will take 11 wrestlers to states.
