HS WRESTLING: 6 Schuylkill wrestlers advance to AA regionals
Feb. 22—PALMER TWP. — Imagine losing a championship match, then having to step back on the mat just an hour later with your season on the line.
No time to dwell on the defeat, little time to fix mistakes, little time to recover physically. Just gear up, strap up and go to battle.
That's what the Schuylkill League contingent had to contend with Sunday at the District 11 Class AA Wrestling Championships at the Charles Chrin Community Center near Easton.
"That true second is a nasty round," said Tamaqua coach Jim McCabe, who was voted District 11 Class AA Coach of the Year.
The league put seven wrestlers into the finals, but all seven came out on the short end of their title bouts.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, just the top two placewinners in each weight class advanced to the Southeast Regional, set for Feb. 28 at Central Dauphin East High School. In past years, District 11 sent its top four placewinners to regionals.
The regional will have an eight-man bracket. The top four from District 3 and the top two each from District 11 and District 1/12 will compete in a one-day tournament Saturday.
Advancing by placing second were Tamaqua's Gabe Erbe (106), North Schuylkill's Danny Grigas (120), Lehighton's Lukas Ferguson (126), Tri-Valley's Jake Scheib (189), Tamaqua's Nate Wickersham (215) and Jim Thorpe's Derek Hunter (285).
Notre Dame-Green Pond cruised to the team title with eight champions and 266 points. Saucon Valley placed second with 176.5, followed by Tamaqua with 113. Palisades (96) and Lehighton (93.5) rounded out the top five.
"I don't think a coach gets this. I think the kids on this team get it," McCabe said. "... Normally we'd be taking four kids on to the next tournament. That's two years in a row we took third (as a team). We've worked hard and done the right things, I think, in order to give ourselves the best opportunity to come out on top."
Wickersham, an eighth-place finisher at states last season, had to go to overtime to finally turn back Notre Dame-Green Pond's Jason Sine 7-5 in sudden victory in his battle for second place. Sine was a state qualifier last season, but his season is done.
Wickersham, who lost 2-1 on a stalling point to Saucon Valley's Dante Mahaffey in the finals, pushed Sine to get a stalling point that tied the bout 5-5.
In a wild flurry in overtime, Wickersham found a way to get his hips on top for the winning takedown that extended his season.
"It's definitely humbling, coming in undefeated, and wrestling in the finals. It was a tough one there," Wickersham said. "Coaches, teammates told me to let it go. You've got to wrestle another one. We'll worry about (the loss) later.
"I got that one done," he added, "and now we can start fixing stuff for next week."
Scheib didn't wrestle his best match in the finals, giving up a reversal at the end of the first period and a takedown and two back points at the end of the second. Those points cost him in a 10-6 loss to Saucon Valley's Ty Csencsits.
Rebounding against Notre Dame-Green Pond's Jared Blobe, Scheib went up with a second-period takedown and caught Blobe for the fall in 4:37.
"The finals didn't turn out how I wanted it," Scheib said, "but it doesn't slow me down. You've just got to keep persistent. Wrestling's more a mind game than anything. Just wrestle smart. No big moves. Just win the match. That's all that mattered."
Erbe was the first to punch his ticket to regionals with a true-second victory. He ran into a buzzsaw in the finals, falling 15-0 in 4:20 to Notre Dame-Green Pond's Ayden Smith. In the true-second bout, Erbe rebounded with an 8-0 major decision over North Schuylkill's Noah Gilgore.
"It was really nerve-wracking because I really wanted to make it to regionals freshman year," Erbe said. "... I wrestled him before, and I beat him, but it's still nerve-wracking anyway. It makes me happy. I'm just thankful to be able to go on."
At 120, Grigas got pinned in the finals by Notre Dame-Green Pond hammer Brett Ungar in 1:04. Grigas, though, advanced to regionals when Catasauqua's Austin Brett finished third. Since Grigas had defeated Brett 4-2 in the semifinals, they did not have to wrestle a true-second place match.
The same scenario played out at 126. Notre Dame-Green Pond's Evan Maag pinned Lehighton's Lukas Ferguson in 2:49 in the finals. Ferguson took second and the regional berth since he had pinned third-place finisher Connor Nicholas of Saucon Valley in 2:38 in the semifinals.
Hunter also moved on because he had defeated third-place finisher Joshua Shaffer of Northern Lehigh 6-4 in the semifinals. Hunter dropped a 3-2 decision to Pen Argyl's Aiden Compton in the finals.
Hunter is just getting into wrestling shape as he missed most of the season with a shoulder injury suffered during football season.
"Just got to get back in the (practice) room and work harder," Hunter said. "Now I have a little time to train more.
"I finally got cleared the other day," he added. "So now I'm back."
Contact the writer: blipsky@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6012: @boblipskyRH on Twitter
