HERSHEY – If Curwensville Area High School 112-pounder Derek Brothers is to place in the PIAA Class AA Wrestling Championships again, he\’ll have to take the same route as last year when he bounced back from a first-round loss with two victories to make the medal round.
To improve on placing eighth at 103, the Golden Tide sophomore is going to have to win at least two more bouts in the consolation rounds of what is considered the toughest weight class in the Class AA tourney.
Brothers, the District 9 and Northwest Region champion, was upset 2-0 by Jeremy Landowski of Burrell Thursday morning, but he rebounded to oust Derek Goodwin of Hamburg 3-1 in the afternoon consolation round, giving District 9 champions an amazing 11-1 record for the day.
Wrestlers who have made a previous appearance in the state tourney usually have an advantage over one who qualified for the first time, but that was not the case for Brothers against Landowski, a freshman who placed fifth in the SW Region after finishing third in District 7.
The bout was scoreless through two periods as Brothers couldn\’t get off the bottom in the middle period, but he went to the final two minutes with two cautions.
On top for the third period, Brothers was called for a third caution, which gave Landowski (36-12) a point before action started. The Golden Tide bantam rode the entire period but was unable to turn Landowski. Another penalty point midway through the period set the final score.
Against Goodwin (39-11), a qualifier at 2007 qualifier at 103, Brothers made his 3-1 lead stand up by controlling the Southeast Region third placer in the third period.
Brothers (32-4) will return to the Giant Center Friday morning for the consolations second round, where he\’ll get the loser of the earlier championship quarterfinal bout between SE Region champ Joe Spisak (36-5) of Boiling Springs and Southwest Region third placer Evan Henderson (35-2) of United.
Spisak nipped last year\’s 103 champion and SW fourth placer Frank Martellotti (46-10) of Shady Side 4-3 in one of the big surprises of the first round, while Henderson rolled to a 12-1 major decision over NW runner-up Adam Matthews (29-16) of Reynolds.
Brothers beat Matthews 4-2 last week in the NW finals.
The survivors of the morning round will wrestle in the 6:30 p.m. evening session, which has the championship semifinals and consolation quarterfinals and semifinals.
District 9\’s best who came through the first round were Redbank Valley\’s Tyler McCauley and Jonathan Brothers at 160, Ridgway\’s Garet Pisani at 119 and Jerico Weitzel at 189, Smethport\’s Tim Hubbard at 125 and Jon-Mar Burdick at 140, Port Allegany\’s Nick Nichols at 130 and Dylan Major at 215, Brookville\’s Justin Moore at 135 and Coudersport\’s Dirk Cowburn at 152.
District 10 has 16 semifinalists and seven of its 15 first-round losers still alive in the wrestlebacks.
On Saturday, the consolation matches for third, fifth and seventh places are set for 12:30 p.m. and the championship bouts at 2:30.
Results for District 9 wrestlers:
CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND
(Wrestler\’s Region-Place, Grade and Record in Parentheses)
103 – Tyler McCauley (NW-2, 9, 33-4), Redbank Valley dec. Ean Starner (SE-3, 10, 28-10), Boiling Springs, 7-2.
112 – Jeremy Landowski (SW-5, 9, 36-12), Burrell, dec. Derek Brothers (NW-1, 10, 31-4), Curwensville, 2-0.
119 – Garet Pisani (NW-1, 10, 36-4), Ridgway, dec. Zane McClaskey (NE-3, 11, Wyalusing), 2-0.
125 – Tim Hubbard (NW-1, 11, 37-2), Smethport, major dec. Destry Hartrum (SE-2, 11, 28-8), Wilson Area, 16-3.
130 – Nick Nichols (NW-1, 12, 48-0), Port Allegany, dec. Colin Sheridan (SW-5, 11, 35-9), Mount Pleasant, 5-3.
135 – Justin Moore (NW-2, 12, 36-5), Brookville, dec. Matt Marcheski (NE-3, 11, 40-8), Shamokin, 6-3.
140 – Jon-Marc Burdick (NW-1, 11, 37-1), Smethport, dec. Nate Gross (SE-4, 12, 44-13), Brandywine Heights, 8-2.
152 – Dirk Cowburn (NW-1, 10, 35-0), Coudersport, dec. Eli Snyder (SW-4, 12, 31-6), Southern Huntingdon, 10-2.
160 – Jonathan Brothers (NW-1, 12, 36-1), Redbank Valley, pinned Ryan Oldt (SE-4, 11, 29-15), Tamaqua, 3:06.
189 – Jerico Weitzel (NW-1, 12, 29-1), Ridgway, dec. Kasey Lyon (NE-2, 12, 35-2), Canton, 3-1.
215 – Dylan Major (NW-1, 11, 41-5), Port Allegany, de. Kyle Parrish (SE-4, 12, 37-8), Newport, 3-2 (OT tiebreaker).
CONSOLATIONS FIRST ROUND
112 – Brothers (32-4) dec. Derek Goodwin (SE-3, 10, 39-11), Hamburg, 3-1.