CLARION – Senior Derek Brothers, bidding for his third championship, and sophomore Jake Keller were the only Curwensville Area High School wrestlers to survive the first two championship rounds of the District 9 Class AA Tournament in Clarion University’s Tippin Gym Friday afternoon and evening.
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Brothers (28-3), the top seed at 125 pounds, received a bye in the preliminaries and then parlayed four turnovers with a takedown and reversal for a 16-0 technical fall against Kane’s eighth-seeded Will Hulings, ending the mismatch in 3:13.
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The fourth-seeded Keller (12-2) pinned Cameron County’s Dominic Galluzzi with a guillotine in just 34 seconds before escaping the quarterfinals with a hard-fought 6-4 decision over fifth-seed Slade Horner of Ridgway.
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Keller was the aggressor in the first period, but the Elker soph was able to counter and then came out of a flurry to get the takedown with just 12 seconds remaining.
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Keller reversed midway through the middle period and then used a spiral ride and power half to engineer an all-important turnover for three points early in the third period.
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Horner reversed with 16 seconds left to trail 5-4 and then cut Keller loose, hoping to force overtime with a takedown. His attempt did not result in two points, though Ridgway coaches and fans thought their wrestler had the takedown.
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The Golden Tide has two other hopefuls in the consolations, sixth seed Greg Koptchak (112) and seventh seed Hunter McCracken (135) receiving byes in the second round of wrestlebacks after losing in the quarters.
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Koptchak tied third seed Nick Schrecengost of Redbank Valley 2-2 with a tilt early in the second period, but the Bulldog soph reversed and added two near falls for a 9-2 lead and then came off the bottom in the third period to post a fall at 4:31.
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Second seed Quinton O’Rourke of Johnsonburg proved too tough for McCracken and majored the freshman 11-0 with a takedown, reversal and three turnovers.
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The other five Curwensville entries were eliminated, Alex Holt (130) in the first round of consolations and Jason Baker (140), Alex Holland (160), Chad Desmett (171) and Brian Zemba (285) in the second round.
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Holland had the lone win, an injury default by Kane’s Sean Welch.
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All of the top two seeds advanced, while only one No. 3 seed and two No. 4 seeds were upset in the quarterfinals.
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Sixth seed Jesse Sheasley of Ridgway upended third seed Brandon Bowser of Redbank Valley 6-3.
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The No. 4 seeds who lost were Clarion’s Dustin Young, nipped 2-0 by fifth seed Lucas Manning of Port Allegany at 103, and Coudersport’s Creighton Hayes, edged 10-8 by fifth seed Chad Quail of Ridgway at 189.
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As expected, Ridgway is running away with the team title with 68.5 points and 11 semifinalists.
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Brockway, Redbank Valley and Johnsonburg have six semifinalists apiece, and Port Allegany has five.
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Action resumes Saturday morning at 10:30 with the championship semifinals on two mats and consolation quarterfinals on one mat. The consolation semifinals will start at 12:30.
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The evening session will begin at 5:30 with the consolation finals, followed by the Parade of Champions at 6:30 and then the championship matches.
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Results of Curwensville wrestlers:
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Team Scoring and Key
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1. Ridgway (R), 68.5 points; 2. Port Allegany (PA), 47; 3. (Tie) Brockway (Bw) and Brookville (Bv), 44; 5. Redbank Valley (RV), 43; 6. Johnsonburg (J), 38.5; 7. Clarion (Cl), 36.5; 8. Cameron County (CC), 34; 9. Smethport (Sm), 33; 10. Keystone (Key), 26; 21. Coudersport (Cou), 21.5; 12. Cranberry (Cran), 19; 13. Curwensville (Cur), 14.5; 14. Kane (K), 14; 15. 15. Sheffield (Sh), 6; 16. Oswayo Valley (OV), 2.5.
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Championship Preliminaries
(Seeds in Parentheses)
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119 – (4) Jake Keller, Cur, pinned Dominic Galluzzi, CC, :34.
130 – (7) Brandon Goodreau, PA, pinned Alex Holt, Cur, 1:52.
140 –Â Dylan Buffington, Br, pinned (8) Jason Baker, Cur, 2:30.
160 – (1) Dirk Cowburn, Sm, tech fall Alex Holland, Cur, 20-3 (4:00).
171 – (5) Marcus Smerker, Cl, major dec. Chad Desmett, Cur, 12-2.
285 – (4) Aaron Burnside, CC, pinned Brian Zemba, Cur, 1:43.
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Championship Quarterfinals
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112 – (3) Nick Schrecengost, RV, pinned (6)Â Greg Koptchak, Cur, 4:31.
119 – (4)Â Keller, Cur, dec. (5) Slade Horner, R, 6-4.
125 – (1) Derek Brothers, Cur, tech fall (8) Will Hulings, K, 16-0 (3:13).
135 – (2) Quinton O’Rourke, J, major dec. Hunter McCracken, Cur, 11-0.
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Consolation First Round
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130 – Jacob Abrams, Sm, pinned Holt, Cur, :50.
160 – Holland, Cur, won by default over Sean Welch, K, :01.
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Consolation Second Round
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140 – Brandon Bailey, RV, pinned Baker, Cur, 1:50.
160 – (7) Brandon Ferringer, Cran, dec. Holland, Cur, 6-2.
171 – (6) Jacob Cieleski, Bv, pinned Desmett, Cur, 2:33.
285Â – (6) Eric Lundberg, Bw, pinned Zemba, Cur, :45.
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Up-to-date Class AA brackets courtesy of escapesports.com:
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