HERSHEY — Curwensville Area High School junior Shae Bloom got off to an impressive start in the 2015 PIAA Class AA Wrestling Tournament with a major decision in the Giant Center Thursday morning.
The Golden Tide 138-pounder shut out Palisades junior Tyler Marsh 8-0 to advance to the Friday morning quarterfinals.
After a scoreless first period, Marsh (35-4) chose the down position and that backfired when Bloom dominated the Northeast Region bronze medalist in the next two minutes, eventually grabbing a 3-0 advantage with a near fall.
The District 9 champion and Northwest Region runner-up elected to go neutral for the third period, where he locked up a cradle for two-and-three to clinch the victory.
“I thought Shae wrestled well,” Curwensville coach Dean Swatsworth said. “In the first period at the state level, you want to go at ‘em, but you don’t want to force things. You don’t want to try anything to put you down in points. You want to wrestle smart, and that’s what he did.
“Then, he did what he does best. He turned the kid with a bar in the second period.
“They got into a pretty good scramble in the third period, and Shae came out with a cradle hooked up. Then, he just rode the kid.”
Bloom (31-3) now is poised to improve on his first two trips to Chocolatetown when, as a District 9 Class AAA champion and NW Region finalist for DuBois, he was eliminated after winning his opening matches.
His next opponent is ranked right above him in the latest Off The Mat state rankings, No. 3 Mike Carr (41-0) of South Fayette.
Carr, who was a semifinalist and placed fifth at 132 last March, was a 7-0 winner over Southeast Region fifth placer Hunter Gimbor (36-11) of Brandywine.
The victor will face either Northeast Region champ Collin Edsell (42-5) of Wyalusing or Northwest Region third placer Luke Walter (33-7) of Grove City in the semifinals, which are booked for a 6:30 start Friday evening.
No. 1 ranked Kyle Shoop (41-1) of Boiling Springs and No. 2 ranked Tyler Vath (41-6) of Saegertown remained on a collision course in the upper half of the bracket with major decisions.
District 9 wrestlers were 1-5 in the pigtail round, 9-9 in the championship first round and 3-3 in the consolations first round.
Moving on to the quarterfinals with Bloom were Gavin Park (106), Taylor Ortz (120) and Jimmy Miller (152) of Brookville, Ryan Carlson (113) and Mason Lindenmuth (132) of Brockway, James Duffy (145) of Smethport, Keshon Truitt (160) of Redbank Valley and Tyler Beal (285) of Keystone.
Still alive in the second round of consolations are Cole Aaron (126) and Caleb Hetrick (160) of Brookville, Tanner Altobelli (126) and Brylee Shumaker (285) of Redbank Valley, Adam Shunk (138) of Smethport, Paul Zacherl (152) of Cranberry, Anthony Benson (170) of Brockway, Zach Sintobin (195) of Clarion, Ryan Geyer (195) or Ridgway, Ethan Budd (220) of Port Allegany and Jack Karsten (285) of Cameron County.
Karsten, Michael Millero (170) of Reynolds and Zac Faust (195) of Wilkes-Barre G.A.R. Memorial were the only region champs beaten in the first round.
District 9 qualifiers who lost both of their matchers were champ Casey Vollmer (113) of Port Allegany, Jack Glasl (126) of Brockway and Cal Haines (220) of Redbank Valley.
Click here for complete results courtesy Escape Sports and the PIAA.