Gehr leads PV chances of moving to regionals

BETHLEHEM — Pleasant Valley arrived to the District 11 3A wrestling tournament with a light crew of wrestlers and things got skimmed even more for the Bears after the first night of competition at Liberty’s Memorial Gymnasium.

Eight wrestlers entered the tournament and only two are moving onto day two when action picks up again this morning.

Senior James Gehr (132) was the only PV participant to reach Friday’s quarterfinals after a 12-8 decision over Blue Mountain’s Dalton Touchinsky in the first round, but that victory moved him into a matchup with Northampton’s top-seeded Devon Britton.

Gehr, who is competing in one of the toughest weight classes in the district tournament, didn’t have the ammunition needed to muster an upset over Britton, as the K-Kid senior built a 7-0 lead through the second period before pinning Gehr at the 2:16 mark.

“Gehr went out there with nothing to lose and ended up getting caught looking for something,” said Bears head coach Justin Micklos. “That type of stuff happens, but you have to bounce back now.”

Micklos knew he was going to have an uphill climb entering this year’s tournament. With roughly half a roster entered into competition, three of which are freshmen, the Bears tough season continued on the opening night of the individual postseason.

“You know we’re a young team and we kept a couple kids down to wrestle in JV districts just to give them more experience and build more confidence heading into next year,” he said. “We should have a pretty good freshman class coming in next year.”

The only other Bear to survive Friday’s action was senior Daniel Valdner (106), who knocked off Whitehall’s Carlos Lorenzo 3-0 in the consolation round.

The road now for PV’s wrestlers is an uphill climb in the consolation bracket in order to land one of the top five spots at districts to secure a berth at next week’s regional tournament.

Gehr was the favorite out of PV’s group to advance, but that trek will be difficult in the 132-pound weight class.

He takes on Parkland’s Mason Lansenderfer in Saturday morning’s consolation round with the hopes of extending his season.

“I think he has really good chances of placing, but he certainly has a harder road ahead of him,” said Micklos. “I’d like to see him come out firing in every match. I mean, 132, is stacked and you have four or five kids in the weight class that can make it to states, but that’s how wrestling is sometimes.”

Saturday’s action starts at 9 a.m. when the second round of consolations get underway at Liberty. Semifinals are slated for 10:30 a.m. and consolation finals will take place at 4 p.m. with 3A and 2A finals set for 5:45 p.m.