Indians, Panthers put 5 in semis
ORWIGSBURG – Mining for gold in the Schuylkill League Wrestling Tournament could be profitable for Lehighton and Panther Valley.
Friday night, both the Indians and the Panthers advanced five wrestlers into the semifinals.
They will join three Tamaqua matmen and a pair from Jim Thorpe as the Times News area has 15 wrestlers still alive for gold when action resumes today at Blue Mountain High School.
“The word ‘leagues’ gets me excited all the time,” said Tamaqua coach Jimmy McCabe who is back in his second stint at the school and has six freshman and four sophomores in his starting lineup. “I get super excited … this is one of the reasons why you work hard in the wrestling room. You can show what you’ve done.”
Few teams were more impressive in showing “what they’ve done” than Panther Valley and Lehighton.
Panther Valley coach Tim Robb likes what he got out of his wrestlers through Friday’s action.
“For the most part we did okay. We had to battle some and with Tanner and Hunter (Kennedy) they are where we expected them to be.”
Tanner Kennedy moved into the semifinals in the 160-pound class with a win to improve to 17-4 and brother Hunter picked up his win at 170 to improve to 18-5. Colby Newton (120, 14-9), Derrick Beckham (182, 16-7) and 285-pound Aaron Eidem (19-5) are also one win away from the championship round.
“We wrestled better in the second round, but we need to get more points on the backside (consolations),” said Robb. “We’re looking at getting seven or eight medals.”
Lehighton has surged into the semifinals with five wrestlers of its own, which pleased coach Floyd Brown.
“It was about what I expected,” said Brown. “ I was happy with getting Brett (Gasker) through. It’s a good start to the tournament and I’m hoping that we can get some kids back through the consolations.”
The Indians’ Chris Whiteman did his job as the top seed at 145 and advanced with a win to improve to 18-7. Nate Kemmerer (126, 19-4), Lucas Sangiuliano (132, 15-8), Tyler Shock (152, 13-4) and Gasker at 220 (16-6) also are in the semifinals.
Tamaqua’s banner was being waved into the semifinals by its top-seeded wrestler Bronson Strouse (18-1) at 220. Also advancing were 120-pound freshman Aaron Coccio (10-7) and 152-pound Khalid Holland (6-7).
“We had a lot of one-point loses, but that’s the maturation,” said McCabe. “I said failure is okay, consistent failure isn’t. So if you consistently lose by a point I have a problem with it, but if you can come back and get a win, I don’t have a problem with it.”
The Olympians may have two of the more impressive wrestlers in their respective weight classes. At 113, John Newhall came into the event as a second seed with a 15-0 record and will be challenged by the top seed Nick Onea of Pottsville who has a pre-tournament record of 16-3. A Newhall-Onea could be in the cards if both win semifinal bouts early today.
Jim Thorpe 195-pounder Ethan Mordaunt is also undefeated on the season with a 16-0 record. The third-seeded Mordaunt will face No. 2 seed Nate Stine (20-1). Upper Dauphin’s Donny Geinett (23-3) was the top seed.
“I would expect (Newhall) to make to the finals,” said his head coach Shaun Albert. “He’s probably going to get the Onea kid from Pottsville and it will be a real battle. And Mordaunt is another one I have high expectations for.”
STILL ALIVE ... A total of 13 area wrestlers remained alive after the consolation rounds, including six from Tamaqua. Blue Raiders who can still place third include Randy Steigerwalt (113 pounds), Pierce Demetriades (126), Caleb Sell (132), Brandon Mader (138), Reese Szabo (145), and Carson Krell (170). Lehighton and Jim Thorpe each had three survive. Indians still in the mix include Logan Pagotto (138), Richard Fronheiser (160) and Christian Rodriguez), while the Olympians are William Schwartz (106), Andrew Eisenhardt (120) and Austin Williams (182). Panther Valley’s Noah Berk (152) also reached today’s third-round consis.
TEAM SCORES ... Pottsville leads in team scoring after the first day, posting 106 points. Upper Dauphin sits in second with 85.5. Among local teams, Tamaqua is fifth with 54.5 and Lehighton is sixth with 49.5. Panther Valley follows in seventh with 48, while Jim Thorpe sits in 11th place with 35.5. There are 14 teams competing.
PIN HAPPY ... Upper Dauphin’s Ben Cope (220 pounds) and Williams Valley’s Chase Esterline (126) both have a pair of pins in quick time. Cope’s two falls in the tournament have come in a combined 1:11, with one being an 11-second mat slap. Esterline’s two pins have take a total of 1:16.
