Tamaqua’s Strouse reaches PIAA semis; Wickersham still alive; Schaffer out

HERSHEY – Bronson Strouse rose to his feet and pumped his fist.

“Yeah baby! Yeah!”

With his roar reverberating throughout the Giant Center, the Tamaqua senior was triumphant once again.

But time, it was a little sweeter.

Strouse’s 3-2 overtime decision victory over Northeast Bradford’s Dawson Brown Friday at the PIAA Wrestling Championships sent Strouse to the Class 2A 285-pound semifinals. It also guaranteed him his first state medal.

“It feels great, knowing that I get to be on the podium at Tamaqua now,” said Strouse. “It’s great knowing that I’m medaling, that takes the pressure off. But I don’t want a sixth-place medal, and have a semifinal-slide.”

Strouse will wrestle Brookville’s Colby Whitehill tonight in the semifinals. Whitehill is the defending Class 2A 285-pound champion, who is currently 38-0.

“I know I have a tough match, but I’m just going to go out and give it everything I have,” said Strouse, who got the escape with 0:07 remaining.

Tamaqua’s Nate Wickersham won two consolation matches Friday to also secure a spot on the podium. The tournament came to an end for Northern Lehigh’s Joshua Schaffer on Friday, who battled Keagan Braund of Athens before getting pinned.

OVERTIME THRILLER

Strouse showed his mettle against Brown. The pair traded escapes through the first three periods and wrestled through a scoreless sudden victory portion of overtime.

An escape with 0:19 left in the first tiebreaker gave Strouse a 2-1 lead. Brown got out in the second tiebreaker period to make it 2-2.

But Strouse didn’t flinch, quickly choosing bottom to start the final period.

“Two years ago, when he was wrestling Kolby Flank (of Wilson) this same situation occurred at 220,” Blue Raiders’ head coach Jim McCabe said of a match Strouse lost 3-2. “He had choice into the ultimate tiebreaker, he took down, and it came to the same situation where it was more like he was trying to score two points because he thought he could get the two, where it’s just about getting one and ending the match.

“At the start of the ultimate tiebreaker, I made sure he understood that he just needed to get one; you don’t have to try for anything else, because then you get yourself in a situation where a kid can just hold on like he (Brown) was. But Bronson peeled back, broke the lock, and then had the presence of mind just to stand up and get the one point. And that was crucial.”

Strouse’s experience in big match situations has paid dividends throughout the postseason. He used that awareness to his advantage against Brown.

“He didn’t have a great feeling that he had a clean, clear shot, so I think he was being cautious with taking a risky shot,” said McCabe. “I think he felt that the majority of the shots were going to be risky, and he didn’t want to give up that easy takedown. Obviously, his opponent didn’t take one shot. Bronson took two shots, and the kid defended it well.

“So when we won the toss and he went down right away in the second period, he knew that if it got to an ultimate tiebreaker he would have a choice to go down and have the opportunity to win it, which is easier than staying on top.”

Strouse knew what he had to do to win because he had done it before – twice.

“If he had scored the first points – it was all up to the coin toss,” said Strouse. “It would have been a tougher third period, because I would have been pushing the action a lot more … I would have shot on him more. But I was being patient and knew I could get out, since I did twice before that.”

And now Strouse will go into his semifinal match with a clear head, knowing what he’s capable of and that a spot on the medal stand is waiting for him.

“They way that opponent wrestled him may not be the same way that his semifinal opponent it going to wrestle him,” said McCabe. “So he has to reset, and reboot and get ready for tonight. He probably won’t be wrestling until closer to 8:30 p.m. or 9.

“But when he gets on the mat and the opportunity arises, he takes it. Of course, a win is going to make him feel good. But the pressure of medaling is completely off. So now, he can push it a little bit. He can take a chance that may lead to two takedowns and push himself to the finals. And that’s what he might have to do to get to the finals.”

STAYING ALIVE

Wickersham prevailed in a 10-9 thriller in his 182-pound second-round consolation match with Ian Eckenrode. The senior edged Bishop McDevitt’s Riley Robell 5-3 in sudden victory overtime in a third-round match.

“It feels great,” said Wickersham. “They were hard matches, but a win’s a win.”

Wickersham gained a measure of revenge against Robell, the Southeast Regional runner-up who pinned him a week ago.

“Being able to beat him to place at states, it feels great,” said Wickersham.

Wickersham carried a 1-0 lead into the third period after getting an escape in the second. Robell went ahead 2-1 with a reversal, but Wickersham responded with one of his own to go ahead 3-2 with 0:20 remaining.

The senior got called for locked hands in the final seconds of the third period to tie it at 3-3.

“I knew that if I didn’t lock, I was going over the top and I was losing the match,” said Wickersham. “So I thought, I have a point to give, I might as well do it so I just held on.

“Going into overtime, I score sometimes on my feet, but when it really count like that against a good kid, I was thinking I was in trouble, but I came out on top.”

Wickersham has had a knack for winning some nail-biters. He defeated Kane’s Cameron Whisner 6-5 in a first-round consolation match on Thursday.

“The last couple matches that I did win before that, it seemed like once I got up by a bit, I stopped wrestling,” he said. “So this match, I came in with the mentality that I had nothing to lose and that I had to win it to get on the podium, so I was going in hard.”

Wickersham will wrestle Sheffield’s Ethan Finch in his fourth-round consolation match tonight.

“It’s great, after coming here last year and not winning any matches and then being able to get on the podium and doing it with my teammate Bronson Strouse,” said Wickersham. “My and him have been working together the last two or three years. When we were little, I was a lot littler than him.

“But we still practice a little bit. And coming to states with him, and both of us placing feels great.”

Wickersham built a 5-0 lead in the first period against Eckenrode, who cut it to 5-3 with an escape and a takedown. Eckenrode tied it at 5-5 with a reversal early in the third, but Wickersham regained the advantage with an escape before adding a takedown to make it 8-5 going into the final period.

Eckenrode tied it again at 8-8, this time with three back points. But Wickersham countered with a reversal to go up 10-8. Eckenrode would only manage a point on an escape the rest of the way.

ELIMINATED

Despite getting pinned by Braund at the 4:37 mark in the third period, Schaffer still enjoyed a remarkable season, one that included a district runner-up finish and a fourth-place results at last week’s regional tournament to qualify for states for the first time.

“This postseason was good experience for him,” said Bulldogs’ head coach Scott Snyder. “Obviously, he wasn’t here last year so this was a really good experience for him.

“He learned what works for him. And things that he was doing last year, or even at the beginning of the season, weren’t working, and he adjusted his wrestling, and now he knows what works. Those are the things that are going to bring him success, and I hope that he can continue to focus on these things that are working for him, like patience and not making little mistakes trying to force things.”

Schaffer trailed 5-0 in the first after giving up a takedown and three back points near the end of the period.

But he rebounded, getting an escape in the second and a takedown in the third to cut the deficit to 5-3.

“We just wanted him to be patient,” said Snyder. “We didn’t want him to force things because he was down four or five points. We just wanted him to try to let things happen.

“He’s been much better with that lately, and I think that has made a big difference for him compared to where he was last year, just being patient and letting things happen. It’s been a huge factor for his success.”

In addition to Schaffer, Northern Lehigh also had sophomore Trevor Amorim, another district runner-up qualify for regionals this season, setting the foundation for a strong team moving forward.

“I’m excited,” said Snyder. “A lot of the guys were pretty young this season. We have quite a few sophomores, many who saw a lot of improvement from the beginning to the end of the season, which was exciting. Knowing that they’re back in the room next year and having the experience of Josh in the postseason and Trevor being at regionals and getting a taste of that, I think that will bring a lot of maturity and they’ll be good leaders next year for those underclassmen who haven’t had a taste of that yet.”

Action resumes tonight with semifinals and fourth-round consolations at 7:30 p.m. The fifth-round of consolation matches will begin at 9:30.