Chambersburg wins Trojan Wars title
CHAMBERSBURG - After going 2-for-8 in the semifinal round of the Trojan Wars wrestling tournament Tuesday morning, the chances for host Chambersburg hoisting the team trophy had taken a nose dive.
But after snagging three third-place finishes, a fourth, two fifths and a sixth in the wrestlebacks, and then going 2-for-2 in the championship finals - and getting some help from its closest pursuers - the Trojans were still able to end up on top of the team standings ahead of 21 others.
"This feels really good," Chambersburg 182-pounder Drew Peck said. "This is the first team title we've won since I've been in high school, and it's exciting."
The Trojans finished with 193 points to outlast St. Marys (178), Southern Columbia (177), Lower Dauphin (173.5) and Parkersburg, W.Va. (170.5). While Chambersburg won both of its finals bouts - Peck at 182 pounds and Garrett Kyner at 138 - St. Marys was 0-for-4 and Southern Columbia 1-for-4 in the finals.
"I just focus on the individual matches, the team will take care of itself," Trojan coach Matt Mentzer said. "It was important to the kids, though. I think Drew and Garrett did the math before the finals that if they both won we would clinch."
Peck said, "I had a conversation with Coach that it could come down to my match, and he said to just concentrate on your own match. But I was thinking about the team."
"We had been talking about winning it all week," Kyner said, "and knew we had to wrestle extra hard. After the semifinals, we thought we still had a chance, but we had to wrestle well after that."
Kyner steadily pulled away from Jackson Turley of St. Christopher's in the 138 final. He took Turley down in the first period and rode him the entire second. In the third he scored two more takedowns for a 7-1 victory.
"I thought I wrestled pretty well and tried to always go for more points," Kyner said.
Peck held a 6-0 lead after one period against Christian Steffan of St. Marys, and it was 8-0 when he forced in a half off a crab ride and turned Steffan for a pin in 2:51.
Shippensburg had the only other area finalists and both also came up winners. At 126, Chandler Olson didn't have to break a sweat - his opponent, Zach Beckner of Warren County, Va., forfeited the match after suffering an injury in his semifinal.
At 220, the Greyhounds' Cameron Tinner rolled to his third individual tournament title this season, scoring a 9-0 victory over D.J. Salinas of St. Marys, the defending Trojan Wars champion at the weight. He scored three takedowns and added a nearfall, and was never close to being scored on.
"I talked with my coaches and we watched some tape," Tinner said. "I thought I was faster than the guy, so the plan was to get him moving. It feels really good to get that third title, but I could tell in the third period I'll need to get in a little better shape by the end of the season."
Two great matches bookended Tinner's win. At 195, freshman Jameel Coles of The Phelps School - who wasn't even seeded and had wrestled only two bouts prior to Monday - pulled out a 10-8 overtime win over Jens Ames of St. Christopher's. Trailing 8-6 in the third period of the tiebreaker, Coles hit a merkle for a takedown and two back points just before the buzzer.
At 285, Parkersburg's Donavon McCune put on a high-flying act, trying to hit a lateral drop from his feet at least six times, when even one shot like that by a heavyweight is rare. Finally, in OT, he tried it one more time and caught Lower Dauphin's Nate Bucks for a pin in 6:27.
Five area wrestlers came in third place - Chambersburg's Seth (106) and Spencer (113) Runshaw, and Aaron Rump (132), and James Buchanan's Kyle Lee (138) and Seth Carbaugh (195). The Trojans' Colin Runshaw took fourth at 152.
Mentzer said, "The guys who came back and won their place matches put us in position to win the title. Those wins made the difference."
Trojan Wars Tournament
Saturday's Results
Team Standings
1.Chambersburg (Ch) 193, 2.St. Marys (SM) 178, 3.Southern Columbia (SoC) 177, 4.Lower Dauphin (LD) 173.5, 5.Parkersburg, W.Va. (Park) 170.5, 6.St. Christopher's, Va. (StC) 165, 7.Lewisburg (Lew) 147, 8.Penn Cambria (PC) 142, 9.Shippensburg (Sh) 140.5, 10.Central Dauphin East (CDE) 129.5, 11.Warren County, Va. 114, 12.Upper Dauphin (UD) 103, 13.(tie) Gettysburg (Get), and Downingtown West (DW) 71, 15.Washington, W.Va. (Wash) 66.5, 16.James Buchanan (JB) 64, 17.Donegal (Don) 59, 18.Phelps School (PS) 55, 19.Tamaqua (Tam) 51, 20.Greencastle-Antrim (GA) 50, 21.York Suburban (YS) 44, 22.Fairfield (FF) 29.
Championship Finals
106 — Jaret Lane (SoC) d Tyler Dilley (SM), 7-2. 113 — Bronson Garber (UD) d Shane Casey (SoC), 5-1. 120 — Joey Prata (StC) md Brian Friery (Lew), 15-5. 126 — Chandler Olson (Sh) won by forfeit over Zach Beckner (WC). 132 — Jared Donahue (Park) d Todd Lane (SoC), 4-2 SV. 138 — Garrett Kyner (Ch) d Jackson Turley (StC), 7-1. 145 — Cameron Pine (Wash) d Chase Mueller (Get), 5-1. 152 — Albert Ciccitto (PS) d Kyle Pecht (SM), 12-7. 160 — Bailey Shutt (LD) d Blake Marks (SoC), 3-2. 170 — Carter Davis (StC) p Brendan Shaffer (LD), 2:25. 182 — Drew Peck (Ch) p Christian Steffan (SM), 2:51. 195 — Jameel Coles (PS) d Jens Ames (StC), 10-8 TB. 220 — Cameron Tinner (Sh) md D.J. Salinas (SM), 9-0. 285 — Donavon McCune (Park) p Nate Bucks (LD), 6:27 OT.
Consolations (local wrestlers only)
For Third Place
106 — Seth Runshaw (Ch) d Doug Zapf (DW), 1-0. 113 — Spencer Runshaw (Ch) d Chase Mader (LD), 6-3. 132 — Aaron Rump (Ch) md Daniel Zeigler (Get), 11-2. 138 — Kyle Lee (JB) p Zach Stephens (PC), 1:00. 152 — John Gembic (SoC) d Colin Runshaw (Ch), 5-3. 195 — Seth Carbaugh (JB) d Zach Smith (WC), 6-0.
For Fifth Place
145 — Drake Brenize (Ch) d Evan Hoffman (UD), 8-1. 170 — Greg Wallace (Ch) p Hayden McAllister (UD), 2:43. 195 — Cole Forrester (Sh) won by forfeit over Dalton Grace (Ch). 285 — Nathan Johnson (WC) d Nick Kubala (Sh), 7-0.
For Seventh Place
106 — Bryan Eckenrode (GA) won by forfeit over Hunter Jost (WC). 120 — Chase Hanak (DW) d John Adams (Sh), 7-4. 170 — Collin Dolbin (Sh) d Noah Weaver (Park), 5-4. 285 — Andrew Bell (SoC) won by forfeit over Youssef Mohamed (GA).