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Cedar Cliff stymies Chambersburg wrestlers


Cedar Cliff lived up to its unbeaten status Tuesday night in the District 3 Team Wrestling Championships.

In the first round, the home-standing Colts handed Chambersburg a 51-19 thrashing, then defeated Cumberland Valley 35-27 in the quarterfinals, advancing Cedar Cliff (18-0) to Thursday's semifinals against Central Dauphin (16-1).

The Trojans took an early 6-0 lead via a forfeit, but the Colts had two pins, two forfeit wins and a decision in the next five bouts to zip ahead 27-6. The closest Chambersburg (11-5) got after that was 15 points at 30-15 on a pin by Aaron Rump at 138.

"We're not going to the Giant Center (for the state tournament), so I'm not pleased with how (the dual meet season) went," Trojan coach Matt Mentzer said. "The effort was there, but we've just got to get better."

Chambersburg received an early gift when it sent Drew Peck out at 195 and the Colts opted to forfeit. Peck has been dealing with an injury and Mentzer would have defaulted if needed. But that quick six points was about the only break the Trojans got.

When it got to 120 pounds, Chambersburg probably needed a sweep of the next four bouts to have a chance. But Cedar Cliff won two of them and that was was pretty much all she wrote.

The first came at 120 when J.J. Wilson had two takedowns and a nearfall to hand Seth Runshaw a 7-2 defeat.

Mentzer said, "Seth wrestled a nice match, but J.J. is tough as nails. There were a couple of scrambles that if Seth executed a little better, he would have been in the match."

The Colts also earned a 3-1 win at 132, when a first-period takedown by Josh McGlaughlin was the difference in a 3-1 win over Cole Grove.

At the end of that stretch was a first-period pin from Rump, and the other Trojan win, at 126, was a barnburner. Spencer Runshaw and the Colts' Michael Cassidy never scored a point, but it wasn't for lack of action, and Runshaw won an ultimate tiebreaker by riding Cassidy the final 30 seconds.

"That was two good kids wrestling a solid match," Mentzer said.

In the second period, Cassidy nearly turned Runshaw, and Runshaw almost returned the favor in the third. In the first rideout, Cassidy chose down and couldn't get out, then he rode Runshaw in the next 30-second period. Runshaw took top for the final rideout and made it work, with Cassidy not getting close to escaping.

In the final five bouts, the only Chambersburg win came from Luke Nichter, who rolled up a 15-2 major decision at 160.

Mentzer said, "They had a couple of quality kids that we needed to beat and we didn't."

The Trojans are now off until the Section I Tournament on Feb. 18 at Mechanicsburg.