Northern Lebanon reaches PIAA wrestling semifinals
HERSHEY – Northern Lebanon wrestled its way into the PIAA Class 2A Team Championship semifinals on Friday night at Giant Center after defeating Southern Columbia 36-31 in the quarterfinals Friday afternoon.
The Vikings (20-3) clinched the quarterfinal victory after back-to-back pins by Kyle Sonnen and 285 and Kyler Anspach at 106.
Sonnen trailed John Fulmer 7-0 after the first period, but scored a takedown early in the second period to get on the board. He never let Fulmer back up again, and finally recorded the fall at the 3:53 mark of the bout.
“We knew that was going to be a tough match, especially down early,” Northern Lebanon head coach Rusty Wallace said. “But he has that in him. We've seen him pin before when he was down. He was able to get his cross arm series going.”
After that, Anspach's 39-second pin over Nicholas Kuzo clinched the contest, putting the Vikings up 36-19 with just two matches to go. Northern Lebanon forfeited the 113 and 120 contests, as the team quickly looked to prepare for the 8 p.m. semifinal against District 3 champion Bishop McDevitt, which defeated Chestnut Ridge, 39-30.
The Vikings had three other pins. Trevor Leonard stuck Michael Miller in 1:14 of the 132 bout, Zack Kelly pinned Shane Miller in 29 seconds of the 138 match, and Luke Funck overcame an early eye poke for a pin in 48 seconds of the 195 match.
The other wins for Northern Lebanon were provided by Chase Bressler and Luis Negreiros. Bressler won 9-3 over Cade Linn at 152. Negreiros posted a 4-2 overtime win over Cameron Haladay at 160, getting a late escape to force overtime, then recording a takedown with 24 seconds left in the extra session.
“He kept plugging away,” Wallace said. “If you wrestling for 5:50, you probably don't win that match. But he wrestled the full six minutes.”
Northern Lebanon 36, Southern Columbia 31
106 — Kyler Anspach, Northern Lebanon, pinned Nicholas Kuzo, :39.
113 — Jaret Lane, Southern Columbia, won by forfeit , .
120 — Shane Casey, Southern Columbia, won by forfeit , .
126 — Jake Renn, Southern Columbia, dec. Collin Leonard, 4-2 OT.
132 — Trevor Leonard, Northern Lebanon, pinned Michael Minor, 1:14.
138 — Zack Kelly, Northern Lebanon, pinned Shane Miller, :29.
145 — Todd Lane, Southern Columbia, m. dec. Steve Herb, 10-1.
152 — Chase Bressler, Northern Lebanon, dec. Cade Linn, 9-3.
160 — Luis Negeriros, Northern Lebanon, dec. Cameron Haladay, 4-2 OT.
170 — Preston Zachman, Southern Columbia, dec. Ethan Herb, 3-0.
182 — Gaige Garcia, Southern Columbia, pinned William Thompson, :17.
195 — Luke Funck, Northern Lebanon, pinned Quinton Lear, :48.
220 — Andrew Bell, Southern Columbia, dec. Hunter Wallace, 5-3.
285 — Kyle Sonnen, Northern Lebanon, pinned John Fulmer, 3:53.