Biglerville flat in district loss to Hamburg

FREDERICKSBURG — Biglerville head coach Nate Becker has been pleased with the effort of his wrestlers 18 times in 20 dual meets this season. Wednesday night was not one of those times.

The Canners' dual meet season ended Wednesday when they lost to Hamburg, 41-19, in the quarterfinals of the District 3 Class AA team tournament at Northern Lebanon High School. The Canners (13-7) lost the first six bouts of the dual and dropped 10 of 14 matches overall.

Becker said he wasn't bothered by the end result nearly as much as he was by the level of effort and intensity he believed the Canners showed.

"We've had 20 duals and I've been proud of effort 18 times," Becker said "I can't express why, I don't have answers for a lot of it. But we just didn't show up."

Things started poorly for Biglerville when Victor Lopez lost the 220-pound opening bout, 5-4, to Max Kline. Lopez trailed 5-0 late in the third period before converting a four-point move that almost translated to a pin, but he wasn't able to finish it off.

A pin by Hamburg's Dalton Gromlich against Alex Pirich at 285 continued a streak of six straight wins to start the match for the Hawks. With eight bouts to go, Biglerville trailed 25-0 and was in serious trouble.

Afterward, Becker said things could have gone differently if Lopez had managed to pull off a last-second win to start the meet.

"Ultimately, it's sealing the deal early," Becker said. "They have enough solid kids that you're not going to be able to score big points on or get wins against. The hand was dealt pretty early."

Still, Becker said falling into an early hole wasn't an excuse for other wrestlers to get discouraged or give less than their best effort.

"It's not like giving up back-to-back touchdown runs in football where its against the whole team, this is individual," Becker said. "My team could be losing 60-0 and I sure don't want to lose myself because it's me out there and everybody is looking at me."

Scott Cooper, who picked up a tech fall win for Biglerville at 152, said some of his teammates tried to do too much in an effort to get points back quickly instead of just wrestling the way they normally would.

"I know some of the kids were trying to get it back right away," Cooper said. "They're so caught up in everything, and the pressure of how they need to do good for the team. It's an individual sport, but at the same time it's a team sport, and tonight the snowball effect got us."

Biglerville got on the board at 132, when Curtis Fouchie picked up a 9-4 decision against Mike Madera. Cooper and Nate Newberry added tech falls at 152 and 160, and Colton Sentz got the final Canner victory with a pin at 195.

Despite exiting early in the district playoffs, both Becker and Cooper said the Canners should feel proud of their season.

"Overall the season went pretty well," Cooper said. "I wish it continued a lot more. Coming into tonight we thought that we could upset Hamburg and see what happens then. We had high hopes, but overall it wasn't too bad."

At Northern Lebanon

220 — Max Kline, Ham, dec. Victor Lopez, 5-4. 285 — Dalton Gromlich, Ham, pinned Alex Pirich, 1:33. 106 — Shane Strausser, Ham, dec. Josh Tuckey, 3-2. 113  — Owen DeTurk, Ham, pinned Eli Tuckey, 1:12. 120  — Lucas DeTurk, Ham, dec. Will Davis, 10-5. 126 — Jake Johnson, Ham, maj. dec. Mitchell Thomas, 14-0. 132  — Curtis Fouchie, Big, dec. Mike Madera, 9-4. 138 — Dylan Miller, Ham, maj. dec. Brandon Miller, 9-0. 145 — Reese Mason, Ham, dec. Gabe May, 4-1. 152 — Scott Cooper, Big, tech fall Brendan Hamilton, 1:59. 160  — Nate Newberry, Big, tech fall Zak Scheffler, 1:59. 170 — Tyler Herber, Ham, dec. Alex King, 4-1. 182  — Ignacion Reynoso, Ham, pinned Michael Southerly, 3:40. 195  — Colton Sentz, Big, pinned Austin Strunk, 1:35.