Skip to main content

Spring Grove eliminated from district duals


Spring Grove's District 3 Class AAA dual meet tournament consolation semifinal featured plenty of exciting moments for the home crowd on Thursday.

Rockets 160-pounder Marcus Kehr pinned Cedar Cliff's Clayton Gause in 37 seconds. Their 170-pounder, Ryan Daugherty, trailed 6-2 before sticking Donovan Ball. And 220-pounder Nate Young wiggled out from the clutches of Cole Whalen to pin him in the first period. But when the dual came to an end, the Rockets found themselves as the last team eliminated, losing 36-30 and just missing out on a state tournament berth

Several minutes after every other team had left, the Rockets rolled up the mats, pushed in the bleachers and sat in the corner of the gym listening to their coaches. Other than practice, they won't wrestle again until the sectional tournament Feb. 20 at South Western.

"This is the individual time of the year for us now," Spring Grove coach Tony Miller said. "If you look at wrestling, that’s what it comes down to at the end of the year is how these kids finish as individuals and their personal accomplishments. We’re gonna look at it that way, we’ll take it step-by-step and try to fix what we did wrong and learn from what we did in this tournament.”

Spring Grove's strength all season came at the lowest weights from 106-pounder Clay Baker and 113-pounder Dalton Rohrbaugh, who combined to lose just four matches coming into Thursday. Both bumped up a weight class and pinned their opponents earlier in the evening in a 43-31 win against Cocalico to keep the season going. Kehr, Young and Tanner Sterner also had pins for Spring Grove in that one.

But Baker ran into a buzzsaw in Cedar Cliff's J.J. Wilson, who is the eighth-ranked 106-pounder in the state according to PAPowerWrestling.com. Baker lost 14-2, and Rohrbaugh couldn't pick up any bonus points in a win against Michael Cassidy.

“I wasn’t thinking we were in trouble (at that point)," Miller said. "I thought we were right where we had to be; it’s a tight one. I’m proud of my kids because I don’t think they left anything in their tank, they left it all out there.”

Cedar Cliff won three matches in a row after the loss to Rohrbaugh, sealing the win before dropping the final match of the dual by pin to Spring Grove 138-pounder Anthony Hinson.

Spring Grove 43, Cocalico 31

at Spring Grove High School

138 — Devon Fichthorn, Coc, pinned Anthony Hinson, 1:48. 145 — Tanner Sterner, SG, pinned Wyatt Gehman, 3:26. 152 — Trevor Fichthorn, Coc,  md. Trent Baker, 11-3. 160 — Marcus Kehr, SG, pinned Ben Sola, 0:17. 170 — Ryan Daugherty, SG, tech. fall Maxwell Martin, 18-3. 182 — Abdul Saad, Coc, pinned Jared Barley, 0:41. 195 — Josh Cribbs, SG, md. Joeson Berringer 12-3. 220 — Nate Young, SG, pinned Ben Fromm, 7:21. 285 — Brady Maxwell, Coc, dec. Andrew Lawson, 3-2. 106 — Josiah Gehr, Coc, pinned Noah Colehouse, 1:35. 113 — Trent Baker, SG, pinned Trevor Hale, 1:44. 120 — Dalton Rohrbaugh, SG, pinned Adam Miller 5:04. 126 — Nate Fritz, Coc, pinned Chance Jackson, 1:06. 132 — Jake Meyer, SG, md. Simon Stull, 15-1.

Cedar Cliff 36, Spring Grove 30

at Spring Grove High School

145 — Jared Meise, CC, pinned Tanner Sterner, 3:31. 152 — Colin Toggas, CC, tech. fall Trent Baker, 18-3. 160 — Marcus Kehr, SG, pinned Clayton Gause, 0:37. 170 — Ryan Daugherty, SG, pinned Donovon Ball, 5:03. 182 — Emerson Wentz, CC, dec. Jared Barley 10-5. 195 — Joshua Colello, CC, pinned Josh Cribbs, 1:50. 220 — Nate Young, SG, pinned Cole Whalen, 1:33. 285 — Andrew Lawson, SG, dec. Sergio Acala, 4-1. 106 — JJ Wilson, CC, dec. Clay Baker, 14-2. 113 — Dalton Rohrbaugh, SG, dec. Michael Cassidy, 7-3. 120 — Luis Tirado, CC, dec. Chance Jackson, 4-2. 126 — Gabriel Ikeda, CC, pinned Jacob Rappoldt 2:54. 132 — Joshua McLaughlin, CC, dec. Jake Meyer 3-1. 138 — Anthony Hinson, SG, pinned Connor McGee, 3:38.