Eight YAIAA wrestlers still alive for regional titles
WEST LAWN – Nick Bradley had his sights set on Hershey back in November.
“Being my freshman year, the ultimate goal was to make it to states. I’m not worrying about placing,” said the Kennard-Dale wrestler.
Friday evening, the 138-pounder accomplished that goal with a pair of wins, including an unexpected fall in the quarterfinal round of the PIAA Southeast Regional Class 2A championships at Wilson High School.
The top six finishers at each weight class will extend their season into the final week for the PIAA Class 2A championships in Hershey.
Bradley's teammate Andrew Barnett will also compete in the semifinals at 11 a.m. today. All semifinal winners will meet for regional championships at 5 p.m.
Six more YAIAA grapplers are still alive in the championship bracket, two wins away from a regional crown.
The Bermudian Springs duo of Austin Clabaugh (126 pounds) and Noah Fleshman (195) each won their lone match Friday. Delone Catholic duo Brian Shermeyer (160) and Brady Repasky (195) as well as Littlestown’s Carl Harris (170), and Eastern York’s Jahshim Snyder (182) each went 2-0 Friday to advance to the semifinals.
Another 12 league wrestlers will see action in the consolation bracket, where a top-six finish would assure them a spot in the state tournament.
Kennard-Dale's Bradley earned a fall in Friday's opening round, but he was losing to Saucon Valley’s Angelo Mahaffey, 6-5, when the District 11 wrestler let his hips get low. The Rams grappler took advantage of the mistake.
“I had an underhook. I just stepped over him and pinned him from there,” Bradley (25-10) said of his fall, which came at 5:28.
His semifinal opponent will be Northern Lebanon’s Zach Kelly, the District 3 champion.
In an all-YAIAA quarterfinal at 145, Barnett (30-3) gave up the first takedown to Bermudian Springs’ Lucas Gladfelter but charged back to earn an 11-3 major decision over the Eagles senior. Barnett faces District 11 champion Nathan Haubert of Palisades in his semifinal.
Clabaugh earned his third trip to the Giant Center in typical workmanlike fashion in a 4-0 decision.
The Eagle senior registered the lone takedown with just four seconds remaining in the first period.
He then rode the Crusader sophomore for the entire second period before scoring his final points of the bout 16 seconds into the third period on a reversal. Clabaugh closed out the final period with another tough ride to reach the semifinals. where he meets Nick Reto of Pen Argyl.
"I wanted to wrestle a full match. I wrestled smart,” said Clabaugh (36-4). “He came out kind of wild. … I slowed him down.”
Harris racked up four takedowns on his way to a 9-3 decision in his quarterfinal against Logan Moore of Faith Christian.
“(We’ve) been doing 40 takedowns at the end of every practice when I’m dead tired. Looks like it’s paying off,” said Harris (32-3), who meets Luca Colestock of Camp Hill in the semifinals.
Snyder found himself trailing Tri-Valley’s Kolt Schaeffer late in the third period of their 182-pound quarterfinal when the Golden Knight junior was able to reverse Schaeffer and put him to his back, recording the pin with only 13 seconds remaining in the match.
The YAIAA is guaranteed a participant in the 195-pound championship final, as Fleshman and Repasky will square off in a semifinal rematch from the Section IV final, which Fleshman won, 2-0.
Fleshman (37-3) earned his spot with a fall over Ethan Mordaunt of Jim Thorpe, while Repasky (20-8) picked up a pair of second-period pins, the second one of Tulpehocken’s Zach Ruffner in 2:27.
Shermeyer was totally in control of Northern Lebanon’s Luis Negreiros from the outset, notching a pair of first-period takedown en route to an 8-1 decision.
Northern Lehigh’s Ryan Farber awaits the 35-2 senior in the semifinals.