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4 Viking wrestlers reach Saturday's regional finals


WEST LAWN – All four Northern Lebanon wrestlers who had advanced to the PIAA Class 2A Southeastern Regional semifinals took advantage of their opportunities Saturday morning.

Kyler Anspach, Trevor Leonard, Zach Kelly and Luke Funck all advanced into Saturday evening's finals. Kelly won his semifinal by major decision, while the other three did so by pin.

Anspach (41-13) faced off against Devon Blose (25-9) of Newport in the 106 semis, and though Blose scored the opening takedown, Anspach took over from there. Up 7-4 entering the third period, Anspach increased his lead with a reversal, then stuck Blose to the mat at the 5:15 mark.

In the 132 semifinals, Leonard (42-12) trailed Tanner McHugh (34-4) of Tamaqua until he scored a takedown with 30 seconds left in the third for a 4-3 lead. Leonard kept the advantage over the District 11 champ until he earned a pin at 5:43.

Kelly (41-8) recorded three takedowns against Nick Bradley (25-11) of Kennard-Dale on his way to a 14-5 triumph in the 138 semifinal.

Funck (45-3) made quick work of his 182 semifinal, pinning Jashim Snyder (31-5) of Eastern York in just 35 seconds.

The four opponents for the Vikings in the finals have a combined six losses this season. Anspach will wrestle Nate Smith (38-5) of Bishop McDevitt, Leonard will face Gabe Miller (39-0) of Pequea Valley, Kelly will take on Sammy Helper (30-1) of Tri-Valley and Funck will challenge Jared Mooney (32-0) of Palmerton.

Two other Northern Lebanon grapplers earned berths into states.

Colin Leonard qualified for states out of the 120 consolation bracket. Leonard started his day with a tech fall over Eli Tuckey of Biglerville 15-0 in 2:26 in the second round of consolations. Then he earned another tech fall, 17-0 over Elco's Alex Puglio in 4:17, to assure himself of a spot in states.

In the consolation semifinals, Leonard dropped a 5-2 decision to Bronson Garber of Upper Dauphin.

Hunter Wallace won 4-0 over Zach Leffler of Pine Grove in the second round of consolations at 220, then scored a takedown with two seconds left for a 3-1 decision over Bronson Strause of Tamaqua to clinch a trip to Giant Center next week.

Wallace forfeited the consolation semifinal to Jakob Paul of Halifax.

In the second round consolations, which were the first matches of the day, three Northern Lebanon wrestlers were eliminated. Luis Negreiros lost to Nick Kostyak of Boiling Springs 3-1 at 160, Ethan Herb lost to Dawson Schwalm of Tri-Valley 14-6 at 170, and Kyle Sonnen lost to Bryce Perkins of Delone Catholic 15-4 at 285.