Class 2A wrestling

WILLIAMSPORT — Of all the District 2 qualifiers, only seven advanced to the championship semifinals of the PIAA Class AA Northeast Regional wrestling tournament.

Of the local wrestlers, only Wyoming Area’s Nick Heck won by pinfall. Andrew Schutz won his match by technical fall, and GAR’s A.J. Luton and Zachary Faust and Lake-Lehman’s Austin Harry won their matches by decision.

Luton wrestled a tough match against Southern Columbia’s Brett Shepard to take a 9-3 decision, a match that was tougher than the score displayed.

“It was a big win for me. I’m going to take it one match at a time. I did it at districts, and I came out on top,” Luton said.

Luton faces the tough task of wrestling 15th ranked Taylor Johnson of Central Columbia, the District 4 runner up.

“I’m going to see tougher kids, and it gives me a good outlook at what I will face at states,” Luton said. “I just need to bang heads with my opponents.”

Teammate Zachary Faust wrestled a tough match with Shamokin’s Zach Biddiscombe. Faust was already battling illness before the match, and defeating Biddiscombe proved to be no easy task.

“I really didn’t feel good before the match,” Faust said. “After I got done puking, I was ready.”

But during the match, Faust needed a few breaks to regroup before going back out.

“I was really gassed,” Faust said. “It really sucks wrestling sick. But at this stage, you just have to go through it and keep going.”

Faust withstood a late surge by Biddiscombe to take the 8-7 decision and now faces Dylan Otis of Wyalusing, who pinned Koby Pachamovitch of Lake-Lehman in less than a minute.

Heck came out strong in the second period against Bloomsburg’s Sam Miller and pinned him in 3:00. Schutz needed close to the entire match to put 16 points on Tanner Ebright of Midd-West to solidify his spot in the 126-pound semifinals.

Harry took an 11-4 decision over Milton’s Zack Bennett and now faces a tough wrestler in Central Columbia’s Jesse Shannon, the District 4 runner up.

Northwest’s Matt Welliver and Logan Womelsdorf, who wrestle for Benton, continued their streak in the postseason. Both wrestlers won by decision, but Welliver’s sluggish start was very uncharacteristic to his regular, tenacious style.

“My head was out of it. I was not ready,” Welliver said. “I’m glad I got the first match out of the way and get my head back in it.”

Team key: Benton (Be); Bloomsburg (Bl); Blue Ridge (BR); Bucktail (Bu); Canton (Ca); Central Columbia (CC); Elk Lake (EL); GAR; Hanover Area (HA); Hughesville (Hu); Lackawanna Trail (LT); Lake-Lehman (LL); Lewisburg (Le); Line Mountain (LM); Meyers (My); Midd-West (MW); Mifflinburg (Mf); Milton (Mt); Montgomery (Mg); Montoursville (Mr); Montrose (Mn); Mount Carmel (MCA); Muncy (Mu); Nanticoke (Na); North Penn (NP); Sayre (S); Scranton Prep (SP); Shamokin (Sh); South Williamsport (SW); Southern Columbia (SCA); Towanda (To); Troy (T); Warrior Run (WR); Wellsboro (We); Western Wayne (WW); Williamson (Wi); Wyalusing (Wy); Wyoming Area (WA).

Championship quarterfinals

106: Zack LeBarron, WR, p. Corey Stauffer, MW, 3:45; Cameron Newman, LM, tf. Zack Meckes, HA, 16-0 (5:25); Angelo Barberio, Mu, p. Ronald Mrsich, WW, 1:21; Brian Friery, Le, p. Patrick Heck, WA, :39. 113: A.J. Luton, GAR, d. Brett Shepard, SCA, 9-3; Taylor Johnson, CC, p. Brad Glazenski, HA, 3:35; Ethan Calkins, T, d. John Tomasura, LL, 9-6; Eric Hunt, WR, p. Cooper Wagner, Mf, 4:52. 120: Matt Welliver, Be, md. Kobe Galentine, Mg, 23-15; Collin Edsell, Wy, md. Zeb MacMillan, LL, 13-0; Dalton Hogle, BR, p. Lewis Williams, CC, 1:43; Zach Fry, Hu, tf. Carm Mauriello, WA, 15-0 (3:34). 126: Kent Lane, SCA, d. Andrew Gipe, SW, 9-4; Keith Batkowski, Mr, d. Kashif Alston, My, 9-2; Logan Everett, Wi, p. Toby Maby, BR, 1:19; Andrew Schutz, WA, tf. Tanner Ebright, MW, 16-0 (5:47). 132: Cole Walter, Mf, p. Nate Jones, SW, 3:19; Trevor McWhorter, Wi, d. Zach Edwards, BR, 6-2; Jesse Shannon, CC, d. Charlie Johnson, WA, 6-4; Austin Harry, LL, d. Zack Bennett, 11-4. 138: Zain Retherford, Be, p. Blake Panko, MCA, 2:28; Demetri Probst, Bu, d. Morgan Fuller, WW, 4-2; Seth Lansberry, LM, md. William Lee, LT, 16-3; Nick Heck, WA, p. Sam Miller, Bl, 3:00. 145: Colt Cotten, Be, d. Garrett Hoffman, Mr, 9-7; Aaron Johnson, CC, d. Josh Winters, LL, 8-3; Billy Barnes, Wi, p. Victor Rosa, LT, 2:55; Zach Heeter, MW, d. Manny Mirailh, WW, 10-3. 152: Ryan Preisch, Mt, md. Dayton Wickwire, To, 14-0; Kyle Barnes, Hughes, p. Robert Wright, LL, 2:50; Blake Marks, SCA, p. Maurice Wood, Na, 1:07; Nick Stephani, T, tf. Beau Fuller, WW, 16-1 (5:32). 160: Ty Walter, Mf, tf. Max Reed, Le, 15-0 (5:12) Isaiah Bobotas, Mg, md. Lucas Karnick, WW, 13-4; Jeric Kasunic, Be, p. Jamaar Taylor, GAR, 3:57; Kyle Post, S, d. Tracey Cistrunk, My, 3-0. 170: Brandon Lontz, Be, md. Derek Dragon, LL, 9-0; Ben Minich, NP, md. Nick O’Brien, WA, 11-2; Brandon Hadden, WW, d. Rexford, Hunter, Wi, 9-6; Justin Knee, SW, d. Alex Lieberman, MW, 4-3. 182: Troy Hembury, Mu, p. Justin Griffith, Wy, :59; Garrett Wesneski, Ca, p Isaiah Ofalt, EL, 3:24; Garrett Moser, WR, p. Thomas Bogarowski, HA, 1:12; Logan Womesldorf, Be, d. Brady Butler, LL, 8-3. 195: Ryan Solomon, Mi, md. Phillip Hettes, LL, 14-3; Chad Daugherty, We, p. Michael Wiercinski, SP, 3:05; Skyler Ebner, Mu, md. Connor Rosensweet, WW, 13-9. 220: Brandon Smith, Le, p. Connorr Bassett, Mr, 1:44; Eric McCracken, CC, d. Austin Swoyer, WW, 6-5; Dylan Otis, Wy, p. Kody Pachamovitch, LL, :54; Zac Faust, GAR, d. Zach Biddiscombe, Sh, 8-7. 285: Nazar Mironenko, Mf, d. Dalton Chilson, Wy, 11-6; Jake Becker, SCA, d. Elijah Gresham, GAR, 6-2; Alex Shiber, CC, d. John Shaffer, Mn, 7-2; Nathan Kriner, NP, d. Dustin Jones, LL, 4-1.

Team standings: 1. Benton (Be) 18; T2. Central Columbia (CC) 12; T2. Warrior Run (WR) 12; T4. Muncy (Mu) 10; T4. Williamson (Wi) 10; 6. Mifflinburg (Mf) 9.5; T7. Lewisburg (Le) 8; T7. Southern Columbia (SCA) 8; 9. Hughesville (Hu) 7.5; T10. Milton (Mt) 7; T10. Wyalusing (Wy) 7; T12. Wyoming Area (WA) 6.5; T12. Line Mountain (LM) 6.5; 14. Troy (T) 5.5; T15. North Penn (NP) 5; T15. South Williamsport (SW) 5; T17. Blue Ridge (BR) 4; T17. Canton (Ca) 4; T17. Wellsboro (We) 4; T17. GAR (GAR) 4; 21. Montgomery (Mg) 3; T22. Bucktail (Bu) 2; T22. Lake-Lehman (LL) 2; T22. Midd-West (MW) 2; T22. Montoursville (Mr) 2; T22. Sayre (S) 2; T22. Western Wayne (WW) 2; T28. Bloomsburg (Bl) 0; T28. Elk Lake (EL) 0; T28. Hanover Area (HA) 0; T28. Lackawanna Trail (LT) 0; T28. Meyers (My) 0; T28. Montrose (Mn) 0; T28. Mount Carmel (MCA) 0; T28. Nanticoke (Na) 0; T28. Scranton Prep (SP) 0; T28. Shamokin (S) 0; T28. Towanda (To).