Warrior Run repeats as Class 2A champions

Feb. 3—MILTON — As the Warrior Run wrestlers and coaches received their medals, Connor Parker received the loudest applause.

The cheers that Parker received from the Warrior Run faithful were well-deserved. His win in the final dual against a returning state qualifier at 215 pounds was the highlight of the Defenders' tournament.

Parker's upset win propelled Warrior Run to a 28-22 win in the final round of the District 4 Class 2A team duals against Montoursville on Saturday at Milton High School.

Warrior Run finished the tournament at 3-0 after wins against Southern Columbia and Towanda during its first two duals of the day. As district champions, the Defenders (21-0) will take on the winner of a pigtail match — either Fort LeBeouf or Mt. Pleasant — during the first round of the PIAA state duals on Thursday in Hershey.

The Defenders' opponent won't be decided until Monday when District 10 runner-up Fort LeBoeuf takes on District 7's Mount Pleasant on Monday.

"It's just pretty cool to watch what the kids were able to do," said Warrior Run coach Jeremy Betz. "Throughout the day, things didn't go our way in all the matches. We had other kids — the matches didn't go their way for them and other kids stepped up in the match. So you have a different guy coming up and performing, and that's what truly makes a team. It's fun to watch the kids perform as a team and it lets me sit back and be a spectator more than a coach at that point."

In the final match against Montoursville, Warrior Run claimed two of the first three matches to take a 7-3 lead. Then at 139, Tyler Ulrich avenged an earlier loss to Blaize Vogel with a 12-6 decision. Ulrich held a 5-4 advantage after two periods but pulled away a trio of takedowns to give the Defenders a 10-4 lead.

When the two teams met in the regular season on Jan. 18, the match between Ulrich and Vogel went into overtime, but Vogel scored five points during the extra period to claim an 8-3 win. The Defenders won the meet 29-24.

After Ulrich's win, Sam Hall and Hayden Harvey battled it out at 145. The match was tied 2-2 in the third period when Hall injured his knee. However, Hall shook off the injury and secured a match-clinching reversal 11 seconds later. Hall won a 4-3 decision.

Then at 152, Reagan Milheim was bumped up a weight class to face Gage Wentzel, who's ranked fourth in the state at 152. Wentzel handed Milheim a 4-1 loss to it make 13-7 Defenders. It was Milheim's first loss since last year's state final.

However, the Defenders fired off four consecutive wins after Milheim's loss. Cameron Milheim's pin at 160 and decisions from Cole Shupp (172) and Isaiah Betz (189) increased the Defenders' lead to 25-7.

That set the stage for Parker, who fell behind Cole Yonkin 3-1 during the third period. After securing an escape early on in the final period, Parker scored a takedown with 51 seconds left to earn a 4-3 decision.

Parker's win hyped up the Warrior Run crowd and avenged a 6-4 loss to Yonkin last month. It was also Parker's first match of the day after he wasn't used against Southern Columbia or Towanda.

"It feels great knowing that I could've gotten more matches in, but we didn't quite need to," Parker said. "It kept me rested for finals tonight. Going in there, I just do my job, just get it done and put my mind to it."

Montoursville earned the final three matches of the night at 285, 107 and 114.

Before defeating Montoursville, Warrior Run defeated Southern Columbia 43-22 in the quarterfinals. The Defenders then upended Towanda 31-29 in the semifinals.

After losing to Warrior Run, Southern Columbia (11-5) fell to the consolation bracket where it took on Montgomery. The Tigers fell 41-20 against the Red Raiders to be eliminated from the tournament.

"We move and we get ready for sectionals," said Southern Columbia coach Steve Pesarchick. "We got two weeks to decide what we want to do, how we want to wrestle, change some things, get in better shape, get our weight under control and just focus on the individual (postseason) now."

Line Mountain was also eliminated after winning one of three matches on Saturday. The Eagles were at a disadvantage from the start after freshman Brock Rothermel was unavailable due to an injury sustained earlier in the week. Rothermel is ranked second in the state at 114.

According to assistant coach Josh Phillips, Rothermel's injury is minor and he is expected to be ready for the individual postseason.

Without Rothermel, the No. 2 Eagles suffered a 50-20 loss to No. 7 Canton in the quarterfinals. The Eagles were on the brink of elimination in the consolation bracket when they fell into a 33-12 hole against Wyalusing. However, the Eagles picked up four consecutive pins from Kohen Shingara (172), Jacob Schwalm (189), Maxim Johnson (215) and Jackson Kauwell (285) to earn a 36-33 to remain in contention.

"It felt really good just because this is only my second year wrestling, and it just feels good to go out there and beat a kid finally," Kauwell said about earning the match-clinching pin. "I've been kind of on a draught since the start of the season. To finally beat a kid really raised my confidence level and it really helped the team out."

Line Mountain (8-3) was eliminated from the tournament after falling 50-21 to Towanda. Dalton Schadel won all three of his matches at 152, which included a 12-7 win against Towanda's Riley Vanderpool. Vanderpool is ranked No. 12 in the state at 145 but was bumped up to face Schadel.

"Our goal was to come here, make it here, get into this atmosphere and show that to the kids," Phillips said. "But you also don't really wanna go 0-2. You can be outgunned, so it's nice to get a win and finish top six as a dual team out of whatever, 32, 33 teams in the toughest 2A district in the state. So you can't complain about that."

------

District 4 Class 2A

Team Duals

At Milton H.S.

Top two teams advance to states

Quarterfinals

No. 1 Warrior Run 43,

No. 8 Southern Columbia 22

285: Stone Allison (WR) dec. John Quinton, 8-2; 107: Rowen Humphrey (SC) pinned Aaron Crisman, 3:20; 114: Kaden Zachman (SC) maj. dec. Ryan Kemock, 9-1; 121: Caden Snyder (WR) dec. Gage Clossen, 8-1; 127: Gavin Hunter (WR) maj. dec. Gavin Brown, 10-1; 133: Max Wirnsberger (WR) won by forfeit; 139: Tyler Ulrich (WR) pinned Colton Habowski; :51; 145: Reagan Milheim (WR) pinned Brayden Andrews, 1:47; 152: Cameron Milheim (WR) dec. Mason Barvitskie, 7-3; 160: Eli Bulter (WR) pinned Jaymen Golden, 1:47; 172: Cole Shupp (WR) won by forfeit; 189: Greg Fulmer (SC) won by forfeit; 215: Garrett Garcia (SC) won by forfeit.

No. 7 Canton 50,

No. 2 Line Mountain 20

285: Mason Harold (C) pinned Jackson Kauwell, 1:34; 107: Levi Vermilya (C) won by forfeit; 114: Lyle Vermilya (C) won by forfeit; 121: Bradyn Schadel (LM) pinned Joe Luner, 1:03; 127: Tommy Preston (C) pinned Waylon Shaffer, 4:30; 133: Carson Rockwell (C) pinned Dane Laky, 1:09; 139: Nolan Baumert (LM) dec. Cohen Landis, 9-3; 145: Hudson Ward (C) pinned Ethan Lenker, 3:51; 152: Dalton Schadel (LM) tech. fall Ryland Sakers, 16-1 (3:55); 160: Hudson Ward (C) pinned Kohen Shingara, 3:31; 172: Leland Pepper (C) maj. dec. Jacob Laudenslager, 12-1; 189: Michael Davis (C) maj. dec. Jacob Schwalm, 9-1; 215: Maxim Johnson (LM) won by forfeit.

Semifinals

No. 1 Warrior Run 31, No. 4 Towanda 29

107: Curtis Maynard (T) pinned Crisman, 4:27; 114: Tanner Vanderpool (T) pinned Kemock, :34; 121: Jazick Brown (T) dec. Snyder, 11-5; 127: Hunter (WR) dec. Brayden Spencer, 9-3; 133: Wirnsberger (WR) pinned Wyatt Stranger, 1:23; 139: Ulrich (WR) dec. Rylee Sluyter, 3-2; 145: R. Milheim (WR) dec. Riley Vanderpool, 4-1; 152: C. Milheim (WR) pinned Chase Geurin, 1:30; 160: Butler maj. dec. Jace Gunther, 21-8; 172: Shupp (WR) pinned Caleb Austin, 3:25; 189: Mason Higley (T) maj. dec. Isaiah Betz, 13-4; 215: Sawyer Robinson (T) maj. dec. Jalan Hall, 12-2; 285: Zach Lantz (T) pinned Noah Johnson, 2:40.

Consolation Quarterfinals

No. 7 Line Mountain 36,

No. 11 Wyalusing 33

114: B. Schadel (LM) pinned Bostyn McMicken, 3:53; 121: Jack Fischer (W) won by forfeit; 127: Matthew Johnson (W) pinned Shaffer, 1:36; 133: Cole Patrick (W) pinned Laky, 3:47; 139: Jonathan Earle (W) pinned Baumert, 1:51; 145: Cade McMicken (W) dec. Lenker, 8-4; 152: D. Schadel (LM) pinned Reuben Kinney, 1:12; 160: Ayden Hunsinger (W) won by forfeit; 172: Shingara (LM) pinned Ethan Vanderpool, 3:17; 189: Schwalm (LM) pinned Jesse Lamb, 1:04; 215: Johnson (LM) pinned Dan Fox, :31; 285: Kauwell (LM) pinned Colton Robinson, :52; 107: Double forfeit.

No. 5 Montgomery 41,

No. 8 Southern Columbia 20

107: Manny Stoltzfus (M) dec. Humphrey, 9-5; 114: Porter Hall (M) inj. default Zachman; 121: Clossen (SC) dec. Victor Ottman, 9-2; 127: Seth McClintock (M) maj. dec. Brown, 15-5; 133: Cameron Woltz (M) won by forfeit; 139: Brandt Harer (M) pinned Habowski, :31; 145: Nevin Beachel (M) pinned Andrews, 3:16; 152: Barvitskie (SC) pinned Brennan Emery, :31; 160: Conner Harer (M) pinned Golden, :34; 172: Coy Bryson (M) maj. dec. Murphy, 13-1; 189: Garcia (SC) dec. Caden Finck, 1-0; 215: Jude Bremigen (SC) won by forfeit; 285: John Quinton (SC) dec. Connor Jarrett, 5-0.

Note: Southern Columbia was penalized one team point for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Consolation Semifinals

No. 4 Towanda 4 50,

No. 2 Line Mountain 21

127: Spencer (T) pinned Shaffer, 1:28; 133: Stranger (T) pinned Laky, :59; 139: Baumert (LM) pinned Jeremy Arrieta, 3:11; 145: Sluyter (T) dec. Lenker, 8-4; 152: D. Schadel (LM) dec. R. Vanderpool, 12-7; 160: Shingara (LM) pinned Austin, 2:38; 172: Gunther (T) pinned Laudenslager, 4:37; 189: Higley (LM) pinned Johnson, 1:03; 215: Robinson (T) tech. fall Schwalm, 15-0 (5:34); 285: Kauwell (LM) pinned Varius Farrell, 3:07; 107: Maynard (T) won by forfeit; 114: T. Vanderpool (T) pinned B. Schadel, :37; 121: Brown (T) won by forfeit.

Final

No. 1 Warrior Run 28,

No. 3 Montoursville 22

121: Snyder dec. Ryan Aguirre, 7-3; 127: David Kennedy (M) maj. dec. Hunter, 17-6; 133: Wirnsberger (WR) maj. dec. Karter Stone, 12-4; 139: Ulrich (WR) maj. dec. Blaize Vogel, 12-6; 145: Sam Hall (WR) dec. Hayden Harvey, 4-3; 152: Gage Wentzel (M) dec. R. Milheim, 4-1; 160: C. Milheim (WR) pinned Cayman Daugherty, 1:23; 172: Shupp (WR) dec. Owen Kleinman, 4-2; 189: Betz (WR) dec. Evan Bloom, 8-4; 215: Connor Parker (WR) dec. Cole Yonkin, 4-3; 285: Landon Morehart (M) dec. Stone Allison, 1-0; 107: Teli Bobotas (M) won by forfeit; 114: Brody Bower (M) won by forfeit.

True Second-Place Match

No. 3 Montoursville 40, No. 4 Towanda 32

127: Kennedy (M) pinned Spencer, :42; 133: Vogel (M) tech. fall Stranger, 15-0 (4:06); 139: Sluyter (T) tech. fall Stone, 24-9 (5:43); 145: R. Vanderpool (T) pinned Hunter Gee, 1:28; 152: Harvey (M) pinned Geurin, 1:34; 160: Wentzel (M) pinned Austin, 1:20; 172: Kleinman (M) pinned Gunther, :51; 189: Higley (T) won by forfeit; 215: Yonkin (M) pinned Lantz, 1:01; 285: Robinson (T) dec. Morehart, 3-0; 107: Bobotas (M) tech. fall Maynard, 18-3 (5:28); 114: T. Vanderpool (T) won by forfeit; 121: Brown (T) won by forfeit.