CURWENSVILLE – Having navigated the road to Hershey for the PIAA Class AA Championships with District 9 titles and Northwest Region silver medals, Curwensville wrestlers Derek Brothers and Jeff Thomas will be striving to climb the winner\’s stand in the Giant Center Saturday afternoon.
While four victories are necessary to earn the gold medal, two wins will enable eight qualifiers at each weight to receive medals from their coaches.
\”That\’s the big focus for Derek and Jeff,\” Golden Tide coach Duane Wriglesworth II said. \”Win two, whether they\’re in the championship or consolation rounds, and you\’re on the stand. Win your first two and you\’re sure of sixth.
\”We just going to take it one match at a time.\”
Wriglesworth noted that, two years ago, Brothers lost his first bout but won two consolation matches and brought home an eighth-place medal as a freshman 103-pounder.
He returned as the D-9 and NW Region 112-pound champ last year but was eliminated after two bouts.
He\’s back as a 119-pounder with a 30-3 record for his match with Southeast Region third-placer Adam Phillippi (34-6) of Saucon Valley in Thursday morning\’s first round that gets under way at 9 a.m.
Thomas, a senior 145-pounder, is 30-4 for his first trip to Chocolatetown and a duel with Northeast Region third-placer Tyler Hain (32-4) of Warrior Run.
There are no easy paths to the championship, but some weight classes are tougher than others.
Brothers is in one of those.
He\’s one of 10 wrestlers with PIAA tourney experience, including six others who have won medals.
All were at 112 last year except Southwest Region runner-up David Fogle (31-5) of Forest Hills. The three-time District 6 champ was fourth at 119 after placing fourth at 112 as a sophomore and sixth at 103 as a freshman.
Senior Anthony Zanetta (41-1) of Keystone Oaks was the 2008 champion, junior Joe Spisak (39-2) of Boiling Springs was second after placing sixth at 103 in 2007, junior A.J. Schopp (36-0) of Tyrone was fourth after winning the bronze medal at 103 two years ago, junior Zane Yocco (32-4) was seventh for the second year in a row and junior Mike Rhone (30-6) of Benton was eighth.
Sophomore Jeremy Landowski (34-12) of Burrell beat Brothers 2-0 on two caution penalty points in the first round but lost his next two bouts, while sophomore Adam Matthews (36-5) of Reynolds and senior Christian Drain (27-7) of North East failed to notch a win.
Brothers, who was edged 6-5 by Matthews in the NW Region finals after beating him 4-2 for the 2007 title, is familiar with two other qualifiers.
A penalty point cost him in a 1-0 loss to Yocco in the seventh-place bout in 2007.
On Jan. 24, Zanetta defeated Brothers by a 20-5 technical fall in 5:54 during the Clearfield Duals.
\”What you\’re seeing is basically the same group of kids coming right up through,\” Wriglesworth said. \”There\’s a lot of quality, especially coming out of the Southwest Region.\”
Schopp ended District 7 (WPIAL) champ Zanetta\’s 81-match winning streak 3-2 in the SW Region finals, while Fogle edged District 5 champ Cory Thomas for third and Landowski took fifth. All five were in Off the Mat\’s top 10, with Zenetta No. 1 and Schopp No. 2. Zanetta beat Fogle 5-3 in overtime and Fogle pinned Thomas in the semis.
A week earlier, Schopp was named District 6\’s Outstanding Wrestler following his 3-0 victory over Fogle in the title bout.
Spisak and Yocco have been developed quite a rivalry in District 3 and the SE Region, though Spisak has dominated.
He\’s beaten Yocco in the districts three years in a row as well as 4-2 last year and by fall in 1:19 for the crown last week in the regional. Yocco posted a 5-4 victory in the 2007 region finals at 103.
Rhone, the District 4 champion, took Northeast Region honors with an 8-4 decision over Montoursville freshman David Batkowski (23-9). They were D-4 section champs, Rhone in the East and Batkowski in the West.
North champ Zane McClaskey (36-5), a Wyalusing senior, placed third in the district and region.
Brothers, whose other loss this year was 3-2 to last year\’s s 103 state champion Luke Frey of Montoursville in the Penn Manor Tournament finals in December, will meet Rhone or Thomas in Friday morning\’s session.
Thomas draws one of four 145-pounder who have placed at states. Hain, a junior, was runner-up at 125 two years ago.
The others picked up their medals last year, NE Region champ Eric Hess (33-2) of Benton second at 130, NE Region runner-up Ty Knepp of Midd-West fourth at 140 and SW Region champ Shawn Perich (35-0) of Portage sixth at 135.
Hess handed Knepp his losses 7-3 in the D-4 finals and 2-0 in overtime in the region title match. Both are juniors.
Hess\’ lone defeats were 6-3 to returning PIAA Class AAA champ Dylan Alton (43-0) of Central Mountain and 6-2 to Brian Sewalt of Waverly, N.Y.
Perich, a junior who has 18 falls, or District 11 champ and SE Region fourth-placer junior Craemer Hedash (29-6) of Northern Lehigh will be Thomas\’ opponent in the second round.
\”I\’ve heard a lot of good things about Perich,\” Wriglesworth said.
Perich dominated at the SW regional, including a 13-4 semifinal win over fifth placer Colin Checkan (37-8) of South Side Beaver and a 9-2 finals decision over District 5 champ Brian Gibbons (31-9) of Bedford.
Checkan, a junior, lost to 3-1 to sophomore Nick Carr (34-6) of South Fayette in the District 7 finals after beating him 6-3 in the Section 1 finals. Carr also won 3-1 when they met in the region consolation semifinals.
District 6 runner-up Pat Dunmire (32-9) of Westmont-Hilltop beat Carr 6-5 for third place. Dunmire, a senior, lost 5-1 to Perich in the D-6 title bout.
Boiling Springs senior Dakota Kuhn (33-4) major decisioned junior Phillip Calafati (30-9) of Brandywine Heights 13-2 for the SE Region crown after beating him 9-3 for the District 3 title.
Hickory senior Fabio Boccuzzi (39-7), the District 10 champ, beat Thomas 5-2 for the NW Region championship.
Thomas\’ other losses were 7-5 to Dan Miller of Octorara in the Penn Manor Tournament finals, 7-5 to Nathan Hartless of Brockway the following week and 7-4 to Jaron Licatovich of Brockway in the District 9 Team Duals on Jan. 31.
Friday morning\’s session begins with the championship quarterfinals at 8 o\’clock, followed by the second round of consolations at 9:45. In the evening, the championship semis are set for 6, the consy quarterfinals at 6:30 and the consy semifinals at 9.
On Saturday, the consy finals will start at 12:30 p.m. and the championships at approximately 2:30.
