CURWENSVILLE – Three-time District 9 champion Jake Keller of Curwensville gets his final chance to earn a trip to the PIAA Class AA Wrestling Championships this weekend.
Teammate Brad Stubbs, meanwhile, will be making his first appearance on the Northwest Region Tournament scene in Sharon High School Friday and Saturday.
Keller, a senior 132-pounder with a 32-2 record, finds himself in the same weight class with a pair of District 10 standouts who have a combined five state medals in Dylan D’Urso (33-1) of Reynolds and nemesis Matt Bryer (33-2) of Cochranton.
The trio was bunched in the last Off the Mat state rankings with D’Urso fourth, Bryer sixth and Keller seventh.
D’Urso (33-1) won his fourth consecutive D-10 title by taking down Bryer (33-2) with three seconds remaining for a 3-1 win Saturday night.
His only loss was 6-4 in overtime to District 4 champ Colt Cotten of Benton at Brookville’s Ultimate Duals in January.
The Mercyhurst University recruit has claimed three region crowns and gone on to place each year at states, fourth at 103 in 2009, third at 125 in 2010 and third at 130 in 2011.
Bryer, who has placed eighth at 125 and 130 the last two years, is 0-5 and has scored only five points against D’Urso but is 3-0 against Keller.
They’ve squared off in the Fred Bell Tournament semifinals at Grove City the last two seasons, with the Cochranton senior prevailing 7-4 and 4-1. He pulled off a takedown with seven seconds left and received a penalty point for a third caution on Keller in late January.
A year ago in the region consolation semifinals, Bryer ended Keller’s season when he was awarded a controversial takedown at the buzzer for a 3-2 squeaker and went on to earn the bronze medal.
Bryer did the same to Curwensville senior Derek Brothers in the 2010 consy finals, reversing at the second-period buzzer and holding on for a 2-1 victory.
Bryer’s only other loss this season was 6-4 in overtime to Brookville’s Brock Zacherl (22-1), the D-9 champ at 138.
Keller’s other setback was 8-7 to David Batkowski of Montoursville (34-1) at the Clearfield Duals. Batkowski is the District 4 champ at 138.
Barring upsets, Keller would be paired against Bryer in the semifinals, with D’Urso looming in the top of the bracket. All three received byes for the prelims.
Keller will meet the winner of the bout between fourth placers Jimmy Miller of Brookville and returnee Joey Pagliaroli of Sharpsville, who was 1-2 at 130 last year.
On Jan. 26, Keller pinned Miller in 3:15 in his first bout at 132 after going 17-1 at 138 and 1-0 at 145.
He sports pairs of wins over two of the wrestlers in the upper bracket.
Keller majored Redbank Valley’s Garrett Hildebrand 13-0 in the Fred Bell tourney and received a default victory in Saturday’s D-9 title bout because of the Bulldog‘s rib injury.
He’s encountered Nick Floch of Jamestown in the Fred Bell tourney two years in a row, winning by injury default and, on Jan. 27, tech falling the D-10 third-placer 16-1 in 3:57 for his 100th career win.
Only two times has Keller wrestled six minutes. His record includes 19 falls, five tech falls, one major decision, four defaults and one forfeit.
Golden Tide junior heavyweight Stubbs (11-7) landed in the lower bracket with two of the three possible opponents who are ranked in the state’s top 10 by Off the Mat, District 9 champ Josh Kibbie (33-1) of Kane and District 10 runner-up Blake Heim (38-7) of Reynolds.
His first task, however, is to get by Fort LeBoeuf sophomore Nate Conti, who owns a 30-19 record that might be somewhat deceiving because of the Bison’s rugged schedule.
Stubbs and Conti both placed fourth in their district tourneys.
Stubbs, who was seeded third, lost in the semifinals to Cranberry’s Lee Russell, the D-9 runner-up who sits in the upper bracket with D-10 champ Jeff Burger of Union City and D-8 champ Kadale Coles of Oliver.
Off the Mat had Heim ranked No. 4, Russell No. 7 and Kibbie No. 9 prior to districts.
Burger’s 5-2 win over Heim for the D-10 title last week was a repeat of his 10-3 victory in the 2011 region consy finals.
Russell also has prior region experience, placing fourth at 285 two years ago.
Stubbs, who has eight falls and two decisions to go with one forfeit, would get Kibbie in the quarterfinals if he defeats Conti.
In addition to D’Urso, other returning champs are Jamestown’s Aaron Roberts at 126, up from 119; Reynolds’ Austin Matthews at 138, who was at 140 last year after winning at 130 in 2011; and Greenville’s Cody Copeland at 152, up from 140.
Ridgway 126-pounder Corey Bush won tittles at 103 in 2009 and 119 in 2010. He placed third at 119 last year.
Action gets under way Friday at 5:15 p.m. with preliminaries and quarterfinals for four qualifiers from District 9, six from District 10 and two from District 8 at each weight vying for three berths in the PIAA Class AA Championships March 8-10 at Hershey’s Giant Center.
Complete brackets courtesy Bob Imhoff: http://crossfacewrestling.net/Documents/2012%20Northwest%20Regional%20Tournament%20Brackets.pdf
All will return Saturday for the championship semifinals and first round of consolations at 9 a.m., the second round of consolations at approximately noon, the consolation finals at 3 p.m. and, following the Parade of Champions at approximately 4:45, the title bouts.