Knocked out of the chase for the gold by nationally-ranked Randy Cruz of Bethlehem Catholic in his state tourney debut, the Golden Tide’s No. 3 all-time winner kept his eyes on the prize with an overtime fall against District 6 and Southwest Region champ James Dodson of Claysburg-Kimmel in the first consolation round Thursday afternoon.
Keller (36-4) will return to the Giant Center Friday morning to meet the loser of the quarterfinal bout between SE-1 Laike Gardner (39-4) of Biglerville and NE-3 Andrew Schutz (31-3) of Wyoming Area that will be contested earlier in the 9 a.m. session.
Another victory in the consy second round will assure Keller of having a medal draped around his neck Saturday afternoon. He could finish as high as third.
“We’re shooting for four more wins,” Curwensville coach Duane Wriglesworth. “We think it’s possible.”
Cruz (39-2) proved why he’s been regarded as one of the premier middleweights in the state all season by limiting Keller to a pair of escapes while taking him down three times for a 6-2 decision.
The Lehigh recruit, a three-time Northeast Region champ who was runner-up last week, grabbed a quick 2-0 lead when he countered a Keller shot with a slide-by, according to Wriglesworth.
Cruz tried to maintain control with a crab ride but soon discovered holding Keller down would be a difficult task.
“We knew he used that, and Jake managed it very well,” Wriglesworth said. “(Cruz) couldn’t score. He had one hand around the waist and the other in a half-nelson position, and he would roll back trying to throw Jake to the half side to get back points.
“But Jake would spider back and try to reach back and get his head. He was close to getting a defensive fall a couple of times.
“Once (Cruz) sensed he couldn’t hold Jake, he just let him go on a re-start.”
Cruz, who has lost in the state finals the last two years, put Keller in a 4-1 hole after one period with a second takedown.
The third takedown came in the middle period and ended the scoring, for Cruz chose the neutral position for the final two minutes to prevent getting caught in one of Keller’s spiral rides.
“Jake wrestled him tough, but he wasn’t the No. 1-ranked kid in the state for nothing,’’ Wriglesworth said. “He’s very good at playing the edge of the mat, too.”
Keller didn’t have his confidence shaken by the loss and was ready for Dodson, who checked into the tourney unbeaten and was pinned at 3:43 by two-time District 1 champ and SE-5 Trenton Clifford of Pottstown in what had to be one of the biggest surprises of the opening round.
The Keller-Dodson duel had plenty of action but no points in regulation.
They matched two-minute rides, with Keller almost breaking free at the end of the second period, when Dodson suffered a shoulder injury that caused him to use up all of his injury time.
“It was non-stop for two minutes and Jake was in a lot of flurries trying to get out,” Wriglesworth.
Keller then worked different leg combinations in the third period to force overtime.
The fall came 37 seconds into the extra period.
“Dodson had shot in, and Jake defended with a funk roll,” Wriglesworth explained. “They kind of got twisted upside down, and Jake turned the funk roll into a Peterson.
“It was one of those situations where (Dodson) was flat on his back, and we were yelling that he was pinned. As soon as they called the takedown, they called it a pin.”
He added, “It kind of gives you an idea how tough that bracket is to have an undefeated wrestler go two and out.”
Six of the 17 District 9 qualifiers were victorious in the prelims to move into the quarterfinals.
They are Cody Blankenship of Kane and Trent Neely of Smethport at 106, Corey Bush of Ridgway and Karl Lightner of Smethport at 126, Brock Zacherl of Brookville at 138 and Logan Stout of Brookville at 195.
Keller is one of five D-9 hopefuls in the consys.
The others are Nate Schwab (120) of Smethport, Evan Delong (145) of Kane, Kyle Bova (152) of Coudersport and Brett Smith (160) of Brookville.
Two and out were Ridgway’s Kyle Caggiano at 160 and Jake Himes at 170, Brookville’s Trey Constable at 113 and Dalton Zimmerman at 120, and Redbank Valley’s Willie Gruver at 113 and Ty Haines at 138.
Gruver and Caggiano were region champions.
Only two of the 25 District 10 qualifiers didn’t survive Day One, with 16 advancing to the quarterfinals and seven moving into the consolation second round.
In addition to Gruver, Delong, Caggiano and Dodson, two other region titlists were beaten in the prelims, Northeast’s Dominic DeGraba of Dallas Area at 106 and Southeast’s Luke Garner of Catasauqua at 220.
The championship semifinals and consolation quarterfinals are scheduled for Friday at 6:30 p.m. with the consy semis to follow.
The four medal matches at each weight will be wrestled simultaneously Saturday afternoon starting at two o’clock.
Complete results: http://www.wrestlereg.com/2012-PIAA/