SHARON — Day One of the 2013 PIAA Northwest Region Class AA Wrestling Tournament couldn’t have been any rougher on the Curwensville Area High School contingent.
The Golden Tide’s trio of qualifiers representing District 9 were fall victims in all five of their matches in the Sharon High School gymnasium Friday night.
Sophomore Sam Bressler (21-11), who placed third at 106 pounds in the district tourney last week, will return for Saturday’s 9 a.m. session of championship semifinals and consolation quarterfinals and semifinals.
He received a bye in the consolation second round after being pinned at 3:47 by District 10 runner-up Seth Hogue (28-12) of Reynolds. Hogue is No. 14 in the latest Off The Mat state rankings.
District 10 fifth placer Jase Paxton (32-13) of Greenville is the Golden Tide bantam’s opponent in the consy quarters.
Bressler must get by him and win two more bouts to advance to the state championships in the Hershey Giant Center next week.
The season ended in the consy second round for Curwensville’s Jake Lancaster (23-12) and Trey McKenzie (18-13).
Lancaster, the District 9 champ at 126, was ousted by two familiar foes whom he had beaten three times in four matches during the regular season.
The Golden Tide sophomore’s title aspirations were snuffed out by Conneaut junior Kyle Lukowich (32-8) with three seconds left in the first period.
They had met twice in the Fred Bell Memorial Tournament at Grove City in late January, Lancaster avenging a first-round, 39-second fall with a 2-0 decision in the consy semifinals.
Much more of a surprise was Brockway sophomore Jack Glasl’s fall at the 2:14 mark in the consy match.
Lancaster had pinned the Rover at 3:11 in the December dual meet and 38 seconds into the second period of their district semifinal duel.
McKenzie, a junior who placed fourth in District 9 at 145, was pinned at 3:20 by District 10 fifth placer Trey Maher (34-11) of Grove City in the championship prelims and at 4:08 by District 10 fourth placer Taylor Ellis (32-8) of Conneaut in the consys.
Lancaster was one of two District 9 champs to fall in the quarterfinals.
Redbank Valley 220-pounder Cal Haines was pinned by District 10 fourth placer Jaykup Durlin of Youngsville.
District 9 has 22 semifinalists and 24 wrestlers in the consy quarterfinals.
The consolation finals are set for 3:15 p.m.
Complete results courtesy Escape Sports: http://liveresults.escapesports.com/PIAA/2013_AA_NW_Regional_Tournament.html