CURWENSVILLE — While there never is an easy path to the championship or even the medal stand at the Northwest Class AA Region Tournament, three of the four Curwensville Area High School qualifiers will find themselves in brackets with returning gold medalists at Sharon High School this weekend.
The Golden Tide trio of District 9 runners-up are in the same half of the pairings with those District 10 champions but, first, must pass their quarterfinal tests in Friday’s 5:30 p.m. session in order to challenge them, and barring an upset, challenge them in Saturday morning’s semifinals.
Sophomore Zach Holland has defending 106-pound champion Beau Bayless (27-4) in his weight class. The Reynolds sophomore, who placed fourth in the PIAA Class AA Tournament, last year is ranked No. 1 in the state by Off the Mat.
Curwensville senior 182-pounder Kaleb Witherite is in a similar situation as Saegertown junior Cody Mulligan (39-3) is ranked No. 1. He won the 170 crown last year after placing second at 160 as a freshman. He handed Clearfield Luke McGonigal (29-1) his only loss, 4-3, when the Bison junior was at 182 before dropping to 170 and walking away with the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the Districts 4/9 Class AAA Tournament last weekend.
Golden Tide junior Steven McClure, No. 11 before losing to No. 9 Colton McClain of Ridgway in the District 9 finals, is one of five state-ranked heavyweights in one of the region’s best brackets that features two-time 220-pound champion Cole Rickert (14-0). The Reynolds senior lost in the 220 finals last year but went on to place eighth in the state.
Sophomore 113-pounder Blake Passarelli (27-4) is the fourth Curwensville hopeful and will be seeking a return trip to next week’s state tourney. He placed third at the regional last March.
Like his teammates, Passarelli received a bye for the preliminary round and will meet Fort LeBoeuf’s District 10 runner-up Isaac Crowell (34-8), who also has moved up from 106.
D-9 champ Keelan Kunselman (27-10) of Brookville also is in the top half of the bracket. He lost 4-2 to Bayless in the 106 title bout last year.
D-10 champ Hunter Thompson (32-2) of Titusville and D-9 runner-up Kyle Bush are at the bottom. Thompson was the champion at the Fred Bell Tournament in January, while Passarelli finished third after losing 5-4 to Hopewell’s Anthony Rosati. Thompson pinned Rosati in the finals.
Off The Mat ranked Kunselman sixth, Bush seventh and Thompson 12th last week.
“I think Blake is one of the top four kids in that bracket,” Curwensville coach Dean Swatsworth said. “All he needs to do is open up and wrestle.”
Holland (22-9) gets a Fred Bell Tournament rematch with Union Center sophomore William Burgess (27-6), the third placer in District 10. The No. 9-ranked Burgess eked out a 4-3 win in the semifinals.
“It came down to the last second, and we thought Zach had two or at least one at the end when he Petersoned out and they ended up in the scramble, but the referees said Burgess never lost control.
“We figured we’d see him at regionals, but we didn’t think it would be the first match.
In the bottom half are D-9 champion Anthony Glasl (30-6) of Brockway and D-9 consolation final winner Reese Vollmer (29-6) of Port Allegany, ranked No. 7 and No. 13, respectively.
Witherite (23-8) also gets the D-10 bronze medalist in Greenville junior Brendan Calvin (28-6).
Mulligan and D-9 champ Noah Cieleski (31-6) of Brookville are the only state-ranked 182-pounders. The Raider junior is No. 11.
D-10 runner-up Julian Goring (35-6) of Fort LeBoeuf was fourth at 170 last year.
McClure (23-5) has a Fred Bell tourney rematch, too, with Harbor Creek senior Joe Newara (34-9). He defeated the D-10 third placer 4-0 en route to a second-place finish.
“That was a good match,” Swatsworth said. “It was 1-0 going into the third period. The kid went down and, if I remember right, Steven had him on his back for over a minute but couldn’t pin him.
“If he wins, he’ll get Rickert, and that kid is big. He went from 220 to 260 in a year’s time. He wasn’t in the lineup until the team duals because of an injury.”
The 285 class has two other state-ranked wrestlers in No. 10 Timmy McCauley of Redbank Valley and No. 12 Jeffrey Kraemer of North East, both in the opposite side of McClure’s bracket along with McClain. McCauley was third in D-9 while Kraemer wound up sixth in D-10.
The top four at each weight move on to the state tournament, and Swatsworth is hopeful all four of the Golden Tide matmen will advance.
“If they all just show up and wrestle hard, I don’t see why we couldn’t get them through,” he said. “Every match is important. You can’t take a second off and you can’t be looking ahead.”
Doubling the number of returning champs are Brookville senior 120-pounder Gavin Park, seeking to become a rare three-timer after reigning at 106 in 2015 and 113 last year; Reynolds junior 138-pounder Cole Matthews, who won at 126 and placed third at states last year after placing second but going on to win the state title as a freshman at 120, and Greenville senior 220-pounder Blake Reynolds, who won the gold medal and finished fourth in the state at 195 last year after making the leap from 152 in 2015 when he placed second in the region and eighth in the state.
Four silver medalists return along with Kunselman joined by Reynoldsville senior Chaise Hauck, up at 145 from 132; Brookville junior Caleb Hetrick, back at 152, and Reynolds senior Joel Leise, back at 170.
On Saturday, the first round of consolations will be contested at 9 a.m. with the championship semifinals and the consolation quarterfinals and semifinals to follow.
The final session will begin at 3:30 p.m. with the consolation finals. The first of the gold medal matches will start after the Parade of Champions that is set for 5:30.
Full brackets can be seen here, courtesy PA-wrestling.com.