SHARON — District 9 champion Blake Passarelli and runner-up Steven McClure of Curwensville advanced to the semifinals of the 2017 PIAA Northwest Region Class AA Wrestling Tournament with contrasting victories during Friday evening‘s session at Sharon High School.
Both byed into the quarterfinals, where junior 113-pounder Passarelli major decisioned Alec Kightlinger of Saegertown 11-3 and senior heavyweight McClure nipped Matt Long of Union City 2-1 in overtime.
Sophomore 132-pounder Zach Holland, the Golden Tide’s other qualifier, was a 4-1 winner over Zachary Helstren of Commodore Perry in the preliminary round but ran into a buzzsaw in his next bout and was pinned by District 10 king Mark-Samuel Sallot of Harbor Creek in 27 seconds.
Passarelli (27-5) took down Kightlinger with an ankle pick in the first period and expanded the lead to 6-1 in the second period with a reversal and another takedown. In the third period, he bull-rushed the D-10 fourth placer for a third takedown and made it a bonus win with a nearfall.
“Blake wrestled real well,” Curwensville coach Dean Swatsworth said. “He was dominant and patient. He’s realizing now that kids aren’t going to be aggressive with him when they’re on their feet.”
The Golden Tide’s two-time state qualifier, ranked No. 8 by Off The Mat, gets No. 11 Hunter Thompson (30-5) of Titusville next.
The other semi pits two-time region gold medalist and returning state champion Beau Bayless (42-4) of Reynolds against D-10 bronze medalist William Burgess (31-5) of Union City. They met in the district semis last week, and the No. 2-ranked Bayless, who won the state championship at 106 last March, prevailed 4-3 over the No. 10 Burgess for his fourth district title.
McClure (29-3) got by Long, who was third in D-10, in what Swatsworth branded as a typical but very good bout.
They traded escapes in regulation, and McClure rode out the first 30-second tiebreaker period before escaping with 22 seconds left in the second period.
“Steven stood up, pressured back, turned in and got out,” Swatsworth described the deciding point. “He wrestled his match and just outlasted the kid.”
Long was ranked No. 9, right behind D-10 champion Max Wills (30-5) of Lakeview.
That’s the next hurdle for McClure, who is ranked No. 7.
The other finalist will be either D-9 gold medalist Colby Whitehill (36-3) of Brookville or D-10 runner-up Collin Askins (38-9) of Harbor Creek. Whitehill is ranked No. 6.
Holland (20-6) used a first-period takedown and third-period reversal for his prelim win but never got a chance to get started against No. 6-ranked Sallot (41-2).
“The kid’s good, pretty solid,” Swatsworth said. “He shot and Zach jammed a whizzer and went to hip-toss him, but the kid stepped over and laced a leg and got two points.
“They went off the mat and on the restart, the kid laced Zach’s leg again and just hipped over and pulled him to his back.”
Holland, who placed fourth at districts, must win three matches Saturday morning to earn a trip to the state tourney, starting with a bout against Garrett Kopp (30-8) of North East in the 9:30 consolation first round.
In all, 19 D-9 wrestlers advanced to the championship semifinals, which will get under Saturday morning immediately after the 9:30 consolation first round.
Champions joining Passarelli will be Brent Johnson (106) of Smethport, Anthony Glasl (120) of Brockway, Bryce Barclay (132) of Ridgway, Lukas McClain (138) of Ridgway, Caleb Hetrick (145) of Brookville, Alec English (152) of Kane, Jacob Kallenborn (160) of Port Allegany, Garrett McClintick (182) of Brockway, Tyler Cook (220) of Brookville and Colby Whitehill (285) of Brookville.
Runners-up who moved on with McClure were Cabe Park (120) of Brookville, Steven “Kai” Sorbin (126) of Brookville, Tyler Thompson (132) of Bradford, Dillon Keane (145) of Bradford, Julian Smith (160) of Coudersport and Elijah Ayers (182) of Coudersport.
David Kubrick (138) of Coudersport was the lone bronze medalist to keep his title hopes alive.
Two D-9 champs were knocked off by D-10 fourth-place finishers in the quarterfinals.
Brockway 170-pounder Eric Johnson, the district’s only titlist who was not a No. 1 seed, lost 8-2 to Will Chess of Mercer.
Brookville 195-pounder Xavier Molnar, a three-time district gold medalist, was edged 3-2 by Jarrod Miller of Reynolds in the stunner of the session.
Perennial D-10 power Reynolds is on pace for a sixth consecutive team title with 49.5 points and eight semifinalists plus four hopefuls in the consolations.
Probably too far back already to contend is D-9 kingpin Brookville with 23 points, five semifinalists and five wrestlers in the consolations. Harbor Creek is second 25 points but has one less semifinalist among its nine possible point-getters.
Consolation quarterfinals and semifinals will complete Session II, setting the pairings for the third-place matches that will be contested on two mats at 3:30 p.m.
The Parade of Champions will precede the five o’clock start of the first gold medal bout.
The region’s top four finishers will advance to the PIAA Class AA Tournament in the Giant Center at Hershey next weekend.
Click here for complete bracket results courtesy Bob Imhof and Ridgway Wrestling.