CURWENSVILLE — Just like the other 278 qualifiers for the 2018 PIAA Class AA Championships, Curwensville Area High School wrestlers Blake Passarelli and Steven McClure will enter the Giant Center at Hershey Thursday morning with hopes and dreams of a three-day journey to the medal stand.
The fact that this state tourney is widely regarded as quite possibly the toughest in the country makes that a difficult task of being prepared mentally as well as physically to go hard for six full minutes and, in many cases, two overtime minutes.
Coach Dean Swatsworth deemed the Golden Tide standouts ready for the challenge.
“Both want to be on the podium Saturday, and I think both of them can reach that,” he said. “You want to wrestle smart, and the last two weeks, I think both have wrestled smart.
“All those kids down there are gonna be good. You have to wrestle one match at a time. You can’t be looking ahead.”
McClure, a senior sporting a 31-3 record and ranked No. 6 by Off The Mat, enters as the Northwest Region heavyweight champion after a 1-0 win over Colby Whitehill (No. 5 OTM) of Brookville that reversed the outcome of their District 9 title match.
Passarelli, a junior at 28-5 and ranked No. 8, goes into his third consecutive appearance at states as the NW runner-up at 113 pounds, losing the gold medal bout 5-2 to three-time District 10 and NW region king and returning PIAA champion Beau Bayless of Reynolds in a duel that was 1-1 going into the final minute.
Neither will wrestle in the 9 a.m. preliminary round as a result of byes.
In the first round, Passarelli will meet Southeast Region bronze medalist Dalton Gimbor (37-8), a Brandywine Heights freshman who was the District 3 runner-up, and McClure will get the winner of the prelim between Southwest Region fourth placer Nate Martin (30-8, No. 8 OTM) of Central Cambria and SE sixth placer Joseph Kocher (30-8) of Schuylkill Haven.
Passarelli’s bracket features Bayless (44-4, No. 2 OTM) and three other region champs who placed second, third and fifth at states last year.
He’s in the lower half with Northeast Region champ and No. 1-ranked Wyatt Lutz (36-2) of Montoursville and SW titlist Josh Boozel (34-3, No. 3 OTM) of Mount Union.
Two-time SE king Nate Smith (28-1) of Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt is in the top half with Bayless, who beat Boozel 5-0 for the 106 crown last March.
Lutz is the only one who was at 113 last year when he placed third with a 4-1 record. Smith was fifth at 106.
In 2016, Bayless wound up fourth at 3-2 while Lutz and Boozel both were 2-2, all at 106.
One of Lutz’s wins was against Passarelli, who was 1-2 that year and 0-2 in 2017.
SE runner-up John Consorti (23-6, No. 6 OTM) of Wilson is another former placewinner on Passarelli’s side of the bracket. He finished eighth at 106 two years ago.
Also back are three other 2017 qualifiers who have bumped up a weight in NE-2 Noah Hunt of Warrior Run, SE-4 Devin Blose of Newport and SE-6 Kyler Anspach of Northern Lebanon.
Except D-9 and NW placewinners Dylan Pesock (No. 11 OTM) of Oswayo Valley and Mason Songer of Redbank Valley, the only PIAA qualifier Passarelli has seen this season is talented and No. 5-ranked Glendale freshman Brock McMillen, who won their dual match 7-1.
“Sometimes, it’s a better thing if you don’t know your opponent,” Swatsworth said. “You can just go out and wrestle your match, react to what they do and see how they react to what you do.”
McClure’s bracket isn’t as crowded with returnees but has its share of quality, with a familiar name on his side in SW champ Bishop McCoy (39-1, No. 2 OTM) of South Side Beaver.
McCoy, who eked out a 2-1 win over McClure in the Fred Bell Tournament finals, finished fifth at 220 last year. His only loss this season was to an Ohio wrestler.
Two weeks ago in the SW finals, McCoy defeated two-time state runner-up Josiah Jones (No. 3 OTM) of Johnstown Bishop McCort 3-1 in overtime.
Jones, who wrestled two seasons at Westmont-Hilltop before transferring, lost 2-1 and 4-3 to Harrison Cole Nye of Harrisburg Bishop McDevitt in the 220 finals the last two years.
He’s in the upper half of the bracket with undefeated SE champ and No. 1-ranked Danny Scheib (34-0) of Tri-Valley.
Scheib is a three-time District 11 and two-time SE Region titlist who placed eighth at 220 as a freshman and, after missing his sophomore season because of a football injury, came back last year to reach the finals at 285, where he was pinned by Toby Cahill of Berlin-Brothers Valley.
Martin, a possible first-match opponent for McClure, is the only other returnee; he was 1-2 at 285 last year.
McClure did defeat two qualifiers during the Garrett Scott Tournament at Juniata Valley in early February, decisioning SE-2 Justin Kriner (No. 11 OTM) of North Penn 3-1 and SW-6 Kole Winfield of Southern Huntingdon 2-1 (OT).
Wins would move Passarelli and McClure into the quarterfinals Friday at 9 a.m. A loss would mean another match in the first round of consolations set for 1:15 p.m. Thursday.
Semifinal and two consolation rounds at Friday’s 7:30 p.m. session will determine the championship and consolation finals matches, all Saturday at 2 p.m.