HERSHEY — The outstanding four-year career Blake Passarelli put together for the Curwensville Area High School wrestling team ended in disappointment at the 2019 PIAA Class AA Championships Thursday.
The Golden Tide senior 126-pounder was beaten twice in the opening session at the Giant Center to finish the season 27-10.
In both instances, opponents’ takedowns were his downfall.
Passarelli, who placed fourth in the Northwest Region to become Curwensville’s first four-time state qualifier, surrendered three takedowns to Southwest Region fifth-placer Byron Daubert of Forest Hills in a 7-3 loss during the morning preliminary round.
Down 4-1 after one period, Passarelli came off the bottom in the second period with a reversal that cut the margin to one point going to the final two minutes,
He then turned Daubert loose in hopes of engineering a tying takedown, but the District 6 bronze medalist with 126 career wins recorded the bout-clinching two-pointer.
Passarelli, No. 9 in the latest PA Power Wrestling state rankings, was confronted by a familiar foe in the afternoon consolation round, No. 7-ranked Anthony Glasl of Brockway.
The three-time District 9 champ and three-time NW Region runner-up, who lost 8-3 to Notre Dame-Green Pond’s Brandan Chletsos in the championship first round, worked the takedown that proved to be the difference in a 3-2 decision as he limited Passarelli to a pair of escapes.
The score was identical to the D-9 gold medal bout between the two state placewinners, the Brockway junior prevailing via an ultimate tiebreaker rideout for his 100th career win. He also had won their dual-meet bout.
“Blake just couldn’t get any kind of offense going against those kids,” Curwensville coach Dean Swatsworth said. “He tried some shots, but he couldn’t get into their legs.
“I know he was really shooting to be on that podium, but it just didn’t happen for him. It was not for a lack of effort. He worked hard to get here.”
Passarelli, who placed eighth at 113 pounds last year, wound up 114-36 to for fourth place on Curwensville’s all-time win list behind Derek Brothers (131), Nick Sipes (122) and Jake Keller (117). The Golden Tide website shows Shae Bloom at the top with 140, but 70 of his wins were registered when he wrestled for DuBois as a freshman and sophomore.
“Blake had a stellar career,” Swatsworth said. “I’m just so proud of him as a young man, an athlete, and as a student.”
D-9 has four quarterfinalists with Owen Reinsel of Brookville at 106, Braedon Johnson of Port Allegany at 120, Alec English of Kane at 160 and Colby Whitehill of Brookville at 285.
Eight other D-9 representatives are alive for Friday morning’s session that will begin at 9 o’clock.
D-9’s Northwest Region counterpart D-10 has 17 quarterfinalists and 20 wrestlers in the wrestlebacks.
Complete bracket results courtesy PA-Wrestling.com can be found here.