HYDE — The Curwensville Golden Tide wrestling team had a pretty rough opening night to the District 9-AA Championships, only winning three of 14 bouts.
Two Tide did manage to reach Saturday’s 10:30 am semifinals in the Bison Gym at the Clearfield Area Junior/Senior High School.
At 138 senior Zach Holland had a 5-0 first period lead on the strength of a takedown and three near-fall points over Redbank Valley’s Jason Kundick before pinning him in 1:29. With the win, Holland remained undefeated at 28-0 and set himself up with semifinal opponent Luke Ely (17-8), the number five seed, from Kane. Holland won the D9 title last year at 145 pounds.
Joining Holland in the semifinals will be junior Jake McCracken (23-6) at 170. McCracken didn’t have it quite as easy as Holland, needing 3:13 to pin Ridgway’s Joe Miller (11-10). With the score knotted 2-2 in the second period after a Miller escape, McCracken preceded to take Miller down and pick up the fall just past the midway point of the match. The number two seed McCracken will face number six seeded senior Donovan Edmonds (21-9) of Clarion who has a tech fall and a fall to his credit thus far.
The only other Tide wrestler to win a match on Friday night was Duane Brady (20-10) at 182 pounds. After being pinned by the number three seed Tyler Watts (29-3) of Johnsonburg in the quarterfinals, Brady picked up a pin of his own in 54 seconds over Ridgway’s Bailey Lewis (3-16).
Four other Tide wrestlers remain alive in the wrestlebacks after losing their first match and then picked up first round consy byes.
Jacob Carfley (23-9) at 106, Nik Fegert (13-12) at 126, Nick Holbert (6-10) at 195, and Brennen Moore (15-11) have long roads back to finish in fourth to earn a trip to the North West Region tournament next weekend in Sharon HIgh School.
Going 0-2 and ending their seasons were Zach Shaffer (9-17) at 145, Adam Straw (12-18) at 152, and Dylan Harmic (1-11) at 160.
In the team race, the Tide sit in eighth place out of 13 teams with 21 points. In first place is Brookville with 81 points.
Full results courtesy PA-Wrestling.com can be found by clicking here.