HYDE — A trio of Curwensville Area High School wrestlers recorded falls in their only matches Friday night to advance to the semifinals of the 2019 District 9 Class AA Tournament in the Clearfield Area High School.
All had byes into the quarterfinals, where senior Blake Passarelli, a returning champion, flattened Kane’s Curtis Barner in 1:55 at 126 pounds, junior Zach Holland decked Sheffield’s Jacob Disshon in 1:40 at 145 and senior Cole Bressler pinned Redbank Valley’s Noah Anderson 39 seconds into the second period at 160.
They’ll return to Bison Gym Saturday morning along with four teammates who will be in the consolation quarterfinals of the 10:30 session that also includes the consolation semifinals.
Passarelli (23-5), a senior who won the 113-pound title last year en route to his third trip to the state tournament, is the No. 2 seed and will face No. 3 Mason Songer (28-3) of Redbank Valley in the semis.
No. 1 seed and two-time district titlist Anthony Glasl (29-1) of Brockway meets Parker Fleming of Brookville in the other match.
Seeded No. 3 after missing most of the season due to an injury, Holland must contend with No. 2 Colton Gietler (22-8) of Oswayo Valley in hopes of facing No. 1 Isaac Smoker (24-4) of Port Allegany or No. 4 Cameron Marciniak of Johnsonburg for the crown.
Bressler (14-9) bumps into No. 1 Alec English (27-1) of Kane, who reigned at 152 last year.
The other half of the brackets pits No. 2 Noah Bash (24-7) of Brockway against No. 3 Isaac Zimmerman (25-7) of Johnsonburg.
Sophomore 170-pounder Jake McCracken (17-12) was the busiest Golden Tide wrestler, winning two of his three bouts.
After pinning Coudersport’s Dylan Hajzus at 2:26, the No. 7 seed gave No. 2 Tyler Watts a battle but was edged 3-2 with a first-period takedown the difference. McCracken bounced back to pin Clarion’s Peyton Means in 35 seconds.
The Golden Tide’s Jacob Carfley at 106, Duane Brady at 152 and Alec McGarry at 220 are still in the running because of byes after dropping down to the consolation brackets.
Adam Straw at 138 and Gage Roos at 195 were eliminated with two losses.
The 56 wrestlers still in the gold medal hunt racked up 32 falls, with nationally-ranked heavyweight Colby Whitehill of Brookville posting the quickest, just eight seconds.
Only two top-four seeds failed to win in the quarterfinals, No. 3 Kobe Bonanno of Redbank Valley was beaten 4-1 (UTB) by No. 6 Hayden Thompson of Brockway at 285 and No. 4 Jacob Cable of Brookville nipped 3-2 by No. 5 Jacob Wickett of Ridgway at 152.
The team race is shaping up to be one of the best in years.
Brockway has 49.5 points with eight semifinalists and three survivors in the consolations, but Kane is right behind with 46.5 and nine semifinalists plus one wrestler in the consys.
Port Allegany sits third with 35.5 points and seven semifinalists among 12 medal contenders, while four-time champion Brookville is fourth at 34 points with all 14 wrestlers alive, including eight semifinalists.
Curwensville is right in the middle of the 13 teams with 25 points.
The final session will begin at 3:30 p.m. with District 9 Hall of Fame Inductions and the Parade of Champions preceding the championship and consolation finals.
The four medal winners will move on to the Northwest Region Tournament at Sharon next weekend.
The Curwensville results, with seed number preceding names:
Complete bracket results can be found here, courtesy PA-Wrestling.com.
CONSOLATION SECOND ROUND
138 – (6) Montgomery Tanner, Port Allegany, pinned Adam Straw, Curwensville, 2:47.
170 – (7) Jake McCracken, Curwensville, pinned Peyton Means, Clarion, :35.
195 – (6) Tyler Van Tassel, Clarion, pinned Gage Roos, Curwensville, :51.
CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTERFINALS
106 – (2) Bryent Johnson, Port Allegany, pinned Jacob Carfley, Curwensville, 1:33.
126 – (2) Blake Passarelli, Curwensville, pinned Curtis Barner, Kane, 1:55.
145 – (3) Zach Holland, Curwensville, pinned (6), Jacob Disshon Sheffield, 1:40.
160 – (4) Cole Bressler, Curwensville, pinned (5) Noah Anderson, Redbank Valley, 2:39.
170 – (2) Tyler Watts, Johnsonburg, dec. McCracken, Curwensville, 3-2.
220 – (1) Ty Stahli, Kane, pinned (8) Alec McGarry, Curwensville, 2:54.
CHAMPIONSHIP PRELIMINARIES
138 – (4) Dalton Stahli, Johnsonburg, pinned Straw, Curwensville, 2:29.
152 – (1) Cole Casilio, Johnsonburg, major dec. Duane Brady, Curwensville, 12-3.
170 – (7) McCracken, Curwensville, pinned Dylan Hajzus, Coudersport, 2:26.
195 – (5) Dominic Cartwright, Kane, pinned Roos, Curwensville, :39.
