Bloodied but not beaten, Bledsoe earns trip to Hershey
FRANCONIA » Garnet Valley’s Drew Bledsoe stood on the podium Saturday night at Souderton High School holding a Hershey bar in both hands and a piece of gauze stuffed in his right nostril.
The bloody nose was the price the junior 285-pounder was willing to pay to achieve his goal of qualifying for the PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships with a fifth-place finish at the Southeast Regional.
“I got it in the round before the fifth-place match,” Bledoe said. “I just battled through it. I just went along with it and it started bleeding again (in the fifth-place match).”
The blood flow didn’t stop Bledsoe from pulling out a 3-1 victory over Central League rival Temitayo Seyi-David of Lower Merion for the final heavyweight spot from the regional. It was Bledoe’s third win over Seyi-David this season.
Bledsoe (30-10) will face Joey Schneck (37-5) of Pine Richland, the No. 3 seed out of the Southwest Regional, in the opening round Thursday afternoon at the Giant
Center.
Bledsoe’s road to the state tournament began last season as the heavyweight on the JV team. He worked with varsity heavyweight Nick Mahoney on a daily basis. Going against a wrestler who missed qualifying for the state tournament by one spot at the regional every day laid the groundwork for what Bledsoe has been able to accomplish this season.
“It was great competition, just going back and forth all year,” said Bledsoe, who was seeded eighth in the tournament. “I got better every day and this is where I am now. Going against Nick made me work harder in the offseason. I had a goal to make it to Hershey. I did a bunch of offseason work, went to a couple of clubs and went to a couple of tournaments and now I’m here.”
Bledsoe is one of eight Delaware County wrestlers headed to Hershey, and he said his spot also would not have been possible without the help of former Garnet Valley and Malvern Prep standout Cole Deery, who plays football at Maryland and has served as a volunteer coach with the Jags this season when his schedule has allowed.
Deery’s a pretty good guy to have in your corner. He finished eighth at the PIAA Class 3A championships as a sophomore in 2019 and won the National Prep title as a junior at Malvern a year later. Deery was on hand Saturday and gave Bledsoe some advice that paid dividends on the mat.
“In the blood round (consolation quarterfinals) he gave me a move, an under-hook to a single, that worked really well,” Bledsoe said. He used the move to get a takedown in the first period against Chase Washington of Pennridge. That gave Bledsoe a 3-0 lead and resulted in a 5-2 decision that got him into the consolation semifinals and a shot at a medal.
“Coach Deery was a blessing,” said Bledsoe, who went 4-2 in the tournament with two wins by fall. “I’d like to thank him and all of my coaches.”
• • •
You could see the look of disappointment on Sam Milligan’s face as he accepted his third-place medal at 189 pounds Saturday night.
It was not the finish the Strath Haven senior wanted.
Milligan came to the Southeast Regional as the top seed in the weight class and was looking to come home with a gold medal, but his championship hopes were derailed in a 15-2 loss to Dean Bechtold of Owen J. Roberts in the semifinals.
“I was really ticked off,” Milligan said. “I beat that kid earlier in the year (5-2 at the Rockyard Duals) and I should have beaten him. I was really ticked off but our coaches did a great job of refocusing us. I got to the third-place match and that’s all that mattered.”
Milligan (41-7) bounced back with an 8-5 win over Hutton Smith of Lower Merion in the consolation semifinals and then beat Jeremy McKinney of Oxford for third-place, 3-1, to earn his second straight trip to Hershey. He will face Lincoln Bibla (26-11) of Crestwood, the fourth-place finisher from the Northwest Regional in the first round of the state tournament.
“I can’t wait,” Milligan said. “Last year I was so happy to get third place. If you had told me in my freshman year that I would finish third twice and qualify for states twice I would have been super happy, but I feel I should have won this tournament.”
• • • The matchups
preliminary
and first-round of the PIAA championships are set. Ridley’s Curtis Nelson (33-3), the runnerup at 107 pounds in the Southeast Regional, takes on McKaden Speece (45-4) of Wilson West Lawn, the No. 2 seed from the Southcentral Regional.
Haverford’s Cole McFarland (24-5), the No. 2 seed at 114 from the Southeast Regional, faces Alex Reed (33-6) of Shikellamy, the No. 2 seed from the Northwest Regional. Sun Valley’s Hunter Delaney (32-8), the fourth-place finisher at 127 pounds, takes on Caleb Fasick (30-8) of Altoona, the No. 3 seed out of the Northwest Regional, in the preliminary round. At 145 pounds, Chichester’s Blake Bryant (36-6), the fifth seed out of the Southeast, opens with Dalton Menger (389), the No. 4 seed from the
Northeast, and Sun Valley’s Brandon Carr (403), the No. 2 seed from the Southeast, faces Cocalico’s Aiden Swann (34-4), the No. 2 seed from the Southcentral. Strath Haven’s Ben Farabaugh (42-2), the No. 2 seed at 285, goes against Joe Enick (32-5) of Penn-Trafford, the No. 2 seed from the Southwest.
The preliminary and first-round matches start at 4 p.m., Thursday, with the first-round of consolations slated for 8:15. The Class 3A tournament continues Friday with the quarterfinals and second-round consolations starting at 2:15 p.m, and the third-round consolations at 5. The tournament concludes on Saturday with the semifinals and fourthround consolations at 9 a.m., the fifth-round consolations at 11:30 a.m., and the medal round at 7 p.m.