Locals look for sweet finish at PIAAs
Twenty-three local wrestlers have a chance to complete their season with a sweet finish when the PIAA Championships begin Thursday at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Eighteen from the area qualified for the Class AAA tournament while Faith Christian had five earn spots in the Class AA field
Wrestling starts 4 p.m. Thursday with the 3A preliminaries, championship round one and consolation round. Class 2A opens 9 a.m. Friday with both tournaments continuing through Saturday.
Methacton’s Kibwe McNair is the lone local entering states as
South East Regional 3A champ as the senior claimed his first regional gold by pinning Lower Merion’s Christian Hodges in the 138 final last Saturday at Souderton.
McNair (29-1) is making his third straight PIAAs, having won at least a match the previous two years – winning twice in 2019 – but is looking to finally reach the medal stand. He opens 138 against either Bryce Buckman or Seneca Valley’s Chanz Shearer in the championship first round.
Also in the 138-pound state bracket is North Penn sophomore Will Morrow, who took fifth at regionals. Morrow (277) faces Lower Dauphin’s TJ Elhajj with the winner facing Nazareth’s Dashawn Farber in the
first round. Farber took second at the weight last year, including a major decision over McNair in the quarterfinals.
The Plymouth Whitemarsh pair of senior Paolo DiSanto and sophomore Mike Miller look to bounce back from losing their first matches of the season in their respective regional finals.
DiSanto (32-1) begins his third straight trip to states facing junior Dustin Swanson of Garden Spot with the winner likely taking on defending 220 champ Nate Schon of Selinsgrove in the quarters.
Hatboro-Horsham senior Logan Flynn and
Wissahickon senior Dan Keller both wrestle in the 220 prelims. Flynn (34-6), who was third at regionals, faces Cannon McMillan’s Evan Miller. Keller (287), at states for the second time after placing fourth at regionals, takes on Adam Young of Shikellamy.
PW’s Miller (32-1) opens his first time competing at the Giant Center with a 285 first round match with Garden Spot’s Charles Martin.
Like 220, the 195 weight class has three area wrestlers. Pennridge senior Logan Green, who was third at regionals to reach states in back-to-back years, meets Bethel Park’s Luke Montgomery in the first round.
Spring-Ford senior Louis Carbajal (28-12), who was second at regionals, takes on Bellefonte’s Tyler Benner in the first round while
Central Bucks West sophomore Carl DiGiorgio (34-5) – fifth at regionals – faces Hazleton Area’s Seth Hunsinger in prelims.
Both 132 and 152 have two local competitors in their brackets.
At 132, William Tennent senior TJ England (32-2) returns to states after taking regional silver last weekend and starts in the first round against Kenny Herrmann of Bethlehem Catholic. Spring-Ford senior Quinn Tobin (40-10) takes on Cole Homet of Waynesburg Central in the prelims.
Hatboro-Horsham’s AJ Tamburrino is out to add a second state medal to his total in 152 after he took third at 145 last year. The senior is 35-3 after taking third at regionals and opens in the first round against Bethlehem
Catholic’s Matt Lackman. Spring-Ford junior Jack McGill (41-7), who earned second at regionals, begins 152 facing Tye Weathersby of Central Dauphin in the first round.
Methacton senior Roman Moser (160) and North Penn senior Jarrett Niedosik (170) both finished fourth at regionals. Moser, who also made PIAAs as a sophomore in 2018, faces Knoch’s Guy DeLeonardis in the 160 prelims. Niedosik, a firsttime state qualifier, starts 170 in preliminaries against Kiski Area’s Nick Delp.
Spring-Ford junior Joey Milano and sophomore Dominic Ortlip complete the Rams’ five-wrestler group in Hershey.
Milano (43-1), who placed fourth at states in 182 last season, was handed his first loss of season in the 182 regional final and faces Meadville’s Griffin Buzzell in the first round. A win means a likely quarterfinal match with Canon-McMillan’s Gerrit Nijenhuis, who claimed the PIAA 170-pound title in 2019.
Ortlip (21-10) took fourth in 106 at regionals and begins states with a preliminary round match against West Allegheny’s Ty Watters.
Abington sophomore Shane Kibler is the Galloping Ghosts’ first PIAA qualifier since 2009 after he placed fifth at South East Regionals in 145. Kibler faces Daniel Boone’s JT Hogan in the prelims.
CLASS AA » Faith Christian has three returning state qualifiers among its five wrestlers that reach the PIAA Class AA Championship – sophomore
Eric Alderfer (120), senior Max Schultz (152) and senior Damon Waltenbaugh (170).
Alderfer and Waltenbaugh both placed third at South East AA Regionals last Saturday while Schultz took fourth. Alderfer (35-6) starts 120 with a first-round match against Huntingdon’s Roland Mills. Waltenbaugh (24-3) takes on Greenville’s Cole Karpinski in the 170 first round. Schultz (37-8) begins in the 152 prelims against Forest Hill’s Ryan Weyandt.
Faith freshman AJ Slayton 32-11), who took fourth at regionals in 113, begins with a prelim match with Zeke Dubler of Glendale while Lions sophomore Joe Muzika takes on Ashton Dull in the 195 prelims. Muzika (31-5) placed fifth at regionals.