Dutch junior high wrestlers place sixth as a team at Area V Tournament
In the 2023 Area V Youth & JH Tournament held over the weekend at Clearfield Area High School, St. Marys placed sixth out of 16 teams in the junior high male competition. DuBois ran away with the team title with 197 points. Curwensville was second with 101, followed by Port Allegany in third with 91.5, Brookville in fourth with 87.5, Punxsutawney in fifth with 87, St. Marys in sixth with 79, Marion Center in seventh with 78.5, Clearfield in eighth with 66, Ridgway in ninth with 57, Johnsonburg in 10th with 48.5, Cameron County in 11th with 32, Brockway in 12th with 22, West Branch in 13th with 21, Bradford in 14th with 20, Coudersport in 15th with 17, and Redbank Valley in 16th with 9.5. St. Marys had six wrestlers place in the top four, with two placing second in their respective weight classes, two placing third, and two placing fourth.
82 pounds
St. Marys had the second and third place finishers in the 82-pound bracket, with Jaxon Seeders claiming the runner-up spot and Ryan Penn taking third. Seeders, the second seed, had a bye in the quarterfinals, while Penn, the sixth seed, took on fifth seeded Wyatt Smith of Port Allegany. Penn built a 13-0 lead over Smith in their bout before coming up with the pin in 4:24. The win put Penn into the semifinals against top seeded Matthew Rowles of Clearfield. Rowles won the match by technical fall, 17-2, in 1:30. In the other semifinal, Seeders faced off against fourth seeded Colton Blazavich of Marion Center, winning by a 14-1 major decision.
In the finals, Rowles defeated Seeders by technical fall, 182, in 2:19 to claim the top spot in the weight class.
In the consolation bracket, Penn had a bye in the consi-semis and then faced Smith again in the third place bout. This time, Penn won by a 4-3 decision to finish in third place.
124 pounds
Konnor Meyer was in action for St. Marys in the 124-pound weight class. Meyer, the sixth seed, opened the competition with a bye in the round of 16 and then faced off against third seeded Seth Wilmoth of DuBois in the quarterfinals. Meyer won by an 11-3 major decision to advance to take on second seeded Noah Filipovich of Marion Center in the semifinals. The match was a close one and was scoreless until the third period when Filipovich got on the board with a reversal and held on to win by a 2-0 decision.
Dropping into the consolation bracket in the consi-semis, Meyer took on fifth seeded Isaac Postlewait of Port Allegany, winning by a 3-1 decision to advance to the third place bout. Meyer faced fourth seeded Blake Porter of Brookville in the match, with Porter winning by a 6-1 decision.
Meyer ended up fourth in the weight class.
132 pounds
A pair of St. Marys wrestlers were in action in the 132-pound weight class, with Brody Wehler entering as the second seed and Jackson Wehler entering as the fourth seed. Both had byes in the round of 16 and saw their first action of the day in the quarterfinals. Jackson Wehler took on fifth seeded Timothy Gustafson of Curwensville in his quarterfinal bout. Gustafson was leading 5-4 when Wehler came up with the pin in 2:52. Brody Wehler faced seventh seeded Trace McDermott of Clearfield in his quarterfinal match, winning by fall in 1:48. In the semifinals, Johnsonburg’s Rocco Allegretto, the top seed, built a 9-0 lead over Jackson Wehler before winning by fall in 2:24, and Brody Wehler won an 11-2 major decision over third seeded Brandon Furgeson of Port Allegany. In the first place bout, Allegretto won an 11-2 major decision over Brody Wehler, resulting in Wehler finishing second in the weight class. Jackson Wehler dropped into the consolation bracket in the consi-semis and faced off against eighth seeded Gavin Neal of Punxsutawney. Wehler was leading 3-2 when he came up with the pin in 2:13. Wehler then faced off against Furgeson in the third place bout. Furgeson built a 7-0 lead before winning by fall in 2:19, resulting in Wehler finishing fourth in the weight class.
212 pounds
Jack Keebler was in action for St. Marys at 212 pounds, entering the competition as the top seed. Keebler had a bye in the quarterfinals and then took on fourth seeded Payton McCloskey of West Branch in the semifinals. McCloskey won by a 10-1 major decision. Keebler had a bye in the consi-semis and advanced directly to the third place bout, where he faced off against fifth seeded Nathaniel Clark of DuBois. The match was tied at 2-all in the first period when Keebler came up with the pin in 1:21 to finish in third place in the weight class.