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HERSHEY — All week leading up to the PIAA Championships there was talk about the history-making 15 Wyoming Valley Conference state qualifiers.
So it seemed fitting on Friday that two of them were looking for some history of their own.
Wyoming Area’s Charlie Johnson and GAR’s Saul Wilkins reached the semifinals of the PIAA Class 2A Championships on Friday night trying to add to their school’s record books.
Johnson, a 126-pounder, attempted to become the first state finalist in school history, while Wilkins (285 pounds) was trying to be the first from GAR to reach the state final in 32 years.
History wasn’t on their side, though, Friday night.
Johnson fell one-point shy losing 2-1 to Bedford’s returning state runner-up Jonathan Gabriel, while Wilkins was pinned in 2:28 in his semifinal bout to Burrell’s Al Beattie. He regrouped quickly to win his next bout and advance to today’s third-place match.
“It’s a good thing (to medal), but it wasn’t the ultimate goal. I really wanted to win it all,” Wilkins said. “It was hard, but you try to move past it. I didn’t have a while, I was up not soon after that.”
The two reached the state semis by winning Friday morning quarterfinal matches, and are joined by Lake-Lehman’s 170-pounder Derek Dragon as state medalists. Johnson will wrestle for fifth today, and Dragon is in the seventh-place match when the round begins at 2 p.m.
Johnson pulled out a special, lucky singlet on Friday from his wardrobe that he only breaks out for big matches. He wore it in the quarterfinal, a 9-3 win over Stone Kepple from Derry Area.
“My dad used to be the head coach at Wyoming Area in the 90s and somehow he got a hold of it and it’s been sitting in my basement ever since I was a little kid,” Johnson said about the singlet. “As I got into high school and grew into it, I’d wear it and I’ve actually never lost a match in it.”
But the magic ran out in the semis.
Gabriel’s big score came on a reversal with 10 seconds remaining in the second period. Johnson flopped Gabriel all over the mat in the period and lost grip with time running out as Gabriel worked the reversal.
In the third period, Johnson got an escape about 20 seconds in to cut the lead to 2-1. In a defensive position, Gabriel kept moving around, getting a stall warning and not allowing Johnson to get the points he needed. At one point, Johnson had a grip on Gabriel’s ankle, but couldn’t complete the takedown as Gabriel kicked away.
Wilkins advanced to the semis winning in double overtime, 2-1 over Tyler Beal from Keystone. Wilkins and Beal were tied 1-1 heading to the second OT. Wilkins rode Beal for the first 30 seconds before escaping early in the second session to take a 2-1 lead. Wilkins then fought off a few takedown attempts to hang on for the 2-1 victory.
In the 285 semi, Wilkins and Beattie were scoreless after the first period. Wilkins, on bottom to start the second, tried to escape. When he stood up, the bigger Beattie picked up Wilkins, dropped him on his back and after a few seconds registered the fall.
Dragon, one of the WVC’s other two quarterfinalists in 2A, lost his first match of the day, but came back to win his second with a fall in 1:28 over Bedford’s Daniel Brett to secure the state medal. Dragon was excited, but didn’t celebrate after the win, like many others do when they know they are getting a medal.
“It’s a great feeling knowing I’m going to get one regardless of where I place, but my journey isn’t done yet,” Dragon said. “I was really happy, but I don’t like celebrating after a win until the whole tournament’s done so I was trying to keep it all inside afterwards.”
Meyers’ TJ Cistrunk was also in a quarterfinal match, but lost his two matches on the day and was ousted from the event.
Cistrunk saw his career close with a tight 3-1 loss to Michael Collins from Pope John Paul II. His teammate Colin Pasone (106 pounds) won his first consolation match on Friday morning before falling in his next and finishing one win shy of a state medal as a sophomore.