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HERSHEY — With former head coach Ron Swingle sitting in his corner along with current head coach Anthony Mercadante, the scene was set for Meyers’ Colin Pasone to notch another upset in the semifinals of the Class 2A PIAA Championships.
Swingle was head coach at Meyers for more than a decade and was let go this season when he was part of the Wilkes-Barre Area layoffs last spring.
So when he was in attendance at Giant Center, Mercadante wanted to do something special.
“Swingle has coached that kid since he was in seventh grade. Everything that kid has done from seventh grade on up has Swingle’s fingerprints all over it,” Mercadante said. “It was a pleasure to have him in the corner with me. I thought it was a great thing for me, for him and for Colin.”
Unfortunately for the trio, the script didn’t quite play out the way they would have liked.
In a wild 120-pound bout on Friday night, Pasone came up one point short of reaching the state final, losing 10-9 against Brookville’s Gavin Park.
Park took a 9-2 lead into the third period. But Pasone went all out in the last two minutes.
He quickly got an escape and a takedown to cut the deficit to 9-5. After Park, the No. 1 seed in the bracket, escaped, the Brookville senior started to try to run out the clock with 55 seconds left. In his escape, he ran nearly halfway around the circle being chased by Pasone, who eventually got a takedown to cut the lead to 10-8.
Another point was awarded to Pasone as Park laid on the mat without moving as time ran out.
“I thought he wrestled really well in the semifinals, the outcome just wasn’t in his favor,” Mercadante said. “He gave him a run for the money. The six minutes just favored the other kid. Him giving up two and giving up back points (in the first period) hurt him because the kid was able to play defense more and not take any chances, and Colin had to take more chances.”
Pasone wrestled again on Friday night in the fifth round of consolations against Bronson Garber from Upper Dauphin. It was a rematch of Thursday’s first-round match, won by Pasone in an upset over the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the state entering the tournament.
In wrestlebacks, Garber avenged the loss from earlier in the tournament with a 3-1 win and Pasone will wrestle for fifth place Saturday afternoon against Josh Jones from Saucon Valley.
The Meyers senior is the only Wyoming Valley Conference wrestler to medal in Class 2A. He’s joined by Valley View’s Brett Uhrin (138) and Scranton Prep’s Ivan Balavage (195) as medalists in District 2.
On Friday morning, in the quarterfinals against Northwestern’s John Wheeler, who was coming off an upset of his own in the first round, Pasone came out ready.
Just 10 seconds into the match, he got a takedown. After trying to tilt the lanky Wheeler for back points and being unsuccessful, Pasone locked up a cradle to grab two points for a near fall to take a 4-1 lead into the second period.
The second period was scoreless, but Pasone chose neutral to start the third and got another fast takedown to go up 6-1. Wheeler managed an escape and a late takedown, but Pasone held on for the win and to secure his first state medal in three appearances at the tournament.
“It’s always my mindset to score, score, score, just keep going,” Pasone said after his quarterfinal win. “Don’t go on the defense, always look to score because if you go on defense, bad things are gonna happen. So just keep on offense and good things will happen.”
Moments after Pasone advanced to the semifinals, Balavage, an Avoca resident, made school history for the Cavaliers.
The junior became the first state medalist in school history on Friday afternoon when he defeated Mifflinburg’s Luke Walter in the blood round. The 195-pounder pinned Walter in 50 seconds for the historic win.
Last year, Balavage watched his brother, Thor, wrestle at Giant Center and come up empty. This year, he not only got the medal for himself, but for his school and his brother as well.
“I’ve been working for it since last year. Came here saw Thor and I wanted to be the first medalist here,” Balavage said. “First thing I did was go and hug my dad, because I felt so happy.
“Winning the state medal for (Thor), myself and for the school is a great feeling.”
In the night session, Balavage wrestled Blairsville’s Jerry Moore in the fourth consolation round and lost 4-2. He will wrestle for seventh place Saturday afternoon.
Uhrin secured his medal when he won a regional final rematch against Noah Stamm from Milton, 6-5, in the blood round. He then dropped his fourth round consolation match to Thayne Lawrence from Frazier and will wrestle for seventh-place Saturday.
Lake-Lehman’s RJ Driscoll and Hanover Area’s DJ Erickson lost their second round consolation bouts as their stay in Hershey concluded. Driscoll’s career came to a close as a two-time state qualifier with 102 career wins. The 132-pounder lost 3-0 to Tyler Alberts from Ellwood City in the elimination bout.
Erickson also lost 3-0 in his consolation bout, falling to Zach Kelly from Northern Lebanon. Still, the sophomore made quite a mark this season. He won his first match at the state tournament on Thursday before dropping his next two.
Driscoll’s teammate Bob Lipski won his first consolation bout on Friday in overtime before seeing his career conclude in the next round of wrestlebacks, ending with 101 career wins.
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D.J. Erickson of Hanover (top) controls Zach Kelly of Northern Lebanon during their 138-pound consolation match at the Class 2A PIAA Wrestling Championships in Hershey Friday.