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Pasone finds the right way to Class 2A quarterfinals
Lake-Lehman’s Austin Harry, left, works to escape from his 119-pound opponent Philip Elias of Shady Side Academy during Class 2A state action Thursday.
ED BOARDMAN/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
Vito Pasone of Meyers, top, controls Joshua Patrick of Ligonier Valley during 112-pound action of the Class 2A PIAA Wrestling Championships Thursday morning at the Giant Center in Hershey.
ED BOARDMAN/FOR THE TIMES LEADER
HERSHEY — After his last appearance in the PIAA Championships was over quickly, Vito Pasone was anxious to get back out on the mat at Giant Center.
The Meyers junior had to wait a little longer after being called to the wrong mat for his 112-pound preliminary bout against Ligonier Valley sophomore Joshua Patrick. Instead of being instructed to go to an open mat, Pasone waited by an ongoing match, an unusual occurrence at the event.
But once Pasone (43-3) got down to work, he looked comfortable and ready for his first state tournament since his freshman year by defeating Patrick, 7-4 Thursday morning during the PIAA Class 2A Championships.
In his freshman year, Pasone only spent 3 minutes, 58 seconds on the mat in Hershey. He surpassed that in one match and this time picked up a win. He advances to this morning’s quarterfinals where he will take on Jamestown senior Tyler Roberts (38-5), who knocked off Church Farm School’s Baff Atakora-Bediako, 9-6 in the first round. The quarterfinals begin at 8 a.m.
While Pasone won his first match, Lake-Lehman 119-pounder Austin Harry was not as successful. The freshman Black Knight lost his first match, 9-4 to Phillip Elias, from Shady Side Academy then dispatched Oley Valley sophomore Robert Ritschard with a 6-5 victory in the first round of consolations. With a win today, Harry will be guaranteed a medal and could have a chance to become the first four-time state medalist in school history.
“You can’t be happy after winning just one match, you have to take it one match at a time,” Pasone said. “I have a lot of matches to win yet.”
The Meyers standout opened a 4-1 lead after the first period with a pair of takedowns 43 seconds apart. He increased his lead to 7-1 grabbing three back points a minute into the second period. Patrick (26-6) got another escape near the end of the second period to cut the lead to 7-2. And he nearly got a takedown of his own and got Pasone on his back, but time ran out.
At the start of the third period, Pasone chose neutral position and Patrick capitalized with the two points by taking control and the lead was trimmed to 7-4.
Pasone was also hit with a caution warning in the third and admitted he got a little complacent after opening the big lead.
“I don’t know what happened. I was fine in the beginning and doing fine, then all of a sudden the kid broke right at the end. It’s fixable though,” Pasone said. “I was satisfied with being up but then I remembered what my coach said, that you have to wrestle every minute of every match.”
Harry (36-7) may have lost his first match, but he stayed with Elias (22-2), who entered the event ranked fifth in the state. After being taken down twice and being let up in the first period, Harry trailed 4-2. He was then let up again to start the second period after choosing down and the lead was slimmed to 4-3. When the two were on their feet, Harry nearly had control to get two points for a takedown, which would have given him a lead. But he couldn’t wrap up the second leg then was called out of bounds.
After that, Elias got two more takedowns in the second period to open an 8-4 lead after four minutes.
Elias chose down in the third period and after Harry couldn’t turn him over for back points, the SSA senior got an escape with 35 seconds left to secure the victory.
“It’s the ref’s call, you just have to wrestle your match and can’t let the ref call it for you,” Harry said about the possible takedown. “The first match kind of mentally broke me but I was able to come back in the second match and have a good match with the kid.”
In the consolation bout, Harry got down 5-0 a minute into the second period, but he didn’t allow any points the rest of the way. He managed an escape and takedown before the stanza ended to trim the deficit to 5-3. He then quickly worked an escape in the third period to move within 5-4, then got two points for another takedown with 58 seconds left to take the lead. He rode out his opponent for the rest of the match to seal the victory.
“I didn’t win that first match so I knew I had to fight hard in the second for all six minutes to try and win a medal,” Harry added.
Harry, who broke a losing streak for Wyoming Valley Conference freshmen at the state tournament , will face the loser of the quarterfinal match between Wilson’s Michael Fleck and Benton’s Colt Cotten.
Wyoming Valley West’s Kyle Krasavage lost twice as a freshman last year, following Pasone’s two losses in 2009.