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WILLIAMSPORT — Charlie Johnson’s opening-round opponent at the PIAA Class 2A Northeast Regional wasn’t your ordinary No. 7 seed.
See, Johnson was lined up across from Troy’s Dalton Revels, who was one year removed from a runner-up finish in the Oklahoma state tournament.
“At first, it kind of psyched me out that he finished that high in his old state,” Johnson said. “Then, my dad reminded me that I wrestled an Alabama state runner-up when I was in Virginia and I pinned him. I just wanted to wrestle my match. That’s really all I was thinking.”
This isn’t Oklahoma, and the undefeated Wyoming Area 126-pounder hammered home that point.
Johnson dominated Revels with a variety of takedowns and tilts en route to a 17-1 technical fall over the District 4 fourth-place finisher.
Johnson was one of five Wyoming Valley Conference wrestlers to reach this morning’s semifinal round at the Magic Dome in Williamsport. Included in that group is Lake-Lehman’s Derek Dragon (170), Meyers’ TJ Cistrunk (182) and GAR’s Zac Faust (195) and Saul Wilkins (285).
Other District 2 wrestlers that reached the semifinal round were Western Wayne’s Cole Fuller, Elk Lake’s Blaise Cleveland and Prep’s Thor Balavage.
Montoursville is currently in the team lead with 17 points. Benton and Wyalusing are tied for second, while Lewisburg and Southern Columbia are tied for fifth.
Experience. You can’t put a price on it.
Johnson, Dragon and Wilkins were all here one year ago, and had success at the regional. And it showed in their matches.
Johnson dominated Revels. Wilkins ran an arm-bar and pinned Lewisburg’s Jon Ward in the second period. And despite being down early, Dragon rallied for a 15-10 victory over Sullivan County’s Dylan Ammerman.
“I think being here last year, it takes the nerves away,” said Wilkins, who will wrestle Bloomsburg’s Jordan Troup in the semifinals. “You are used to the gym, and used to the crowd. I felt like if I would just wrestle my match, I would be fine.”
Dragon, though, had the toughest road of last year’s state qualifiers.
He gave up an early takedown, but managed to take a 7-6 lead after one and extend it to 9-7 with two minutes left.
“I didn’t win the way I would have liked to, but I’m moving forward and that’s what counts,” Dragon said. “You just have to keep winning and keep advancing. I lost my head for one second, but I was able to get it back together quickly.”
For Faust, it was a sigh of relief – in many ways.
The GAR senior 195-pounder hasn’t had much luck in Williamsport, and it appeared the Billtown curse might continue.
Faust built a 7-1 lead after one, but Mount Carmel’s Allen Yancoskie hit a five-point move in the second period, cutting the advantage to just one. But the Grenadier connected on a strong-waist takedown and held off the MCA junior for the 9-8 win.
“I gave up that one move that cost me all those points. I just have to learn from that mistake, and wrestle hard tomorrow,” said Faust, who will face off with Milton’s Gage Heller in the semifinals. “I just want to wrestle hard and get to states.”
Cistrunk, who didn’t wrestle in the postseason last year, didn’t take long to introduce himself to the crowd. He built a 4-1 lead in the opening minute over Towanda’s Dakoatah Manning and caught the Knight on his back in the third period.
“I just told myself to keep shooting, stay low and keep pushing the pace,” said Cistrunk, the No. 2 seed at 182. “I knew that he would be a tough opponent, and I trained all week for this match. It’s one round at a time. I have (Lewisburg’s) Logan Aikey next, and he’s going to be a good opponent. I wrestled a good match today, but I know I have to improve on some things in the semifinals.”
PIAA Class 2A Northeast Regional
Teams: Athens (AT), Benton (BEN), Bloomsburg (BLOOM), Blue Ridge (BR), Canton (CAN), Central Columbia (CC), Elk Lake (EL), GAR (GAR), Hanover Area (HA), Hughesville (HU), Lackawanna Trail (LT), Lake-Lehman (LL), Lewisburg (LEW), Line Mountain (LM), Meyers (MEY), Midd-West (MW), Mifflinburg (MIF), Milton (MIL), Montoursville (MONT), Montrose (MT), Montgomery (MG), Mount Carmel (MCA), Muncy (MUN), Scranton Prep (SP), Shamokin (SHA), South Williamsport (SW), Southern Columbia (SCA), Sullivan Count (SC), Towanda (TOW), Troy (TY), Valley View (VV), Warrior Run (WR), Western Wayne (WW), Williamson (WILL), Wyalusing (WY), Wyoming Area (WA).
Top 10
Montoursville, 17; 2. Benton, 15; 2. Wyalusing, 15; 4. Lewisburg, 12; 5. Southern Columbia, 10; 6. Line Mountain, 8; 6. Warrior Run, 8; 8. Muncy, 7.5; 9. Hughesville, 7; 10. Bloomsburg, 6; 10. GAR, 6.
Championship Quarterfinals
106: Alan Diltz (BEN) pinned Dennis Route (CAN), 1:12; Collin Klinger (LM) maj dec. Jacob O’Brien (MT), 13-0; Jaret Lane (SCA) pinned Jeff Bennett (HA), 1:19; Wyatt Lutz (MONT) dec. Colin Pasone (MEY), 5-4.
113: Cameron Newman (LM) maj dec. Shane Casey (SCA), 12-1; Brian Friery (LEW) pinned Garrett Kolb (LL), 0:35; Angelo Barberio (MUN) won by forfeit; Lucas Drick (MG) pinned Brandon Judge (VV), 5:54.
120: Brian Courtney (AT) tech fall over Noah Stramm (MIL), 21-4; Josh Haley (WY) dec. RJ Driscoll (LL), 2-0; Jordan Gessner (LEW) pinned Anthony Kasper (MEY), 1:10; Trevor Sones (HU) pinned Brett Uhrin (VV), 2:23.
126: Lewis Williams (CC) dec. Kaidon Winters (AT), 5-2; Eric Hunt (WR) pinned Kevin Huertero (MEY), 5:56; Mike Stuart (BEN) maj dec. Braden McIntosh (WW), 12-4; Charlie Johnson (WA) tech fall over Dalton Revels (TY), 17-1.
132: Zack Lebarron (WR) pinned Blake Carl (LM), 1:00; Anthony Vitale (BEN) dec. Patrick Heck (WA), 5-1; Creighton Edsell (WY) maj dec. Tyler Baltrusaitis (LT), 15-3; Carl Corg (WILL) dec. Zack Meckes (VV), 8-6.
138: Collin Edsell (WY) dec. Travis Butcher (CAN), 5-0; Nate Jones (SW) dec. Tyler Patronick (MEY), 3-2; Keith Batkowski (MONT) pinned Noah Rakowski (HA), 3:09; Sam Miller (BLOOM) dec. Josh Sayre (LL), 7-3.
145: Kent Lane (SCA) dec. Cody Klinger (BLOOM), 6-0; Dakota Nixon (MUN) tech fall over Harrison Clookey (WW), 18-3; Zach Fry (HU) maj dec. Jeremy Bergold (MEY), 12-2; Steven Yates (TOW) dec. Dalton Hogle (BR), 6-5.
152: Billy Barnes (SCA) pinned Zack Bennett (MIL), 1:10; Dayton Wickwire (TOW) maj dec. Jimmy Stuart (LL), 12-2; Dominic Vitale (BEN) pinned Gino Setta (MEY), 1:36; Tanner Ebright (MW) dec. Matt Judge (VV), 2-0.
160: Cole Walter (MIFF) pinned Breycin Fulmer (TOW), 0:30; Ki Thompson (WILL) dec. Quince Hutchings (MEY), 12-5; Justin Haley (WY) pinned Rocco Pacini (LT), 1:06; Josiah Miller (SA) dec. Josh Brown (WW), 4-2.
170: Nick Stephani (TY) tech fall over Jeremy Walsh (BEN), 17-2; Brandon Stokes (MIL) dec. Derek Fisher (NANT), 7-1; Gavin Hoffman (MONT) maj dec. Jude Polit-Moran (WA), 11-0; Derek Dragon (LL) dec. Dylan Ammerman (SC), 15-10.
182: Garrett Hoffman (MONT) pinned Steve Toczlousky (SCA), 2:51; Blaise Cleveland (EL) pinned Zach Zimmerman (TY), 1:59; Logan Aikey (LEW) pinned Justin Joseph (WA), 0:57; TJ Cistrunk (MEY) pinned Dakoatah Manning (TOW), 5:48.
195: Logan Womelsdorf (BEN) dec. Warner Mendoza (WY), 6-0; Tyler Cole (CAN) dec. Dakota Swoyer (WW), 8-4; Gage Heller (MIL) dec. Mike Slivinski (LL), 3-1; Zac Faust (GAR) dec. Allen Yancoskie (MCA), 9-8.
220: Dylan Otis (WY) pinned Mitch Peters (TOW), 1:04; Cole Fuller (WW) dec. Roger Horton (AT), 3-2; Ben Cerney (MONT) pinned Moe Toure (GAR), 1:14; Thor Balavage (SP) dec. Wes Shurock (MCA), 3-1 SV
285: Saul Wilkins (GAR) pinned Jon Ward (LEW), 3:06; Jordan Troup (BLOOM) pinned Zach Roediger (HA), 1:13; Dylan Brennan (TY) dec. Zach Venesky (VV), 3-1; Garrett Kieffer (LM) dec. Dawson Otis (WY), 6-3.