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HERSHEY — For four years Zac Faust helped transform the GAR wrestling program from having just a handful of wrestlers on the team to a squad that’s a force in tournaments.
So even though his career ended abruptly and unexpectedly on Thursday in the PIAA Class 2A Championships during his first appearance at the event, he’s not leaving the program with any lack of accomplishments.
Faust wasn’t expected to lose two matches on Thursday. In fact, many forecasters saw the Grenadier at least grabbing a state medal.
But it just wasn’t meant to be for the school’s all-time wins leader with 129 as he lost two matches and left the Giant Center without earning a medal.
“It just wasn’t his day. He just didn’t have the energy he needed to get through those two matches,” GAR coach Rick Simon said. “Just a rough day.”
In his first match, Faust was leading 3-0 on Elizabeth Forward’s Luke Fournier. A flurry of action in the third period turned into a tie late. Then all of a sudden, Fournier caught Faust with a move the Grenadier wasn’t expecting and picked up a pin when just two seconds were needed before overtime would have been needed.
It could be very hard to rebound from a tough loss at the state tournament, and many before have been bounced from the tournament on the first day by losing two matches.
Again, in his consolation match, Faust took a lead into the third period, this time 1-0 over Burrell’s Robert Scherer. And again, Faust gave up the advantage allowing an escape then a takedown with about 30 seconds left and fell 3-1.
“I think he was motivated. He definitely wanted to win, his body just didn’t let him today,” Simon said. “I don’t know what it was. The physical energy he just didn’t have it. “
To his credit, Faust has had a remarkable career with three District 2 Class 2A titles, a regional gold he claimed last week, and many other medals he’s collected over the last four years.
“It was an honor just to be there with all those wins and all the tournaments that he’s wrestled in, along with the other coaches and his dad,” Simon said. “The past four years have been absolutely amazing. Every coach wants a wrestler like Zac.”
Expansion Extravaganza
The first bracket expansion in 41 years at the PIAA Championships appeared to go off as a success for the most part except for making the first day a little longer.
In Class 2A, the first consolation round was about 30 minutes behind the projected schedule, but the 3A session still got underway without a hitch.
The Class 3A consolation round started nearly 45 minutes than originally planned.
Unexpected issues
Another change during the tournament is the way wrestlers head to each mat for every bout.
In previous years, the announcer would proclaim “now wrestling on mat one” then follow with the participants’ names and school.
This season, bouts and the mats have been predetermined so folks watching the event on a live stream would know who is wrestling.
But that meant there were no announcements for the each match, which led to mass confusion in Thursday morning’s session among media members and fans. Near the end of the 2A session, and for the entire 3A portion of the event, a crawler was present on the scoreboard in the middle of the Giant Center which helped clear up the issue.
Defending their title
A total of 11 wrestlers began their quest shooting for multiple state golds on Thursday.
In Class 2A Boiling Springs’ Korbin Myers and Derry Area’s George Phillippi, both in the 132-pound bracket, stayed alive.
In Class 3A,the first defending titlist to fall was Bethlehem Catholic’s Jake Reigel. The 120-pounder lost his pigtail match by default to Pennridge freshman Brett Kulp.
The rest of the past champions in 3A, Franklin Regional’s Devin Brown (113) and Spencer Lee (120), Greater Latrobe’s Luke Pletcher (132), Bethlehem Catholic’s Luke Karam (126), Penn Trafford’s Cameron Coy (138), Hempfield’s Sam Krivus (138), Central Catholic’s Vincenzo Joseph (152) and Governor Mifflin’s Jan Johnson at 195 all won.
Going for perfection
All 13 unbeaten wrestlers in the Class 2A Tournament remained that way on Thursday, including Wyoming Area’s Charlie Johnson, who moved to 35-0.
Of the 13 wrestlers in 3A without a loss, two unbeatens went down. Central Bucks West’s Riley Barth was pinned, while Southern Lehigh’s Matt Mirth lost in the ultimate tiebreaker.