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James Wright of Wyoming Valley, top, wrestles Wyatt Long of Cumberland Valley during 120-pound Class AAA action at the PIAA Wrestling Championships in Hershey Thursday.
Jake Vaxmonsky of Pittston Area works against Ian Mallory of General McLane during Class 3A PIAA Wrestling Championships in Hershey Thursday.
Jimmy Hoffman of Hazleton, red, wrestles Lucas Miller of Boyertown during their 126-pound bout at the Class 3A PIAA Wrestling Championships in Hershey Thursday.
HERSHEY — Dramatic matches are expected when it comes to the state wrestling tournament.
Don’t tell that to Hazleton Area’s Derek Spachman and Dallas’ Ryan Monk.
Spachman and Monk were two of four Wyoming Valley Conference wrestlers who advanced to the quarterfinals of the Class 3A PIAA Championships with what seemed like easy victories.
Joining Spachman and Monk in the quarterfinals, which begin at 1:30 p.m. Friday, are Crestwood’s Dan Ritz (138) and Wyoming Valley West’s Cody Cordes at 160, both of whom won tight matches. Hazleton Area’s Jimmy Hoffman lost his first-round bout on Thursday and will try to stay alive in today’s consolation round.
Spachman, a 182-pound senior making his first appearance in the state tournament, had little trouble with General McLane’s Kyle Sult in an 11-4 victory. He admitted to being nervous even though he had a big lead and is focused on winning one more match to grab a state medal.
“I’m happy with it, but I wasn’t as aggressive as I should’ve been because he did most of the action,” Spachman said. “(A medal) is the goal of nine years worth of work.”
Monk, a 285-pound senior, is in the state quarterfinals for the second straight season. He advanced by pinning Neshaminy’s Bruce Graeber in 4:34, but not until after Graeber used a knee slide to escape and tie the match at 1-1 in the third period.
“It feels good,” Monk said about his pin. “But it’s about surviving and advancing. Just keep on going, now it’s the next match. I gotta focus on that now.”
Cordes was in the tightest match of the WVC wrestlers, needing double overtime to nab a 4-3 win over Tony Palumbo from Pittsburgh Central Catholic.
In fact, the 160-pound Cordes was trailing by one point late in third period before being awarded one for a stall call on his opponent to equal the score 3-3 and force overtime.
After a scoreless first OT, Cordes escaped in the first 30-second mandatory session for a one-point lead before riding Palumbo out in the second 30-second session to hold on for the win.
“That match I wasn’t really wrestling myself. I was real nervous, last year going two and out just got my nerves up a little,” said Cordes, who lost both matches in his state appearance last year. “I knew in overtime the refs are a little lenient on riding the half. So I knew I had a good shot by riding the half and trying to get him.”
The senior Ritz was losing in his match in the second period 2-1 before getting an escape and a takedown to take a 4-2 lead. After choosing neutral position to start the third, he held on for the 4-2 win by fending off several shots by his opponent Giovanni Ciotti from General McLane.
“I wanted to go bottom, but my coach told me to go neutral. It surprised me a little, bit but it was the right move in the long run,” Ritz said. “I didn’t have enough motion. I was trying to prevent him from scoring and not trying to score.”
Hoffman fell to Lucas Miller from Boyertown 4-3. Hoffman had a lead early in the match, but when trailing late in the third period he couldn’t get the potential match-winning takedown.
“My advice to everybody else is to stay away from him,” Spachman said. “He’s gonna come with a rage (Friday).”
Picking up a victory in the pigtail match and being the first wrestler in District 2 history to win a match in the new round was Pittston Area 220-pounder Jake Vaxmonsky.
The senior won in his state debut. winning a pigtail match over General McLane’s Ian Mallory when he notched a dramatic pin in overtime in 6:24. He then went on to advance to the first round where he faced Boyertown’s Jordan Wood, the No. 1 ranked wrestler in the country, and was pinned in 1:48.
“Going into it you figure you’re gonna lose but you gotta try to put your hardest out there and leave everything out there,” Vaxmonsky said. “I tried my best, but he’s just extremely good. After that, you know how good you are and what you have to do to be with this type of competition.”
Vaxmonsky rebounded from that loss without losing much confidence and defeated Belle Vernon’s Mike Fine 3-2 to stay in contention for a medal.
Only two WVC wrestlers were eliminated on Thursday in the 3A tournament as Hazleton Area’s Chris Lasecki and Wyoming Valley West’s Jimmy Wright both lost two bouts.