`7 return to defend '96 crowns`

By Lynn Saternow
Herald Sports Editor

The District 10 Class AA Championships once again promise to bring a lot of excitement to the Sharon High gym as pressure mounts on the road to Hershey.

Six wrestlers bring undefeated records into the event, which opens at 5 p.m. Friday with a preliminary round, followed by the quarterfinals. The tourney will resume at 10 a.m. Saturday with consolations and semifinals wrestled simultaneously. The consolation finals for third and fifth place will start at 3:30 p.m., followed by finals at 5:15.

Besides the spotlight focused on the unbeatens, there are seven returning champions hoping to duplicate their success of 1996. Leading the way are two-time champs Josh Pearce, Commodore Perry heavyweight, and Bill Morris, Saegertown 135-pounder. Seeking second titles are: Mike Germano, 112, Sharpsville; Joe Ciotti, 119, Girard; Travis Hummel, 152, Eisenhower; Kevin Brown, 160, Jamestown; and Kevin Myers, 171, Mercer.

Repeating is not always easy. Germano and Myers both lost in the Section 3 tournament last weekend and are hoping to bounce back. Pearce, Hummel and Brown are all undefeated.

Two other unbeatens could go head-to-head in the 145-pound finals if both advance. Lakeview's Mike Dye is 28-0, while Commodore Perry's Nevada Walker is 26-0. The other undefeated entry is Union City sophomore Bo Bedow, 21-0, at 103.

There are a few much anticipated matches looming, if things fall right and upsets are avoided. One will come at 112 where the D-10 finals could be a rematch between Germano and Steve Popovitch of Reynolds.

In the Seciton 3 finals, Popovitch scored a reversal with five seconds remaining for a 1-point victory over the previously unbeaten Germano. Germano defeated Popovitch last season in both the section and district finals.

Another Section 3 finals matchup is anticipated at 125, where Reynolds sophomore Jason Nestor avenged his only loss of the regular season with a victory over Sharpsville's Tom McMath. They are odds-on favorites to advance to the finals.

Morris at 135 is expected to get a serious challenge from Reynolds' Bob Tumpak if the two both advance to the finals.

Unbeatens Dye and Walker are both heavy favorites to move to the 145 finals, which will set up what could be the best bout of the tournament. He's expected to reach the finals to take on undefeated Hummel of Eisenhower.

At 160, the best match probably will come in the semifinals when JamestownÕs 28-0 Brown goes against 27-1 Keith Myers of Mercer. Perhaps the best match at 171 will come even earlier -- in the quarterfinals -- when Commodore Perry's Mark Chess goes up against Mercer's Kevin Myers.

At 189, most fans are pointing to a section 3 finals match of Sharon's Eric Mausser and Grove City's Joe Rendos. Mausser beat Rendos twice this season by 5-4 scores. Rendos will get a challegne in the semis from Pete Darby of Hickory, the Section 2 titlist.

The most-anticipated match at heavyweight will come in the semis when unbeaten Pearce of Commodore Perry goes up against Sharon's big boy Brian "Bubba" Griffin. Pearce beat Griffin, 3-2, in an earlier meeting.

The top five finishers in each weight class will advance to the regional championships the following weekend at Sharon.

District 10 wresting pairings

Class AA Quarterfinals
Pairings listed by weight class with section finish, name, grade, school and record

103

2-1 Aaron Diehl (12, Girard, 27-1) vs. winner 3-4 Matt Jordan (9, Reynolds, 9-17) and 1-3 Dan Spencer (11, Saegertown, 23-7)

3-1 Ty Wise (9, Grove City, 24-8) vs. winner 1-2 Adam Renner (11, Seneca, 24-2) and 2-4 Mike Moore (11, Jamestown, 17-13)

1-1 Bo Bedow (10, Union City, 21-0) vs. winner 3-3 Sam Lorenz (10, Mercer, 17-12) and 2-3 Scott Cornelius (9, Greenville, 19-10)

2-2 Dan Riley (12, Commodore Perry, 24-7) vs. winner 3-2 Jim Funk (9, Sharpsville, 21-9) and 1-4 Travis Irvin (11, Sheffield, 24-6).

112

3-1 Steve Popovitch (10, Reynolds, 24-4) vs. winner 1-4 Art Delp (10, Sheffield, 9-16)

1-1 Jeff Fors (11, Eisenhower, 27-3) vs. winner 2-2 Dave Ligo (12, Greenville, 23-7) and 3-4 Matt Raiti (9, Sharon, 9-13)

2-1 Justin DeArment (10, Cambridge Springs, 19-8) vs. winner 3-3 Bryan Carner (12, Cranberry, 21-9) and 1-3 Brad Trusdail (10, Seneca, 5-3)

3-2 Mike Germano (11, Sharpsville, 28-1) vs. 1-2 Matt King (10, North East, 28-6) and 2-4 Mike Schiemer (9, Comm. Perry, 6-14).

119

1-1 Bill Reigel (11, Seneca, 25-5) vs. winner 2-4 Matt Bruce (9, Maploewood, 16-12) and 3-2 Eric McCurdy (9, Mercer, 22-8)

2-1 Joe Ciotti (11, Girard, 26-2) vs. winner 3-3 Jason DeLong (11, Sharon, 16-8) and 1-4 Alex Donofrio (11, Strong Vincent, 13-7)

3-1 Doug Woods (10, Reynolds, 22-2) vs. winner 1-3 Mike Senske (11, Eisenhower, 20-6) and 2-3 Trevor Murcko (12, Conn. Lake, 21-10)

1-2 Ryan Braymer (12, Saegertown, 27-3) vs. winner 2-2 Kurt Holzshu (10, Greenville, 23-5) and 3-4 John Wood (12, Kennedy, 19-7).

125

2-1 Ryan Nuhfer (11, Maplewood, 24-5) vs. winner 3-4 Drew Macko (11, Fairview, 13-12) and 1-3 Jason States (9, Seneca, 13-6)

3-1 Jason Nestor (10, Reynolds, 27-1) vs. winner 1-2 Travis Elms (12, Sheffield, 24-7) and 2-4 Dave Blank (11, Northwestern, 16-8)

1-1 Mike Rizzo (12, North East, 27-3) vs. winner 3-3 Jared Moss (10, Sharon, 25-6) and 2-3 Miles Hinderliter (11, Greenville, 18-10)

2-2 John Scott (12, Hickory, 21-6) vs. winner 3-2 Tom McMath (11, Sharpsville, 27-2) and 1-4 Nathan Bundy (11, Youngsville, 21-10).

130

3-1 Craig Griffin (11, Sharon, 28-3) vs. winner 1-4 Mark Sirianni (11, Eisenhower, 20-11) and 2-3 Kirk Shimshock (12, Greenville, 25-9)

1-1 Adam Huck (11, Ft. LeBoeuf, 29-1) vs. winner 2-2 Dustin Flack (11, Hickory, 17-6) and 3-4 Luke Varner (10, Kennedy, 12-11)

2-1 Jesse Sullivan (11, Comm. Perry, 21-3) vs. winner 3-3 Adam Gadsby (12, Lakeview, 23-9) and 1-3 Brent Rae (11, Seneca, 18-9)

3-2 Jesse Patterson (11, Mercer, 22-7) vs. winner 1-2 Jeremy Artman (10, Saegertown, 23-6) and 2-4 Bill Dinsmore (12, Conn. Lake, 13-14).

135

1-1 Bill Morris (12, Saegertown, 25-2) vs. winner 2-4 Stan Skakalski (10, Jamestown, 6-12) and 3-2 Anthony Errera (11, Grove City, 23-7)

2-1 Joel Urey (11, Comm. Perry, 20-4) vs. winner 3-3 Dan Aaron (11, Rocky Grove, 17-3) and 1-4 Matt Sayers (12, North East, 21-8)

3-1 Bob Tumpak (11, Reynolds, 25-2) vs. winner 1-3 Matt Lazowski (11, Seneca, 22-9) and 2-3 Kyle Spiegel (12, Greenville, 24-9)

1-2 Jim Farr (11, Youngsville, 24-6) vs. winner 2-2 Mark Gelesky (12, Hickory, 20-10) and 3-4 Randy Rowland (12, Cranberry, 14-13).

140

2-1 Wes Sindlinger (11, Comm. Perry, 23-3) vs. winner 3-4 Keith Knicely (11, Sharpsville, 11-13) and 1-3 Eric Morton (12, Eisenhower, 20-10)

3-1 Kyle Myers (12, Mercer, 13-4) vs. winner 1-2 Nick Ennis (12, Saegertown, 23-4) and 2-4 Mike Quay (11, Northwestern, 11-11)

1-1 Joe Charlton (11, Ft. LeBoeuf, 26-3) vs. winner 3-3 Jeff Meyers (11, Sharon, 17-17) and 2-3 Todd Shimshock (10, Greenville, 21-10)

2-2 Josh McClimans (11, Jamestown, 20-7) vs. winner 3-2 John Jordan (11, Reynolds, 17-10) and 1-4 Travis White (11, Sheffield, 10-10).

145

3-1 Mike Dye (12, Lakeview, 28-0) vs. winner 1-4 Dave Gilberto (12, Saegertown, 16-14) and 2-3 Gary Gledhill (11, Cochranton, 20-13)

1-1 Damon Higby (11, Union City, 12-3) vs. winner 2-2 Larry Cornelius (11, Camb. Springs, 21-9) and 3-4 Scott Kossman (10, Rocky Grove, 11-13)

2-1 Nevada Walker (11, Comm. Perry, 26-0) vs. winner 3-3 Jack Carothers (10, Cranberry, 18-11) and 1-3 Mike Grolemund (12, Seneca, 17-11)

3-2 Chad Holzshu (11, Reynolds, 22-9) vs. winner 1-2 Scott Young (11, North East, 24-6) and 2-4 Tim Strausser (11, Greenville, 9-9.

152

1-1 Travis Hummel (12, Eisenhower, 31-0) vs. winner 2-4 Rick Hogue (11, Cochranton, 12-3) and 3-2 Chad Findlay (11, Cranberry, 10-11)

2-1 Ryan Sayers (10, Camb. Springs, 24-7) vs. winner 3-3 Ken Messina (12, Sharon, 13-17) and 1-4 Jesse Bayle (12, Ft. LeBoeuf, 20-12)

3-1 Fred Sloan (12, Sharpsville, 23-6) vs. winner 1-3 Jason Smith (11, Seneca, 18-6) and 2-3 Jack McFadden (12, Maplewood, 21-8)

1-2 Jason Dudenhoeffer (12, Saegertown, 22-7) vs. winner 2-2 Brian King (11, Comm. Perry, 14-6) and 3-4 Don Lewis (9, Grove City, 13-16).

160

2-1 Kevin Brown (11, Jamestown, 28-0) vs. winner 3-4 Luke Slater (10, Lakeview, 12-15) and 1-3 James Kern (11, Union City, 17-9)

3-1 Keith Myers (12, Mercer, 27-1) vs. winner 1-2 Mike Eastman (11, Youngsville, 24-6) and 2-4 Bill Baker (12, Girard, 18-9)

1-1 Tim Williams (11, Ft. LeBoeuf, 25-7) vs. winner 3-3 Marlon Boatner (12, Sharon, 11-12) and 2-3 Ben Miller (12, Greenville, 20-10)

2-2 Matt Hogue (10, Cochranton, 24-5) vs. winner 3-2 Lane Biddle (12, Cranberry, 19-10) and 1-4 Mike Moore (12, Sheffield, 14-14).

171

3-1 Josh McCullough (11, Sharon, 9-9) vs. winner 1-4 Frank Schultz (12, Sheffield, 16-12) and 2-3 Norm Skakalski (11, Greenvile, 20-10)

1-1 Andy Gourley (11, Eisenhower, 25-3) vs. winner 2-2 Corey Hart (12, Cochratnon, 25-6) and 3-4 Ken Ion (10, Rocky Grove, 10-9)

2-1 Mark Chess (11, Comm. Perry, 18-4) vs. winner 3-3 Kevin Myers (12, Mercer, 21-4) and 1-3 Kevin Henry (11, Union City, 18-4)

3-2 Travis Shirley (10, Kennedy, 10-7) vs. winner 1-2 Aaron Anderson (11, Seneca, 19-6) and 2-4 Dustin Harnett (9, Jamestown, 19-13).

189

1-1 Josh Fiske (9, Ft. LeBoeuf, 28-5) vs. 2-4 Eric Shannon (11, Jamestown, 16-18) and 3-2 Joe Rendos (10, Grove City, 25-3)

2-1 Pete Darby (12, Hickory, 29-3) vs. winner 3-3 Luke Carothers (12, Cranberry, 25-5) and 1-4 Duane Bish (10, Union City, 8-12)

3-1 Eric Mausser (11, Sharon, 26-2) vs. winner 1-3 Dave Hirtzel (11, North East, 22-9) and 2-3 Jason Campbell (12, Comm. Perry, 7-8)

1-2 Bob Jones (11, Seneca, 19-10) vs. winer 2-2 Eric Bennett (12, Maplewood, 19-10) and 3-4 Burt Bell (12, Lakeview, 23-6).

275

2-1 Josh Pearce (12, Comm. Perry, 27-0) vs. winner 3-4 Phil Stillwagon (11, Grove City, 7-9) and 1-3 Larry Dolby (12, North East, 17-14)

3-1 Brian Griffin (12, Sharon, 26-3) vs. winner 1-2 Justin Hanold (10, Saegertown, 17-14) and 2-4 Cory Richter (12, Cochranton, 26-8)

1-1 Jeremy Wyman (11, Youngsville, 25-7) vs. winner 3-3 Dan Svirbly (11, Reynolds, 18-11) and 2-3 Scott Kaltenbaugh (12, Greenville, 22-6)

2-2 Scott Eagley (11, Girard, 18-5) vs. winner 3-2 Mark Aloisio (11, Mercer, 19-11) and 1-4 Matt Bensink (12, Seneca, 17-6).

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Updated Feb. 20, 1997
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