SHARON, Pa. – Unbeatens, upsets, and plenty of drama, the District 10 Class 2A wrestling championships had it all.
When the dust settled, Reynolds edged Hickory, 146.5-142 to claim the team title, and Hickory, Conneaut, and Corry crowned two champions each.
“I know everybody wants to win titles, the section, the district, the region, but at the end of the day, we want the kids to wrestle to their ability and beyond,” said Reynolds coach Casey Taylor. “We had to turn the page after last week (sections) and it was nothing but positivity after that. They responded very well with the coaching staff.”
The Raiders didn’t have an individual champion but qualified nine wrestlers for regionals (the top eight in each weight class advanced, including second-place finishes from Chase Bell (120), Kane Kettering (152), and Jalen Wagner.
There were plenty of storylines, including Saegertown’s Hunter Robison (113), Harbor Creek’s Connor Pierce (138), Greenville’s Cole Karpinski (189), and Corry’s Hayden Linkerhof (215) winning titles to match the ones they won in 2021, with Pierce, Grove City’s Hunter Hohman (152), Karpinski and Conneaut’s Hunter Gould (120) all staying undefeated on the season in the process.
The fifth unbeaten heading into districts, Eisenhower’s Cael Black, was edged by Linkerhof in the semifinals, 3-2, before bouncing back to take third.
Hickory’s Louie Gill won a state championship last year but didn’t win a district title in that run. He did so on Saturday, earning a 16-5 major decision over Saegertown’s Carter Beck.
Pierce, who is seeking a fourth-consecutive state medal as a senior, earned an impressive 12-4 major decision over Hickory’s Connor Saylor in the finals. He talked about his performance afterward:
One of if not the marquee matchup of the evening featured Karpinski against Saegertown’s Landon Caldwell. In a matchup of the No. 1 and No. 3 ranked 189-pounders in the state, Karpinski trailed 1-0 until a third-period takedown helped him secure the victory.
At 120, Gould put the finishing touches on his tournament in a workmanlike 7-1 decision over Bell, the sophomore’s first D10 crown.
On the other end of the spectrum, the Corry duo of Xavier Reyda and Linkerhof put the finishing touches on the evening, both getting pins – Linkerhof in the third period and Reyda with five seconds left in the first.
Reyda talked about the exciting finish afterward:
Fort LeBoeuf’s JoJo Przybycien, who took sixth at states as a freshman last season at 126, captured his first D10 title after taking second a year ago. He did so via a hard-fought 5-2 decision over Cambridge Springs’ Gunnar Gage.
At 132, Cochranton’s Jack Martinec, who took second at districts a year ago, beat Commodore Perry’s Wyatt Lazar, 9-4.
Hickory’s 145-pounder, Carter Gill, a district runner-up and seventh-place finisher at Hershey a year ago, advanced to the finals with a 10-4 win over Sharpsville’s Caullin Summers, which was followed by an equally impressive performance in a 13-5 major decision over Girard’s Story Buchanan.
Hohman earned a pin and a tech fall to get to the finals, where he beat Reynolds’ Kane Kettering, 7-1.
Hohman, who was also the starting quarterback on Grove City’s D10 champion football team, talked about the victory afterward:
The 172-pound final between Titusville’s Brock Covell and Reynolds’ Wager was certainly one of the top matches of the tournament. It was Covell, who came away with a hard-fought 6-4 decision.
In addition to the second-place finishes, Reynolds’ Camren Klenke (145) and Vito Gentile (160) took third and Logan Hammerschmidt (113), and Brayden McCloskey (215) were fourth.
Reynolds captured the team title.
“We were able to qualify nine guys for regionals, and that’s the first stepping stone for all of them,” Taylor said. “A lot of our kids placed either at or higher than they did last weekend, which is very important for how you settle into the region tournament.
“Hickory won the district duals, Greenville won the section and we won the district tournament. It does show there’s parity and it shows what’s going to come up that weekend. Hickory looked dominant at the district duals, and that’s a testament to their program and Greenville last week, no one could stop them in the consolation round and they had a couple of winners as well. It just shows. So just overall, I think overall, that was how our team won with the consolation rounds. Guys getting through to that third place. It’s a big difference from meeting that fifth and sixth-place threshold to third and fourth, obviously. But at the same time, I know there are a couple of young men that have higher goals and they’re going to continue to work on them.”
The Northwest Regional is slated for next Friday and Saturday right back at Sharon.
TEAM STANDINGS
(1) Reynolds 146.5, (2) Hickory 142.0, (3) Fort LeBoeuf 123.5, (4) Corry Area 120.0, (5) Saegertown 116.0, (6) Cochranton 101.0, (7) Titusville 95.5, (8) Commodore Perry 91.0, (9) Greenville 82.0, (10) Girard 66.0, (11) Sharpsville 56.0, (12) Conneaut Area 51.5, (13) Cambridge Springs 48.0, (13) Northwestern 48.0, (15) Grove City 43.5, (16) Sharon 39.0, (17) Eisenhower 36.5, (18) Franklin 27.0, (19) Harbor Creek 26.5, (20) Seneca 25.0, (21) Union City 23.0, (22) Mercer 18.0, (23) Maplewood 15.0, (24) Youngsville 11.0, (25) Slippery Rock 9.0, (26) North East 7.0, (27) Iroquois 0.0
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
106 – Louie Gill (Hickory) maj. dec. Carter Beck (Saegertown), 16-5
113 – Hunter Robison (Saegertown) pinned Dylan O’Brien (Hickory), 3:29
120 – Hunter Gould (Conneaut Area) dec. Chase Bell (Reynolds), 7-1
126 – JoJo Przybycien (Fort LeBoeuf) dec. Gunnar Gage (Cambridge Springs), 5-2
132 – Jack Martinec (Cochranton) dec. Wyatt Lazzar (Commodore Perry), 9-4
138 – Connor Pierce (Harbor Creek) maj. dec. Connor Saylor (Hickory), 12-4
145 – Carter Gill (Hickory) maj. dec. Story Buchanan (Girard), 13-5
152 – Hunter Hohman (Grove City) dec. Kane Kettering (Reynolds), 7-1
160 – Collin Hearn (Conneaut Area) dec. Ryan Welka (Fort LeBoeuf), 7-0
172 – Brock Covell (Titusville) dec. Jalen Wagner (Reynolds), 6-4
189 – Cole Karpinski (Greenville) dec. Landon Caldwell (Saegertown), 2-1
215 – Hayden Linkerhof (Corry Area) pinned Abraham Keep (Girard), 4:56
285 – Xavier Reyda (Corry Area) pinned Joshua Perrine (Saegertown), 1:55
THIRD-PLACE
106 – Cael Dailey (Franklin) dec. Sierra Chiesa (Northwestern), 4-2
113 – Carter Wise (Mercer) dec. Logan Hammerschmidt (Reynolds), 6-4
120 – Owen Hershelman (Saegertown) dec. Jake Bennett (Fort LeBoeuf), 2-1
126 – Alex Rueberger (Sharpsville) dec. Kolton Sutter (Northwestern), 1-0
132 – Cody Miller (Hickory) maj. dec. Jonathon Bissell (Sharpsville), 10-0
138 – Riley Kneeland (Greenville) dec. Cody Hamilton (Grove City), 5-3
145 – Camren Klenke (Reynolds) dec. Caullin Summers (Sharpsville), 3-1
152 – Conner McChesney (Fort LeBoeuf) dec. Clay Thomas (Union City), 8-4
160 – Vito Gentile (Reynolds) pinned Christian Hacker (Sharon), 1:47
172 – Louden Gledhill (Cochranton) dec. Clayton Smith (Commodore Perry), 2-0
189 – Danny Church (Fort LeBoeuf) maj. dec. Ethyn Allen (Corry Area), 13-3
215 – Cael Black (Eisenhower) dec. Brayden McCloskey (Reynolds), 5-2
285 – Lodge Nosko (Titusville) dec. Mike Mazurek (Sharon), 3-2
