Brookville’s Xavier Molnar battles Smethport’s Lukas Frontino during the 170-poind quarterfinals of the District 9 Class AA Wrestling Championships Friday at Clearfield High School. Molnar scored a pin to reach the semifinals, one of 10 Raiders to get there.
By Scott Shindledecker
HYDE, Pa. – The District 9 Class AA Wrestling Championships kicked off Friday in Bison Gymnasium at Clearfield High School and the prohibitive favorite Brookville Raiders advanced 10 wrestlers to Saturday’s semifinals.
Port Allegany was next with seven in the semifinals.
The Keystone Panthers, Ridgway Elkers and Coudersport Falcons had five wrestlers winning their quarterfinal round matches to reach Saturday’s semifinals. Brockway was next with four while Cranberry and Redbank Valley also performed well with three each in the semifinals while Clarion had two.
For the Raiders, 106-pounder Keelan Kunselman, Gavin Park (113), Kai Sorbin (120), Taylor Ortz (132), Cole Aaron (138), Caleb Hetrick (152), Xavier Molnar (170), Noah Cieleski (182), Dane Clever (195) and Tyler Cook (220) made it to the semis.
The Gators had a good showing with Reese Vollmer (106), Trey Stiles (120), Jacob Kallenborn (145), Dylan Baumgarner (152), Mac Tanner (160), Josiah Ramadhan (170) and Ethan Budd (220).
Keystone has Nick Baughman (145), Chad Rogers (160), Evan Redding (182), Tyler Vantassel (195) and Tyler Beal (285) in the semifinals.
Ridgway’s five featured Kyle Bush (106), Bryce Barclay (113), Lukas McClain (120), Drew Baumgratz (126) and Logan McClain (132).
Couderport’s wrestlers in the semifinals include Dustin Kudrick (126), Julian Smith (145), Gage Arnold (152), Issac Wright (170), Joe Lawton (195),
For the Rovers, their quartet included Mitchell Overbeck (113), Ryan Carlson (120), Mason Lindenmuth (126) and Mike Martino (170).
Smethport’s James Duffy won his 100th match Friday. He pinned Ridgway’s Seth Aboussou in 30 seconds in the quarterfinals at 145 pounds to hit the milestone mark. He was joined in the semis by teammates Adam Shunk (138) and Akete Kindle (160).
The Cranberry semifinal trio features Josh Hanncock (132), Paul Zacherl (160) and Timmy McCauley (285).
For the Redbank Valley Bulldogs, Tanner Altobelli (126), Patrick Crawford (220) and BryLee Shumaker (285) each made it to the semis.
Clarion’s duo in the semis includes Alex Struble (113) and Zach Sintobin (195).
Sintobin had a bye in the prelims, then pinned Smethport’s Nick Dribble in 2:37 in the quarters.
Saturday’s action resumes at 10 a.m. with the semifinals and third round consolations. The consolation semifinals follow, then the Parade of Champions and District 9 Hall of Fame at 3 p.m with the consolation finals and championship finals scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The top four finishers in each weight class qualify for the Northwest Regionals at Sharon High School March 5-6.
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