Brown defeats Palik

In what was expected to be one of the highly competitive matches of tonight's quarterfinal round Delone Catholic's Dallas Brown defeated Saucon Valley's Brandon Palik rather handily. After two takedowns and two sets of near fall points Brown locked up a 9-4 decision. Brown advanced to tomorrow's semi-final round where he will have a highly anticipated sectional finals rematch with Bermudian Springs's Tyler Stambaugh. Stambaugh won that match 2-1.

D3 Team Trophy may stay put

While talking with Coach Sam Lovello from Brandywine Heights in regards to the current situation with the error in scoring at the District 3 Championships. Brandywine Heights was originally declared the Team champions only to find out 48 hours later, that there was an error in the scoring software and Bermudian Springs mathmatically was really your 2008 District 3 Champions. After reviewing the results and recalculating the scores, Bermudian Springs should have been Champions but by rule Bermudian Springs only had 30 minutes after the match to file a protest. 48 hours after the champions were determined, Coach McCollum of Bermudian Springs decided something wasn't right. He approached the District 3 wrestling Chairman Jerry Schwillie and the District 3 PIAA rep John Zeigler about the error. Talk was that Coach Lovello of Brandywine Heights would return the district team trophy to Coach McCollum and the Bermudian Springs team at the SE Regional wrestling tournament this weekend at Wilson West Lawn High School in West Lawn, PA. After being made aware of the 30 minute rule, Coach Lovello of Brandywine Heights determined that a rule's a rule and felt since his Bullets were determined the District 3 Champions that he would offer Coach McCollum and the Bermudian Springs Eagles the opportunity to become Co-Champions. Coach McCollum's reply was "let me think about it." Any chance of returning the team trophy was eliminated after that comment. So I believe you will find that the District 3 Team trophy will remain in the Brandywine Heights trophy case in the lobby of the Brandywine Heights High School.

Solosky upsets Yocco

In the first major upset of the regional tournament Nick Yocco of Brandywine Heights, ranked 3rd in the state at 125 pounds, dropped a tough 9-5 decision to Saucon Valley's Jarid Solosky. An exchange of scrambles led to a 7-4 Solosky lead at the end of the first period. The second period went with no scoring, and the third period started with Yocco scoring an escape to make the score 7-5. Solosky earned a late takedown to secure the upset. In tomorrow's semi-final round he will wrestle Destry Hartrum of Wilson who won his quarterfinal match against Octorara's Mike Blankley by fall in 5:28.


In other action, Delone Catholic's Hunter Doan was able to secure three takedowns and an escape to defeat Juniata's Zach Bryan at 130 pounds.

Goodwin moves on

Derek Goodwin of Hamburg defeated Eddie Faust of Northwestern Lehigh in one of the highly anticipated quarterfinal matchups at 112 pounds. Goodwin was able to score an early takedown to take a 2-0 lead. The only scoring of the second period came on an escape by Faust. In the third period Faust was riding legs a bit high when Goodwin was able to "come out the back door" for a reversal. Faust scored an escape as the match ended, and Goodwin earned a 4-2 decision. Goodwin will wrestle Zane Yocco of Brandywine Heights in tomorrow's semi-final round. Yocco won his quarterfinal match via major decision.

Oxenrider defeats Leedy

In what was one of the more interesting matchups of the first round James Leedy of Hanover took an early 2-0 lead over Tri Valley's Andrew Oxenrider. Oxenrider, however, was able to score an escape, takedown, and two point near fall in the second period to take a 5-2 lead. He tacked on a stalling point in the third period to win a rather convincing 6-2 decision over Leedy. Oxenrider will take on Upper Dauphin's Josh Lesher in the quarterfinals in what should be another exciting matchup.

Bryan ready to go

In one of the burning questions among wrestling fans throughout the week, the question of whether or not Zach Bryan of Juniata would be ready to wrestle on his injured ankle, wrestling fans got their answer. Bryan won a convincing 12-4 major decision over Craemer Hedash of Northern Lehigh. Stay tuned for updates from the quarterfinals as Bryan takes on Junior standout Hunter Doan of Delone Catholic.

Wrestling is underway

Wrestling is underway at Wilson High School in West Lawn, PA. In one of the early anticipated matches Nick Blasone from Bermudian Springs beat Adam Phillippi of Saucon Valley. The match started with Phillipi securing a nice takedown and taking a 2-0 lead off of a quick double leg. Blasone was able to score a reversal to tie the match at two. Blasone had Phillipi in near fall criteria as time expired. The second period started with Blasone choosing the top position. Blasone was able to score two nearfall off a cross wrist tilt. Phillipi chose neutral in the third. He attempted a double leg takedown, but Blasone was able to snap and spin securing a takedown and making the score 6-2. The match ended with Blasone scoring another three point nearfall off a tilt to win it 9-2. Blasone advances to the semi-finals where he will meet Joe Spisak of Boiling Springs. Spisak defeated Blasone 10-2 last week at Districts.

2008 Blog Ready!

For the second straight year, we'll be blogging from the PIAA Wrestling Championships (and a little before states as well). Check back here this coming weekend (Feb 29-Mar 1) for info from the regional tournaments around the state. During the state tournaments (Mar 6-8) we'll be posting live from the Giant Center about anything from results, stories, predictions, and much more!

Don't forget about our live updates from many of the regional tournaments. Follow all the action thru our NHSCA Sports Network LiveEvents websites.

Regional 'guess the placers' predictions contests are also up and running for all 7 regionals this weekend. Click here to join in on the fun!

Full live result updates and prediction contests are coming next week for states as well!