By ERIC KNOPSNYDER
HERSHEY — A week ago, Portage’s Shawn Perich beat Nick Carr for the Southwest Regional championship at Cambria County War Memorial Arena.
But on Saturday, Carr was standing atop the podium at the PIAA Class AA Wrestling Championships while Perich was to his right as the third-place winner.
Carr beat Jordan Moss of Sharon, a 2008 state champion who knocked off Perich in the semifinals on Friday night, for the title, which Perich was happy to see.
“It's good to see that he won it and he beat Moss,” Perich said. “It’s a good feeling, so I know I could be up there, too.”
Perich beat Elias Biddle of Warrior Run 3-0 in the consolation final on Saturday.
“It’s good to end my high school career on a win,” Perich said. “My goal was to be a state champ, but third was my next highest goal, and I got it.”
Perich plans to continue wrestling at the collegiate level, though he hasn’t made a decision on where that will be.
“Taking third, it’s pretty high, so hopefully I’ll get some more colleges looking at me,” Perich said.
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No consolation prize: Nick Roberts of North Star bounced back from his semifinal loss to eventual champion Zain Retherford of Line Mountain with a major decision of Ridgway’s Corey Bush for third place, but it didn’t help ease the pain for the defending state champ.
Roberts described standing on the podium in third place as “sickening.”
“I didn’t even want to go up there,” he said.
Roberts entered the tournament ranked No. 1 nationally by Intermat, and he’ll look to put the loss behind him as quickly as possible, but the sophomore knows he won’t forget it.
“It's a disappointment, but it just gives me that much motivation to come back next year and win it,” he said.
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Hilltoppers near the top: Westmont Hilltop was the highest placing local team, as coach Matt Beaujon’s squad finished in ninth place.
Josh Polacek (112 pounds) and Tanner Hough (119) each placed fourth while Josh Duplin (285) was fifth.
“We wrestled tough,” Beaujon said. “It’s an outstanding tournament. It’s great for the fans to come and watch because every match is exciting. And we were in some of those exciting matches.
“We won some, we lost some, but in the end I think we probably won more than we lost. We’re happy to place three.
“I’ll take that and we'll go from there.”
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Cougars cash in: North Star had three wrestlers finish in the top five. In addition to Roberts’ third-place finish, Joe Lascari was fourth at 125 pounds and Richard Baker was sixth at 140.
Lascari lost 4-2 Reynolds’ Dylan D’Urso on Saturday while Baker fell 7-5 to Ian Chiesla of Northwestern.
“Small picture, disappointment
– Richie, Joey ending with a loss; Nick taking third,” North Star coach Pat Berzonski said. “Big picture, they did a great job. You can’t be disappointed with a third, a fourth and a sixth. It’s an accomplishment for these guys to be really proud of, for the coaching staff to be really proud of and the fans back home need to tip their cap to these guys.”
It was the first time in North Star’s storied history that more than two wrestlers returned home with medals.
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Taking the fifth: Penn Cambria’s Zak Newton joined Duplin as a fifth-place finisher.
Newton, who didn’t wrestle as a junior, said he really didn’t anticipate ending up as the fifth-best 189-pounder in Class AA as a senior.
“I didn’t think that at all,” he admitted. “It was always a goal, and I always wanted to be there. But after that year off, I definitely didn’t think I’d be here, but I worked hard to try to get here, and it paid off.”
Duplin, who lost to eventual champion John Rizzo of Richland in the semifinals in the rideout period on Friday night and then fell to Benton’s Tyler DeMott in the consolation semifinals, closed out his sophomore season by pinning Juniata’s Dan Fultz in the medal round.
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On the podium: Bedford’s Cory Thomas finished sixth while his teammate, Trey Easter, placed seventh, as did Penn Cambria’s Evan Link.
Thomas lost 5-4 to Montoursville’s Ben Carey – the same wrestler he beat in the opening round on Thursday – in the medal round.
Easter, a senior, beat Garth Mahosky of Canton 8-7 at 135 pounds.
Link, a junior who was a runner-up at 103 in 2009, beat Pen Argyl’s Jamie Welsh 10-2 in the medal round.
Phil Steinberg of Central Cambria placed eighth at 140 pounds. The runner-up at 135 a year ago, Steinberg went 2-3 at Hershey this weekend, dropping his final match when Alec Eggerton of Loyalsock hit a lateral drop at the buzzer for a 4-3 victory. Steinberg plans to continue his career at the United States Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.
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Road to glory: Half of the 14 champions beat local wrestlers in Hershey on their way to a state title.
Retherford edged Roberts at 103, and Link lost to White at 112. Reynolds’ Mason Beckman knocked off Hough in the 119-pound semifinals. Delone Catholic’s Tyler Small beat Conemaugh Township’s Tanner Cahill at 125 while 140-pound champion Colin Shober of Schuylkill Valley started the run to his second title with victories over Chestnut Ridge’s Josh Shane and Somerset’s Luke Lohr.
Commodore Perry’s Stephan Ceremuga beat Forest Hills’ Zack Glessner at 189 pounds. Richland’s Rizzo needed to ride out Duplin in the
285-pound semifinals on his way to the championship.
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No defense: Returning champions didn’t fare so well in the tournament, whether they had won a title in 2009 or earlier. Nine wrestlers entered the Double-A competition having previously won a title and only two
– Schuylkill Valley’s Shober and Benton’s Eric Hess each captured a second title.
Roberts, Juniata’s Arty Walsh (119), Shady Side Academy’s Frank Martellotti (130), Wyomissing’s Nick Hodgkins (135), Montoursville’s Luke Frey (135) and Sharon’s Moss (145) each had won a title previously while Coudersport’s Dirk Cowburn (160) entered as a two-time champion.
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Rough region: Rizzo and Carr joined Tyrone’s A.J. Schopp (135), Charleroi’s Cody Wiercioch (152) and Shady Side Academy’s Matt Cunningham (171) as Southwest Regional wrestlers to win a championship on Saturday.
Shady Side finished in a tie with Schuylkill Valley for second place in the team race, 29 points behind champion Benton.
