By Tom Fox

For Times Leader

Meyers’ Colin Pasone struggles to get back to his base as Benton’s Alan Diltz picks up back points in the 113-pound class championship bout at the PIAA Class 2A Northeast Regional in Williamsport.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_reg1_faa.jpg.optimal.jpgMeyers’ Colin Pasone struggles to get back to his base as Benton’s Alan Diltz picks up back points in the 113-pound class championship bout at the PIAA Class 2A Northeast Regional in Williamsport.

Meyer’s Colin Pasone struggles to get out of an overhead cradle from Benton’s Alan Diltz during the 113-pound final of Saturday’s Class 2A Northeast Regional Tournament.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_reg2_faa.jpg.optimal.jpgMeyer’s Colin Pasone struggles to get out of an overhead cradle from Benton’s Alan Diltz during the 113-pound final of Saturday’s Class 2A Northeast Regional Tournament.

Lackawanna Trail’s Trent Phillips tries to switch Danville’s Sam Crone in the 195-pound third-place match at the PIAA Class 2A Northeast Regional Tournament in Williamsport.
https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_reg3_faa.jpg.optimal.jpgLackawanna Trail’s Trent Phillips tries to switch Danville’s Sam Crone in the 195-pound third-place match at the PIAA Class 2A Northeast Regional Tournament in Williamsport.

WILLIAMSPORT — Time was ticking away. Somewhere in the range of 15 seconds were left.

John Sheridan had a decision to make it – and rather quickly. He was already down one point in his PIAA Class 2A Northeast Regional semifinal.

The Hanover Area senior heavyweight could chose to let North Penn’s Justin Kriner up, and immediately try for the takedown. Or, he could ride him out – hoping to turn the sophomore to his back for quick near-fall points.

He made the right choice.

Sheridan locked in an inside cradle and flipped Kriner to his back with seven seconds left to secure two points for the 7-6 victory, which punched his ticket to Hershey. Sheridan ended with a silver medal after losing to Line Mountain’s Garrett Kieffer by fall in the second period of the final.

The Hanover wrestler will be joined by Meyers’ junior Colin Pasone, who finished second behind Benton’s Alan Diltz at 113.

Five District 2 wrestlers punched their PIAA tickets. In addition to Pasone and Sheridan, Valley View’s Brett Uhrin, Lackawanna Trail’s Trent Phillips and Scranton Prep’s Thor Balavage are also going to Hershey.

“I knew I was losing the match, and I knew that I had to get two points. I wasn’t sure if I should let him up, and try to take him down. I just locked up the cradle and got that two. It was crazy,” Sheridan said.

It’s been a wild ride for Sheridan, who becomes the first Hanover Area wrestler since Eric Bleich in 2002 to qualify for Hershey.

He was right there with GAR’s Saul Wilkins last season, and was one of the few that was able to have their hands raised against him.

Anthony Mercadante made the prediction last season.

“In my mind, I thought it would be Sheridan and Wilkins all the way through districts, regionals and maybe states,” the Hanover coach said.

An injury cut his junior year short. Another one, this one happening during football season, cut into wrestling.

“It played on my mind a lot because I knew I could have been there last year,” Sheridan said. “I could have got more experience, but then, you start to realize that you have that one last chance. This is my senior year, and I’m going to give it everything I have.”

Sheridan was down 4-1 in the opening period of the semifinal, before a late reversal set the score at 4-3 after one. Kriner’s one-point edge carried over to the final stanza where the NP wrestler chose down. The Hanover senior rode him out the entire period, trying half-nelsons and arm bars to turn Kriner over to this back.

“It was a quick decision. I was looking over to my coach to see if he wanted me to do that optional start, but he didn’t say anything. I just went from the top and locked that cradle up,” Sheridan said.

In the final, Sheridan fell down 2-0 after one period against Line Mountain’s Garrett Keiffer before the LM junior got the second-period fall in 2 minutes, 21 seconds.

Pasone had himself a nice regional tournament.

What set it up for him? Friday’s first-period fall of Warrior Run’s Trey Heiss. Remember, Pasone stumbled in his opener in 2015, losing on the first night in regionals before ripping off multiple wins on the second day.

“That first match last year just kind of snuck up on me. I don’t know if I was as ready as I should have been. It’s over, and I’m making up for it this year,” Pasone said.

His semifinal against Lewisburg’s Brian Friery was nearly perfect. He got an early takedown, and late in the first, hit a shrug with a set of near-fall points for a 6-1 lead after one.

He added a third-period reversal in the 8-1 victory.

“I think the momentum from Friday carried over to Friery, who is a very good wrestler. Controlling the positions was my goal for this weekend. If something was there, I was definitely going to go for it,” Pasone said.

In the finals, Benton’s Diltz hit a four-point move early in the bout, and eventually pinned Pasone late in the third period. Diltz, the No. 1 seed, was a state-placer in 2015.

“Alan is tough, and he goes year-round,” Meyers head coach Ron Swingle said. “We knew that going in. We were in some good positions with him, and we didn’t capitalize on them. When Alan had the chances, he did. We will take that into next week.”

The area also had five wrestlers earn fifth-place honors. They included Lehman’s Bob Long (106) and Bob Lipski (138), Meyers’ Jeremy Bergold (145), Hanover’s Noah Rakowski (152) and Wyoming Area’s Zachary Briggs (170).

“I don’t think we wrestled terrible. I thought that we wrestled OK,” Lake-Lehman head coach JJ Konigus said. “This was good for our freshmen and sophomores. I thought they wrestled well in this kind of environment. The fifths were good for Long and Lipski, and I thought that Kaleb (Konigus) wrestled well at heavyweight. He was just a little undersized. For the most part, I thought we wrestled well.”

2016 PIAA Class 2A Northeast Regional

Teams

Athens (A), Benton (Ben), Bloomsburg (Bloom), Blue Ridge (BR), Canton (Can), Central Columbia (CC), Danville (Dan), Elk Lake (EL), Hanover Area (Han), Hughesville (Hugh), Lackawanna Trail (LT), Lake-Lehman (LL), Lewisburg (Lew), Line Mountain (LM),Loyalsock (L), Meyers (Mey), Midd-West (MW), Milton (Mil), Montoursville (MT), Montrose (Mont), Montgomery (MG), Mount Carmel (MCA), Muncy (Mun), North Penn (NP), Sayre (S), Scranton Prep (SP), Shamokin (SA), South Williamsport (SW), Southern Columbia (SCA), Sullivan County (Sull), Towanda (T), Troy Area (TA), Valley View (VV), Warrior Run (WR), Western Wayne (WW), Williamson (Will), Wyalusing (Wyal), Wyoming Area (WA).

Top 10 Team Scores

1. Benton, 98; 2. Wyalusing, 92; 3. Southern Columbia, 88; 4. Montoursville, 84; 5. Lewisburg, 71; 6. Athens, 64.5; 7. Towanda, 55; 8. Bloomsburg, 54; 9. Line Mountain, 50; 10. Milton, 48; 10. Warrior Run, 48.

WVC Teams

Meyers, 31; Hanover Area, 24; Lake-Lehman, 16; Wyoming Area, 15

Championship Semifinals

106: Jaret Lane (SCA) dec. Wyatt Lutz (MT), 5-3; Joe Klock (Ben) pinned Bob Long (LL), 0:41

113: Alan Diltz (Ben) dec. Shane Casey (SCA), 4-0; Colin Pasone (Mey) dec. Brian Friery (Lew), 8-1

120: Jordan Gessner (Lew) dec. Cole Rhone (Ben), 5-2; Matt Milbrand (Bloom) dec. Angelo Barberio (Mun), 12-6.

126: Brian Courtney (A) tech fall over Jeremy Hanford (WR), 23-8, 4:46; Brian Earlston (LM) dec. Trevor Sones (Hugh), 7-4

132: Josh Haley (Wyal) maj dec. Brett Uhrin (VV), 11-0; Todd Lane (SCA) dec. Mike Stuart (Ben), 8-1

138: Zack LeBarron (WR) maj dec. Logan Bennett (Mil), 15-4; Creighton Edsell (Wyal) dec. Gage Cannavino (A), 3-2

145: Collin Edsell (Wyal) pinned Mitch Milbrand (Bloom), 3:37; Keith Batkowski (MT) pinned Jeremy Bergold (Mey), 1:39

152: Zach Fry (Hugh) tech fall over Denton Porter (Wyal), 15-0, 3:50; Jacob Carpenter (SA) dec. Sean Kshir (NP), 6-2

160: Blake Marks (SCA) pinned Breycin Fulmer (Tow), 2:28; Charlie Andrews (NP) dec. Trey Delbaugh, 6-2.

170: Dayton Wickwire (Tow) pinned Dylan Ammerman (SC), 17-0, 5:13; Brandon Stokes (Mil) maj dec. Jeremy Walsh (Ben), 10-1

182: Garrett Hoffman (MT) pinned Zach Zimmerman (Troy), 2:40; Andrew Shedleski (Lew) dec. Gage Heller (Mil), 5-3

195: Gavin Hoffman (MT) pinned Allen Yancoskie (MCA), 0:43; Steve Toczylousky (SCA) dec. Tommy Harrison (Bloom), 5-1

220: Thor Balavage (SP) dec. Cole Fuller (WW), 6-4 OT; Gabe Bogutskie (MCA) pinned Roger Horton (A), 2:32

285: Garrett Kieffer (LM) dec. Dawson Otis (Wyal), 5-2; John Sheridan (Han) dec. Justin Kriner (NP), 7-6.

Championship Finals

106: Lane dec. Klock, 9-5

113: Diltz pinned Pasone, 5:33

120: Gessner dec. Milbrand, 5-2

126: Courtney tech fall over Earlston, 26-9, 5:09

132: Haley dec. Lane, 4-3, OT

138: LeBarron dec. Edsell, 12-8

145: Edsell dec. Batkowski, 3-1

152: Fry dec. Carpenter, 7-1

160: Marks maj dec, Andrews, 11-3

170: Wickwire dec. Stokes, 6-1

182: Hoffman maj dec. Shedleski, 13-3

195: Hoffman pinned Toczylousky, 5:21

220: Balavage dec. Bogutskie, 5-4

285: Keiffer pinned Sheridan, 2:21

Consolation Quarterfinals

106: Colby Bronzburg (Bloom) pinned Joseph Hester (Mont), 0:47; Brandon Dalbo (MG) pinned Bryce Waters (Mey), 3:25

113: Lucas Drick (MG) pinned Chucky Rohan (Mont), 4:45; Trey Heiss (WR) pinned Ryan Dunn (WW), 2:41

120: Cole Hauck (LM) dec. Brandon Judge (VV), 10-4; Jacob O’Brien (Mont) dec. Jeff Bennett (Han), 10-5.

126: Colton Babcock (Ben) maj dec. James Maloy (WW), 12-0; Kendrick Beyer (WA) dec. Kevin Huertero (Mey), 5-0

132: Kaidon Winters (A) dec. Tyler Baltrusaitis (LT), 6-4; Noah Stamm (Mil) tech fall over Patrick Heck (WA), 15-0, 5:00

138: Evan Campbell (CC) maj dec. Marc Stine (VV), 15-3; Bob Lipski (LL) dec. Owen Davis (Han), 8-4 OT

145: Nate Bradley (A) maj dec. Braden McIntosh (WW), 17-6; Gavin Lundy-McCutheon (S) dec. Mike Kelly (BR), 6-0

152: Steven Yates (Tow) pinned Jake Tomolonis (LL), 4:40; Noah Rakowski (Han) dec. Harrison Clookey (WW), 7-1

160: Andrew Zerby (MW) pinned Jake Hand (EL), 2:10; Gino Setta (Mey) pinned Ryan Atcavage (WW), 4:27

170: Jay Brennan (Dan) maj dec. Bruce Parola (SP), 11-3; Zachary Briggs (WA) maj dec. JJ Hooper (Han), 14-2

182: Clay Mosier (Tow) dec. Ivan Balavage (SP), 5-2; Adam Buczynski (WA) dec. Tom Williams (LL), 5-3

195: Sam Crone (Dan) dec. Namir Murphy (Mey), 3-2; Trent Phillips (LT) pinned Dakota Swoyer (WW), 2:16

220: Jarrett Walters (Dan) dec. Ben Cerney (MT), 4-2; Brady Bryington (Can) dec. Mike Slivinski (LL), 4-2

285: Crae McCracken (L) pinned Kaleb Konigus (LL), 2:22; Cody Palmer (Lew) pinned Matt Pittsman (VV), 2:25

Consolation Semifinals

106: Bronzburg maj dec. Long, 14-2; Lutz dec. Daldo, 4-0

113: Friery dec. Drick, 5-1; Heiss pinned Casey, 4:59

120: Barberio dec. Hauck, 3-1; Rhone pinned O’Brien, 1:48

126: Sones maj dec. Babcock, 11-3; Hanford dec. Beyer, 7-1

132: Stuart pinned Winters, 3:54; Uhrin won by injury default over Stamm, 1:17

138: Cannavino dec. Campbell, 6-4; Bennett dec. Lipski, 6-1

145: Bradley maj dec. Bergold, 14-4; Milbrand maj dec. Lundy-McCutcheon, 14-0

152: Yates dec. Kshir, 3-2; Porter maj dec. Rakowski, 8-0

160: Zerby pinned Delbaugh, 3:05; Fulmer dec. Setta, 9-4

170: Walsh dec. Brennan, 9-5; Ammerman dec. Briggs, 7-6

182: Heller dec. Mosier, 3-2; Zimmerman maj dec. Buczynski, 11-3

195: Crone dec. Harrison, 4-3; Phillips dec. Yankoskie, 3-1

220: Walters pinned Horton, 1:34; Bryington dec. Fuller, 6-2

285: McCracken pinned Kriner, 4:33; Otis pinned Palmer, 1:11

3rd-place matches

106: Lutz dec. Bronzburg, 2-0

113: Friery dec. Heiss, 6-2

120: Rhone dec. Barberio, 9-3

126: Sones maj dec. Hanford, 9-1

132: Stuart won by forfeit

138: Cannavino dec. Bennett, 3-2

145: Milbrand dec. Bradley, 10-4

152: Porter pinned Yates, 5:17, SV

160: Fulmer dec. Zerby 7-3

170: Walsh dec. Ammerman, 4-3

182: Heller dec. Zimmerman, 3-2

195: Crone dec. Phillips, 3-2

220: Walters dec. Bryington,8-3

285: Otis dec. McCracken, 5-1

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