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Centre County advances eight from Northwest Regional Class3A

By BRIAN CARSON

ALTOONA – The Centre County contingent advanced eight, crowning four champions at the Northwest Regional Class 3A championships on Saturday at the Altoona Fieldhouse.

Bellefonte picked up three champions and pushed four through to the West Super Regionals next weekend. The Red Raiders scored 119 points to capture their second consecutive regional team championship.

State College, District 6 team champions last week, scored 110 points to finish in fourth place. The Little Lions advanced four to Super Regionals with one champion.

The Red Raiders pushed four of their six regional qualifiers through to next weekend, with Lane Aikey (120) and Ethan Richner (152) earning their third regional titles and Jude Swisher picking up his second. Ethan Rossman came back and earned a true second place to advance.

The Little Lions had an up-and-down day but advanced four of their seven qualifiers into the Super Regionals.

Senior Carson Manville, ranked third in the state, once again had to battle Rossman to earn his 189-pound championship and once again, one point decided the match. Owen Woolcott (126), Lance Urbas (172), and Ty Price (215) finished second to earn a trip to the Super Regionals.

Aikey, who didn’t wrestle his first match of the season until last week’s districts, showed zero signs of rust with an 8-0 win over Caleb Fasick of Altoona in the finals. The Red Raider senior had a pin in the quarterfinal round and a technical fall victory in the semis.

Aikey scored a takedown and three nearfall points in the first, an escape in the second, and a takedown in the third for the commanding win.

Swisher hooked up once again with freshman standout Pierson Manville with the Red Raider taking the rubber match 7-6.

Manville opened the scoring with a takedown. Swisher escaped a scored a deuce with eight seconds left to make it 3-2.  Pierson chose down and made it 5-3 with an escape and takedown for the 5-3 advantage. Swisher returned the favor with his own escape and takedown for a 6-5 lead, heading into the third. The Red Raider got out to start the third with the match ending on their feet.

Richner owned the field at 160, getting a fall in 2:33 over Coy Bastian of Selinsgrove in the semifinals and a 15-0 technical fall over Jackson Spires of General McLane in the finals for his third regional title. He had two takedowns, a reversal, and seven nearfall points in the easy finals win.

Rossman dropped a tough match to Carson Manville by a 2-1 decision in the 189-pound finals. Manville beat Rossman 5-4 in the District 6 finals last week. Rossman battled back to defeat Griffin Buzzell of Meadville, 7-3, in their true second matchup.

After a scoreless first period, Manville escaped for the 1-0 lead. Rossman got off the bottom in the third to make it 1-1 and force sudden victory. The one-minute overtime didn’t settle things,and the match went to rideouts. Manville kept Rossman down in the first 30 seconds. Manville escaped with 21 ticks on the clock and made the 2-1 lead stand up for the former Minnesota state champ.

In a stunner, younger brother Pierson Manville, one of the top freshmen in the nation, suffered the loss to Swisher and then fell 3-2 to Williamsport’s Braden Bower in the match for true second, ending his season.

Price had a stellar tournament to stay alive for another week.Price knocked off top seed Mark McGonigal of Clearfield in the semis before dropping a 5-1 decision to Erie Prep’s John Campbell. Price battled back to defeat District 6 champion Nik Miller of Central Mountain, by a 7-4 score.

Urbas lost for the eighth time to Mifflin County’s Trey Kibe, dropping a 7-1 decision in the 172-pound finals, while Owen Woolcott earned a berth to Super Regionals with a second-place finish at 126, losing for the second straight week to Central Mountain freshman Luke Simcox by a 10-2 major decision.

The West Super Regional kicks off Saturday at 8:30 a.m. from the Altoona Fieldhouse.

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