HS Boys’ Wrestling: 25 make semis as District 11 boys’ tournament gets under way

Gaige Mentusky, North Schuylkill

BETHLEHEM — North Schuylkill’s Gaige Mentusky didn’t waste any time reaching a milestone Friday at the District 11 Class AA Wrestling Championships at Bethlehem Freedom High School.

After a bye in the preliminary round, Mentusky pinned Schuylkill Haven’s Trayten Hasenauer in 37 seconds to notch the 100th victory of his career. Seeded second at 107 pounds, Mentusky represented one of 25 Schuylkill League wrestlers who advanced to the semifinals on Day 1 of districts.

Meanwhile at the District 11 Class 3A Wrestling Championships at Bethlehem Liberty High School, Pottsville’s Terrell McFarland stormed into the 189-pound semifinals with a pair of fast falls. In the preliminaries, McFarland stuck Pocono Mountain West’s Jasper McEachern in 34 seconds. McFarland decked William Allen’s Curtis Cooper in 36 seconds in the quarterfinals.

Blue Mountain’s Owen Woll dropped his quarterfinal at 160 pounds, falling to Bethlehem Catholic’s Mason Thomas 7-4 in sudden victory. Thomas jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but Woll got an escape and a takedown in the third period to tie the bout and send it to overtime.

The Eagles’ Vaughn Helverson reached the quarterfinals at 285 before dropping a 7-1 decision to Notre Dame-Green Pond’s Noah Knorp.

The tournaments will resume today, the Class AA wrestlers at Bethlehem Freedom and the Class 3A wrestlers at Bethlehem Liberty for Session I. That will begin at 9 a.m. with the second-round consolations, followed by the championship semifinals and third-round consolations at 10:15 a.m. and the fourth-round consolations at 11:45 a.m. For Session II, all wrestling will be held at Bethlehem Liberty. The consolation finals for third and fifth places will begin at 3 p.m., the Parade of Champions at 5 p.m. and the championship finals at 5:15 p.m. Two mats will be used for the finals, one for Class AA and the other for Class 3A.

The top four placewinners in Class AA and the top five in Class 3A will advance to regionals next weekend.

In Class AA, form held with few upsets, especially with the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds. All 13 top seeds and all 13 No. 2s advanced to the semifinals.

Included in that group are the Schuylkill League’s top seeds: Tri-Valley’s Owen Wolfgang (107) and Hunter Updegrave (172); Mahanoy Area’s Arturo Reyes (121), Rory Dixon (152) and Kyler Quick (215); Tamaqua’s Rylan Reitz (114) and Williams Valley’s Camron Green (285). Wolfgang, Updegrave, Reitz and Green rolled into the semis with pins. Reyes, Dixon and Quick had technical fall victories in the quarterfinals.

Tri-Valley led the league with six semifinalists. In addition to Wolfgang and Updegrave, Easton Moore (114), Jaxson Bruso (133), Parker Hatter (160) and Max Masser (189) reached the final four for the Bulldogs.

Joining Mentusky in the semifinals for North Schuylkill are Noah Leib (133), Brock Holmes (139), Bode Gates (145) and Cadyn McGraw (215).

Pine Grove also moved five into the semifinals: Chase Nagle (121), Aaron Osatchuck (145), Isaiah Miller (172), Zach Kurtz (215) and Scout Frantz (285).

Mahanoy Area has four in the semis. Stanley Boris (189) scored a pin to join Reyes, Dixon and Quick in the final four.

After Day 1 in Class AA, Lehighton leads the team standings with 77 points. The Indians have six in the semifinals and seven in the consolations. Northwestern Lehigh stands second with 71 points; the Tigers have seven in the semis and four in the consolations.

North Schuylkill (5 semis, 7 consys) ranks third with 62 points, followed by Tri-Valley (6 semis, 6 consys) with 60 points. Pine Grove (5 semis, 6 consys) rounds out the top five with 58.5 points.

District 11 team duals champion Saucon Valley (5 semis, 7 consys) is sixth with 57 points, with Mahanoy Area (4 semis, 3 consys) in seventh with 39.5 points.