Dallastown's Clay Gable finishes the 171-pound title in style, racking up eight points in the third period to record a 16-1 technical fall over Cedar Cliff's Clint Morrison at 5:18 of their Class AAA 171-pound PIAA Wrestling championship.
The Wildcat hit a reversal and then five back points to make it 14-0 and, after letting the Colt junior up, hit a double leg takedown to clinch the gold medal.
Clay Gable moved his lead out to 7-0 after the second period with an escape and a takedown.
Dylan Alton of Central Mountain won the marquee match-up of the Class AAA finals of the PIAA Wrestling Championships, defeating Joey Napoli of Cumberland Valley in the 145-pound final. Both wrestlers were 2008 state champions.
Dylan's twin brother Andrew won his first title one weight class earlier, pinning Jack Bachman of Hempfield Area (District 7) in 1:24. It was his third first-period fall of the tournament.
Delone Catholic's Dallas Brown fought the good fight but in the end couldn't solve the defense of Line Mountain's Jon Fausey in a 7-5 loss for the PIAA Class AA 189-pound championship.
Fausey showed an excellent variety of offense, scoring three takedowns on three different moves while giving Brown no openings in his defense. The Squire senior had trouble getting anything started offensively against the taller Fausey, a Team Diesel teammate in the off-season, but did finally hit a takedown with 32 seconds remaining in the bout but it was too late as he was unable to turn the Eagle senior to his back for nearfall points.
Brown finishes his senior season with a 36-4 record and his second straight state tournament medal. Last season, the University of Maryland-bound wrestler was fourth at 189 pounds.
Dallastown's Clay Gable put on a totally dominating performance in the semifinal round of the PIAA Class AAA Wrestling Championships to earn a shot at a state title this evening, winning a 9-3 decision over Belle Vernon's Patrick Tasser.
The Wildcat senior was in control of Tasser from the start, registering the initial takedown just 19 seconds into their 171-pound bout and riding him for the rest of the period.
Gable (38-4) then hit for takedowns in the second and third period before tacking on a reversal in the waning seconds.
In Saturday's finals, he will face Cedar Cliff's Clint Morrison, who surprised everyone in winning three straight bouts here, two in overtime.
Delone Catholic senior Dallas Brown advanced to Saturday's PIAA Class AA state championship match in the 189-pound weigh class Friday after a dominating 9-1 major decision over R.J. Malson of Greenville.
Brown will face Line Mountain's Jon Fausey who knocked off defending champion Roman San Doval, 5-2, in the semifinal match.
A 5-for-7 performance in the second round of consolations brings the YAIAA medal count from the PIAA Class AAA Wrestling Championships to six for the three-day event, very easily the toughest scholastic championships there are in PA.
Leading the way were seniors Tanner Bidelspach of Spring Grove and Keith Dahlheimer of Red Lion.
Bidelspach extracted a bit of revenge by totally controlling his 7-1 victory over Central Dauphin's Kevin Gooding. The Rocket 112-pounder connected for three takedowns and stayed out of the dangerous tilts the Ram sophomore has become known for. The win turns around their result from the District 3 Championships where Gooding knocked off Bidelspach, getting five points enroute to a 8-4 win.
Dallastown's Clay Gable turned out another solid performance in his 171-pound quarterfinal round bout of the PIAA Class AAA Wrestling Championships, winning an 8-0 major decision over Ty Wilps of Chartiers Valley.
The victory puts the Wildcat senior into tomorrow morning's semifinal around against Belle Vernon's Patrick Tasser. Tasser upset pre-tournament favorite Nick Milano of Erie Cathedral Prep, 3-1, in their quarterfinal bout.
With three wrestlers on the mat simultaneously, the Delone coaching staff of Trevor Byers and John Hefner would know very quickly if they were going to have a good or a great PIAA Wrestling tournament.
About five minutes later, it officially became a great one as all three Squire wrestlers - Josh Ruppert (112), Jacob Boyde (119) and Tyler Small (125) - won second-round consolation matches to reach the medal rounds. Add in Dallas Brown (189) who had already clinched a piece of hardware with his quarterfinal victory earlier in the morning and Delone was a perfect 4-for-4.
All four Delone wrestlers return to action this evening to determine what place they will be wrestling for in Saturday's medal matches.
In one of the highlight quarterfinal bouts of the PIAA Class AA Wrestling Championships, Dallas Brown of Delone Catholic eeked out a 6-5 decision over Westmont Hilltop's Zac Bennett. Bennett had won the Class AA 189-pound state title in 2007 but missed almost the entire 2007-08 season with an knee injury.
Brown won it with a reversal with just 20 seconds remaining. The Squire senior now faces RJ Malson of Greenville in this evening's semifinal round.
Meanwhile, Bermudian Springs senior Derek Schmleyun went into the PIAA Wrestling Championships one of eight undefeated wrestlers in the Class AA field. After Friday's quarterfinal round, the Eagle senior is no longer in than elite group.
Schmelyun fell behind United's Robert Henderson on a first-period takedown and things went downhill from there, eventually ending in a 14-6 major decision for the Lion sophomore. The two-time District 3 champion found himself on his back three different, the first time of which could have been called a pin without question but the ref was a little slow getting around the wrestlers.
Two more losses at heavyweight by Red Lion's Keith Dahlheimer and Kennard-Dale's Nick Page completed a rough 1-7 preliminary round for the YAIAA's Class AAA qualifiers.
But the entire league brigade came back with a vengence going 7-for-7 in first-round consolation matches to remain in the medal hunt. The Mustang duo of Cameron Throckmorton (119) and Drew Rebling (130) each earned decisions and were joined there by New Oxford's Jordan Conaway (103), Spring Grove's Tanner Bidelspach (112), Dallastown's Jon Childress (125), Dahlheimer and Page.
All seven are just one win away from wrapping up hardware to bring back to York County. It would just be a matter of how high up the stand each would finish.
Dallastown's Clay Gable broke the YAIAA losing streak in the Class AAA portion of the PIAA Wrestling Championships with a victory in the 171-pound weight class. The Wildcat senior knocked off Great Valley's Scott Schretzenmaier, 5-0, to advance to Friday's quarterfinal round where he will face Ty Wilps of Chartiers Valley.
The Class AA session was pretty uneventful save one unbeaten wrestler - Sharpsville's Justin Buchanan - dropped two straight to be eliminated.
However, as usual, Class AAA brings a little bit more excitement to the Giant Center and this one was a big one as defending state champion Cortland Choate of Blue Mountain. Choate lost a 4-2 tiebreaker decision to Nick Catalano of Canon McMillan in the opening round of the 130-pound weight class.
If the name sounds familiar, it should. Choate won his 2008 title by defeating Red Lion's Chris Albright 2-1 to win the 125-pound weight class.
The five YAIAA lightweights who qualified for the PIAA Wrestling Championships all made the same fate in the opening round Thursday afternoon - tough losses.
Both South Western wrestlers - Cameron Throckmorton (119) and Drew Rebling (130) - dropped one-point decisions. Dallastown's Jon Childress (125) lost a two-pointer while New Oxford's Jordan Conaway (103) and Spring Grove's Tanner Bidelspach (112) lost by four as each gave up points late when they were trying to come from behind.
