After Schuylkill Valley edged out Hamburg in the sectional wrestling tournament last week, the Hawks hoped to get some revenge in this past weekend’s District 3-AA Championships held at Hersheypark Arena, Feb. 21 and 22.
The Hawks got some of that revenge, finishing in third place in the team battle. They finished just ahead of fourth place Schuylkill Valley.
But it was the Panthers who had two weight lass champions. Josh Giorgio won the 126 pound class while Ryan Ramich won the 152 pound class. As it turned out, Ramich and Giorgio were the only two Berks wrestlers two even advance to the championship round.
The Panthers duo will advance to this weekend’s Southeast Regional Tournament Feb. 28 and March 1 at Wilson High School. Teammates Mason Shuman and Colby Geisinger will advance with them. Shuman finished fifth in the 120 pound weight class and Geisinger was fifth at 120.
Hamburg will have six wrestlers who finished within the top five of their weight class to advance on to the regionals.
Chris Kummerer (132), Cody Miller (182) and Austin Bashore (195) all finished in third place, while Sean Stanish (120) finished in fourth place. Kerry Mega (126), Andrew Kochel (145) and Blake Roberts (285) all finished in fifth place.
After getting a bye in the first round, Giorgio started the tournament with a 7-0 decision over Matt Darok of Annville Cleona. He followed that with a 6-2 overtime victory over Nate Newberry of Biglerville. In the title bout, Giorgio defeated Grant Bond of Boiling Springs, 8-4.
Ramich also had a first round bye, then pinned Austin Rueppel of ELCO in 2:58 of the quarterfinal round. Colby Stroup of Newport was his next victim, as Ramich pinned him in 3:03. In the championship bout, Ramich downed Tyler Kauffman of Boiling Springs, 4-0.
Shuman was victorious in his first round match, defeating Cheyne Oren of Upper Dauphin, 10-2, but then lost to Hunter Gimbor of Brandywine Heights in the quarterfinals, 4-2.
Shuman won his first wrestle back bout, but lost to Hamburg’s Stanish which sent Shuman to the fifth place bout. In a bout that would decide if he would qualify for the regional tournament, Shuman won a 4-3 decision over Josh Renninger of Annville Cleona.
Geisinger started by pinning Trey Gehr of Newport in 1:41. In the quarterfinals, Geisinger lost by a technical to Stephen Loiseau of Lancaster Catholic.
After winning his first wrestle back bout, Geisinger lost to Cody Miller of Hamburg, 3-0. Then, like Shuman, Geisinger needed to win his fifth place bout to advance on to the regionals. He accomplished that by earning a 5-2 win over Chris Eaton of Wyomissing.
For Hamburg, Kummerer opened his tournament with a 13-2 quarterfinal win over Nick Knight of ELCO. But in the semifinals, Kyle Shoop of Boiling Springs defeated Kummerer, 5-0.
But Kummerer won both of his wrestle back bouts, including an 11-4 win over Scott Cooper of Biglerville in the third place bout.
Miller needed just 51 seconds to pin Eaton in his first bout, but lost a 7-1 decision to Colton Dull of Bermudian Springs in the semifinals.
Miller then won both of his wrestle back matches, including a 13-4 victory over Nate Gouhin of Boiling Springs in the third place bout.
Bashore was a 10-0 winner over Matt Guilday of Littlestown in his quarterfinal round bout. In the semifinals, Bashore lost to Kyle Taylor of Boiling Springs, 3-0.
He pinned his first opponent in the wrestle back, then won his third place bout on a disqualification.
Mega won by a technical fall in the first round, then lost his quarterfinal round bout to John Lobeck of Lancaster Catholic. He fought back in the wrestle back to defeat Matt Achey of ELCO, 3-1 in the fifth place bout.
Kochel earned a first round bye, then defeated Randy Wintersohl of ELCO in the quarterfinals, 6-0. After losing in the semifinals, Kochel lost his first wrestleback bout, then defeated Caleb Naylor of Wyomissing in the fifth place bout, 2-1.
Roberts pinned Jake Regni of Trinity in 2:48 of their first round bout, then lost in the quarterfinals to Collin Conrad of Brandywine Heights, 2-1. Two wins and a loss sent Roberts to the fifth place bout where he won a 3-2 decision over Conrad.
