Exeter and Governor Mifflin finish in the district’s top four

Both the Exeter and Governor Mifflin high school wrestling teams will continue their seasons after finishing in the top four spots in the District 3-AAA team wrestling tournament, which qualified them for the state tournament. Both teams advanced as far as the district semifinals before losing. Then both teams won elimination matches to assure themselves of a spot in at the state tournament.

The two teams met to determine the third and fourth place finishers on Jan. 31. Due to our press deadline, we are unable to report the result of the match.

Exeter rolled to the district semifinals where they took on the defending district champions Cumberland Valley on Jan. 29. It was a tough challenge for the Eagles, but they came close to meeting the challenge. With a Scott Schaeffer pin at 182 pounds, the Eagles were within six points of Cumberland Valley with three bouts to go. But Cumberland Valley won two of those last three bouts on the way to a 40-27 victory over Exeter.

With the loss, the Eagles needed to come back later in the day and defeat Cedar Cliff in order to qualify for the states. They did just that when they jumped out to a 26-0 lead on the strengths of pins from Austin Desanto (113), Brett Kulp (120) and Tyler Bagoly (132). They went on to defeat Cedar Cliff, 43-24. Dennis Karas (170) also earned a pin for Exeter and Ethan Stever won by a technical fall.

Governor Mifflin had to take on Central Dauphin in the district semifinals. Central Dauphin was the district’s second place finisher last year. Mifflin simply couldn’t stay with the powerful Central Dauphin team in a 45-21 Mustang loss.

Jan Johnson (220), Colin Johnson (132) and Keith Miller (285) each pinned their opponents, while Robert Karmonick (120) won by a decision.

As was the case with Exeter, the Mustangs had to come back later in the day and win an elimination round match against South Western. The match was still in the balance when Ben Maack (160) earned a pin in the final bout, giving the Mustangs a 38-26 victory.

Dylan Harr (170) and Carlos Conde (182) got the match off on the right foot with pins to give Mifflin a 12-0 lead. They made it 21-0 whne Wilson Fontanez (195) won by a 5-2 decision, and Jan Johnson (220) won by forfeit.

Exeter opened the District 3-AAA Tournament with a 59-12 victory over Elco on Jan. 27. Later that day, the Eagles defeated fourth-seeded South Western in the quarterfinals, 30-28.

In the victory over Elco, Ethan Stever, Tyler Borton, Austin Rueppel, Dennis Karas, Scott Schaeffer and Oscar Daniels all won by pins. Tyler Bagoly, Randy Wintersohl, Jeremy Habowski and John Greenleaf all won by decisions.

James Harkness earned a 6-5 victory over Gavin Smith in the final bout to give the Eaglss the two-point victory. Schaeffer earned Exeter’s lone pin in just 52 seconds, while Bagoly, Stever, Karas, Daniels and Brett Kulp all won by decisions.

Governor MIfflin opened the tournament with a comfortable 54-16 victory over Conestoga Valley. That was followed by a 35-29 win over Penn Manor in the quarterfinals.

In the victory over Conestoga Valley, earning pins for the Mustangs were: Colin Johnson, Jan Johnson, Keith Miller, Alex Centeno and Zach Scheetz. Alan Arentz and Robert Karmonick each won by decisions.

In the victory over Penn Manor, Colin Johnson got a pin in 40 seconds in the final bout of the match to break a 29-29 tie and give the Mustangs the victory.

Arentz and Scheetz also won by pins for the Mustangs, while Jonah Fisher, Jan Johnson and Elijah Hurst all won by decisions. Miller won by a forfeit.