Six grapplers headed to Northeast Regionals

2-25-26

By Corey Gesford
For The Independent
Once again, Blue Ridge led a strong showing by local wrestlers at the District II Wrestling
Championships. The two-day tournament held at Wilkes-Barra Area High School Feb. 20 and 21 found Blue Ridge sending four wrestlers to the Northeast Regional Championships while Montrose and Elk Lake each sent one.
Senior Brice Woodruff led the Raider brigade as the 127-pounder finished second and will seek
to return to the PIAA championships after qualifying a year ago. Woodruff opened the tournament with a first period pin of Dallas’s Joe Megano. Woodruff collected the fall at the 1:03 mark. He followed that with an 18-3 technical fall over Valley View’s James Scagliotti in the semifinals. In the final, Woodruff faced Hanover Area’s CJ Caines. Woodruff was unable to get to an advantage in the match and fell by technical fall 15-0 at the end of the second period.
Meanwhile, three Raider wrestlers finished in third place and qualified for Regionals.
At 107 pounds Freshman Dante Tanzini went 5-1 with five falls to finish in third place. Tanzini opened with a late second period pin, but lost by technical fall in the quarterfinals. In the consolation rounds Tanzini ripped off four straight pins, getting his first three in the first period.
In the third place match, Tanzini fell to Montrose’s Sawyer Brander early in the second period. At 172 pounds Zach Krupovich overcame a 7-1 loss by decision in the semifinals to bounce back with a 10-8 decision in the consolation semifinals and then won a 15-4 major decision over Mid Valley’s Adam Pezanowski.
Krupovich won his first two matches of the tournament with a first period fall and a 18-2 major
decision over Pezanowski.
The final Raider to qualify was Ryder Hobart at 189 pounds. Hobart opened with a 15-8 decision in the championship quarterfinals. However in the semifinals he fell behind and lost a 16-7 major decision. In the consolation semifinals, Hobart won a 11-7 decision over Elk Lake’s Colby Ruark, and then pinned Hanover Area’s Lucas Cruz in the third place match in the beginning of the third period.
The success of its qualifying quartet allowed the Raiders to finish eighth in the team standings.
Montrose finished right behind at ninth place led by Northeast Regional qualifier Grady Loureiro
who finished third at 121 pounds.
Loureiro opened with a 27-second fall in the championship quarterfinals. He bounced back from
loss by fall in the championship semifinals to win back-to-back matches by fall in the consolation
semifinals and the third–place match.
The Meteors also had the fourth-place finish at 107 pounds by Sawyer Brander who was 4-2 on
the weekend. Carl Nolt was fifth at 139 pounds posting a 2-2 record while Delos Stone (133
pounds), Wyatt Steele (145), and William Frasier (215) placed sixth.
Ethan Smith highlighted the Elk Lake success at the District II championships claiming third
place at 285 pounds. Smith opened with a first-period pin of Montrose’s Corey Anderson and then collected a forfeit with a 9-6 lead in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals Smith lost a 19-3 major decision but bounced back with a pair of pins in the
consolation rounds. Smith earned a second period pin of Mid Valley’s Devon Hill and then dispatched Scranton Prep’s Jordan Henning at the 4:24 mark. The Warriors also got sixth-place finishes from Michael Hillier at 172 pounds and Colby Ruark at 189 pounds.