PIAA State Class AA Finals Set
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Junior Jason Nolf Advances to the Finals at 132 lbs.
Complete Results can be found here!
In the second day of the 2013 PIAA State Tournament the cream of the crop started to rise at the GIANT Center. In Class AA, the Championship Semi-Finals featured some of PA’s and the Nation’s top wrestlers as stars such as Darian Cruz, Zeke Moisey, Zain Retherford, and Mikey Raciattio all advanced to the Championship Finals.
In an impressive showing freshman Georgie Phillippi of Derry Area surprised many as he defeated 2012 State runner-up Korbin Myers (Boiling Springs) in the 113 lbs. semi-finals by a score of (2-1 in TB). The impressive freshman will go against a familier opponent in South Fayette senior Seth Carr. The SW Regional Champion needed overtime to get past Claysburg-Kimmel’s senior 10-8 in SV. The last time these two faced each other was two weeks ago at in the WPIAL Tournament which the freshman Phillippi won by a score 0f (1-0).
At 120 lbs. senior Darian Cruz showed why he is a returning State Champion and one of the Nation’s top light-weights as he breezed into the finals by score of 10-5 over Josh Patrick (Ligonier Valley). The Lehigh recruit will face Bedford junior Ryan Easter in the finals. Cruz’s teammate Zeke Moisey got pay-back as he defeated Boiling Spring’s Kyle Shoop by fall in (1:43) and advanced to his second straight PIAA State Championship finals. Shoop defeated Moisey (15-9) in the semi-finals of the South East Regional semi-finals last weekend. Moisey will have a very difficult match-up with senior Ryan Diehl (Trinity) who is in search of his second straight PIAA State Championship and fourth straight State Championship after winning two West Virginia State titles in his first two seasons of high school competition. Diehl vs. Moisey expects to be an exciting bout as both are big-time scorers and pinners.
At 132 lbs. it will be an all WPIAL Finals as senior Nick Zanatta (Keystone Oaks) will take on Kittanning junior Jason Nolf as the two will meet for the third straight week. Nolf, a 2011 State Champion and 2012 Third Place Medalist, has won both previous two meetings. At 138 lbs. two familiar grapplers will meet as Benton Area senior Zain Retherford will take on former teammate Seth Lansberry (Line Mountain) for the second week in a row. Retherford is a FILA Word Champion and the Nation’s #1 ranked wrestler at 138 lbs. by both Intermat and Flo Wrestling. Retherford won last week’s North East Regional finals by a score of
At 145 lbs. returning 2x State Champion Mikey Racciato (Pen Argyl Area) won by injury default after he took down and turned Williamson sophomore Billy Barnes. Barnes was taking out on a stretcher to a crowd of cheers for his quick recovery. Racciato will enter his third straight PIAA State Class AA Finals as he seeks his third PIAA State Championship against Benton Area senior Colt Cotten. It is an all North West final at 152 lbs. with senior NW-1 Austin Matthews (Reynolds) taking on NW-2 Kyle Bova (Coudersport). Matthews has been the the PIAA State Finals twice before but has yet to capture the State Title. The Reynolds senior won by a score of (18-6) in last weeks Regional finals.
Undefeated senior Cody Law (Forest Hills) advanced to his second straight State Finals at 160 lbs. with a (5-1) win over Ty Walter (Mifflinburg Area) in the semi-final round. He will face North West Regional Champion Evan Delong (Kane) a junior who defeated senior Ty Schoffstall (Tri-Valley) (7-6) in the semi-final round. At 170 lbs. its an all District 3 final as undefeated senior Pete Renda (Brandywine Heights) will go against foe Tristian Sponseller (Bermudian Springs) a junior. The two faced each other in the District 3 Finals with Renda winning (11-3). Senior Dakota Deslauriers (Burrell) has advanced to his second straight PIAA State Finals as he looks for his first State Title against Muncy senior Troy Hembury at 182 lbs.Hembury’s only defeat on the season is to Bald Eagle Area’s Jake Taylor who is a Class AAA semi-finalist at 182 lbs.
At 195 lbs. undefeated senior and returning PIAA State Champion Ryan Solomon (Milton Area) will take on the South West Regional Champion and outstanding senior Garett Vulcano (Chartiers Houston). Solomon will be entering his third finals in four years. In the 220 lbs. finals seniors Ray O’Donnell (Saucon Valley) and Brandon Smith (Lewisburg) will do battle. The two are both retuning PIAA State Medalists and have not faced each other this season. At 285 lbs. it will be an all North West Region final as returning State Champion Nazar Mironenko (Mifflinburg Area) was upset by Port Allegany senior Nick Budd in the quarter-finals. Budd then won his semi-final match-up against SW-4 Austin Buttry (Chestnut Ridge) by a score of (4-3) to advance to the State Finals. He will face North West Regional Champion Sam Breese (Lakeview) a junior who was a PIAA State Tournament qualifier last season.
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