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Plenty of emotion for placewinners
jtuscano@observer-reporter.com
HERSHEY - Chris Mary rubbed his face with his hands, the frustration clearly evident on his face.
Colin Johnston, the talented but suddenly offensively challenged senior from Canon-McMillan High School, had just lost in the 135-pound semifinals to Adam Will of Indian Valley Saturday.
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There were only tears for Johnston, who stopped only long enough to wrestle two more bouts - a 4-3 win over Shane Fenningham of Northampton and a 3-0 shutout of Jake O'Hara of Crestwood - so he could finish third.
Johnston was one of two area Class AAA placewinners as teammate Michael Hull lost his semifinal-round bout to Jordan Enck of Marion Center by 17-2 technical fall and limped to a sixth-place finish. Hull severely sprained his ankle in the loss to Enck and was forced to forfeit his final two bouts.
In Class AA, four local wrestlers placed between third and eighth.
Brian Scritchfield of Jefferson-Morgan avenged an earlier loss in the tournament to Ron Garbinsky of Tyrone with an 8-3 decision that gave him third place.
Mitch Spencer of Avella celebrated his 100th career victory with a 6-5 decision over Buddy Blotzer of South Allegheny to take seventh place at 130 pounds.
Beth-Center's Aaron Hrutkay dropped a 3-2 decision to Caleb Kolb of Grove City for fourth place at 160 pounds.
And Washington's Sam Miller secured an eighth-place finish at heavyweight after a 6-4 loss to Tyler Crawford of Wyalusing.
It was Johnston's inability to reach the finals that had many talking at Hershey's Giant Center and left Canon-McMillan fans wondering what happened to his offense. In nearly 37 minutes of wrestling, Johnston had 14 bout bouts.
"I don't know," Mary said. "Maybe the pressure got the best of him this weekend. There were a lot of expectation running through his mind, wearing him down mentally and physically. I felt a lot of (the pressure) was self-inflicted. Colin puts a lot of pressure on himself."
Johnston, a four-time state qualifier, had only three takedowns in his five bouts and did not make many effective shots.
"It seemed like he was wrestling not to lose, instead of wrestling to win," Mary said. "We tried different things (to get him to open up). It was just a bad week. But you can't take away from his accomplishments for four years at Canon-McMillan."
Scritchfield won four straight bouts to earn his bronze medal. The last win, an 8-3 decision over Garbinsky, was the most satisfying.
"Revenge," Scritchfield said of what motivated him. "I was more determined and less nervous. Everything could have changed if I could do it over. Being more open makes it more easy to win."
Spencer lost his first-round bout then bounced back for two decisions before getting pinned by Glenn Winslow of Cambria Heights in 4:17. Spencer did not want to wait until next year to get his 100th win.
"I'm pretty happy with the way I wrestled," Spencer said. "I had my good matches and my bad matches. I still have another year left. My goal is to get 140 wins, and a gold medal."
Hrutkay won three bouts in the wrestlebacks before running into Kolb. Still, he became the first state medalist from B-C since Jordan Sweaney was fifth at 215 in 2005 and the highest finisher for the Bulldogs since Ulysses Davis was runner-up at 103 in 1998.
"I'm excited because this is the first time I placed," said Hrutkay. "I had a lot of coaches and family behind me up here. They were cheering me on."
Miller wraps up a strong career for Washington and assured a second straight medalist in this tournament. Alex Evans was sixth at 160 last year.
"I'm not satisfied because I wish I could have done better," said Miller, who is headed to Robert Morris to play football next fall. "The highlights were winning the regional championship and seeing Dan (Conley) place first here. He's someone from our section."
