Mar 7, 2019 2 min read

HERSHEY – Belle Vernon’s Scott Joll didn’t wrestle his most complete match Thursday evening, but the senior did enough to advance to this afternoon’s quarterfinals in the 182-pound weight class in the PIAA Class AAA Championships at the Giant Center.

Joll (33-7) scored a takedown with three seconds left in the second period to take a 2-1 lead, then used an escape and another takedown in a 5-2 decision over Cumberland Valley’s Jake Lucas first round.

“Lately, I haven’t been wrestling badly, but one thing I would like to do is open up my offense a little bit more,” Joll said. “When you are here at states, you are not going to come across too many bad kids. I think I probably could have scored once or twice more whenever we were neutral. I tried to throw him over instead.”

Joll wrestles Cathedral Prep’s Carter Starocci (40-0) in the quarterfinals today. Starocci, the top seed at 182, is considered one of the best wrestlers in the country. The Penn State recruit won the state championship last season at 160 over Joll’s former teammate Zach Hartman, who is now wrestling for Bucknell University. Starocci, a senior, has won 86 consecutive matches.

“I have never wrestled him before,” Joll said. “He has always been heavier or lighter than me. I am excited for the opportunity to wrestle him. You win against a kid like that and you kind of know, ‘Hey, I can win this whole thing.’ It’s not that you don’t believe you’re going to win it anyway, but it gives you that support in your mind.”

Hartman, who is wrestling for Bucknell at the Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Championships today and Saturday, sent a test to Joll prior to wrestling in the state championships.

“He actually texted me today and told us good luck,” Joll said. “He has EIWAs tomorrow, so I want to wish him good luck, too.”