Trinity’s Reihner two wins away from gold
Ty Banco of Trinity turns Michael Hershey of Spring Grove for backpoints during the heavyweight bout in the PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey Friday. Banco won by fall.
Eli Makel of Waynesburg (left) tries to escape the hold of John Pardo of Kennett during their 189-pound bout in the PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey Friday. Pardo won by decision.
Joe Tuscano/Observer-Reporter
Tanner Mizenko of Canon-McMillan, front, is in a predicament with Luke Sirianni of Abington Heights during their 107-pound bout in the PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey on Friday. Mizenko lost by decision.
HERSHEY – Ask Blake Reihner and he’ll tell you the last wrestler from Trinity High School to win a state title.
And he won’t even take time to think about it.
“Dan Burkholder in 2005,” he said as soon as the question was asked.
The way Reihner is wrestling, his name might replace Burkholder’s as the answer to that question.
Reihner came into the PIAA 3A Wrestling Championships as the third-place finisher in the Southwest Regional and is now two wins away from a gold medal at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Reihner moved into today’s semifinals (9 a.m.) with a 3-2 win over Oliver Fairchild of Easton. He wrestles Pierson Manville of State College in the semifinals and, if successful, moves into tonight’s finals at 7 p.m. Manville is not only a returning state champion but he was named Outstanding Wrestler of last year’s tournament.
“When I saw the bracket, I knew I had a chance to get to he semis and I took it,” said Reihner. “I won’t be satisfied taking sixth place. I’ve got to keep wrestling.”
Reihner opened the tournament with a 5-0 win over Mason Karkoska of Owen J. Roberts then had to sweat out two one-point wins: 3-2 over Elias Long of Central York and 4-3 over Fairchild.
“Blake wrestled his butt off that match,” said Trinity head coach Ron Tarquinio. “It was a tough matchup. (Long) was really long. He got that leg up in the air.”
Heavyweight Ty Banco again used his overpowering strength to turn an undersized Michael Hershey of Spring Grove for a five-point move then added three more in the second period on the way to a fall in 5:56.
Banco meets Sean Kinney of Nazareth, undefeated at 33-0, in this morning’s semifinals.
“It’s definitely exciting,” said Banco, who raised his record to 40-3. “He wasn’t very good on bottom.”
Waynesburg’s dynamic duo of Mac Church and Rocco Welsh had no trouble in the quarterfinals. Church, a two-time state champion, and Welsh, a three-time placewinner and one time champion, each won by technical fall.
Church won 19-4 over Aidan Swann of Cocalico at 145 pounds and Welsh overpowered Macon Myers of Central York, 25-10, in the 172-pound weight class.
“I may be a little more aggressive on my attacks,” Church said. “I’m not looking at the bracket. I feel good the way I’m wrestling.”
Canon-McMillan’s Tanner Mizenko held a 3-2 lead in the neutral position until 18 seconds remained in the match. That’s when Luke Sirianni of Abington Heights took Mizenko down for a 4-3 victory, sending the 107-pound C-M junior to the consolation rounds.
Mizenko then dropped a 1-0 decision to Max Tancini of Perquiomen Valley in the consolation round and was eliminated.
Mizenko’s teammate, Andrew Binni, won in similar fashion. The 127-pound junior got a takedown with a little more than 20 seconds remaining for a 3-1 victory over Tahir Perkins of Nazareth. Binni draws Seamus Mack of Hempfield in the semifinals.
Matthew Furman of Canon-McMillan made it to the semifinals with a 2-0 decision over Dom Wheatley of Nazareth at 172 pounds. Up next is Talon Hogan of Pennridge.
Chris Cibrone (145) of Peters Township, Jake Conroy (189) of Ringgold and Nate Jones (152) of Waynesburg suffered their second losses and were eliminated.
Brody Evans (189) and Eli Makel (215) have one loss and can still finish as high as third.