Honesdale’s Nathan Schuman, left, wrestles Faith Christian’s Riley Crandall in the 107-pound third-place match Saturday during the PIAA Class 2A Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. BOB GAETANO / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Hazleton Area’s Evelyn Sheer celebrates after pinning Albert Gallatin’s Jenna Chapman in the 235-pound third-place match Saturday at the PIAA Girls Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. BOB GAETANO / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Abington Heights’ Mason Whitney after defeating Nazareth’s Caleb Kosko, 4-3, in the 133-pound third-place match Saturday during the PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. BOB GAETANO / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Hanover Area’s C.J. Caines wrestles Burrell’s Cameron Baker in the 127-pound fifth-place match Saturday during the PIAA Class 2A Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. BOB GAETANO / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Honesdale’s Nathan Schuman, top, wrestles Faith Christian’s Riley Crandall in the 107-pound third-place match Saturday during the PIAA Class 2A Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. BOB GAETANO / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
Abington Heights’ Mason Whitney, left, wrestles Nazareth’s Caleb Kosko in the 133-pound third-place match Saturday during the PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. BOB GAETANO / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
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Honesdale’s Nathan Schuman, left, wrestles Faith Christian’s Riley Crandall in the 107-pound third-place match Saturday during the PIAA Class 2A Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. BOB GAETANO / CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER
HERSHEY — Mason Whitney was in a tough spot after dropping his first match of the PIAA Class 3A Wrestling Championships on Thursday.
The Abington Heights junior needed three straight victories in order to return to the state podium for the third time.
He won six straight instead.
Whitney stormed through the consolation bracket and was one of three District 2 wrestlers, including Honesdale’s Nathan Schuman in Class 2A and Hazleton Area’s Evelyn Sheer in the girls tournament, to capture a bronze medal Saturday at the Giant Center.
“(It’s) really awesome,” Whitney said. “It was a tough start, not how I expected it to go, but just take it one match at a time and work our way back.”
He did just that, winning one match Thursday night, three matches Friday and two matches Saturday morning.
In the consolation semifinals, Whitney, who is ranked third in the state at 133 pounds according to PA Power Wrestling, got his revenge against Altoona’s Braiden Weaver (sixth in state), who handed Whitney that Round of 16 loss, 1-0, on Thursday.
It was the second straight week he avenged a loss, as he beat Nazareth’s Caleb Kosko in the Northeast Regional third-place match last weekend after losing to him in the quarterfinals.
“It’s starting to become a thing,” Whitney said with a laugh about his revenge matches. “I just switched my mindset. It went from that first match, I was just focused on I’m the better wrestler, I’m gonna to win this, I’m gonna win this, and then as the day went on I realized it’s about scoring points. So, if I can just go and attack and attack and attack, it’s gonna happen.”
He made it happen with a second-period takedown of Weaver that proved the difference in a 3-2 victory to advance to the third-place match.
Whitney-Kosko Part III was the third-place match, and Whitney took control with a first-period takedown.
“It’s just relentless offense. Staying on my feet,” said Whitney, who finished his junior season 54-7. “That’s where I’m best. I’ve lost all these 1-0 matches from getting ridden out, so if I could stay on my feet I know I’m better than these guys on my feet and eventually it’s going to happen.”
Kosko (fourth in state) escaped before the end of the first period and added an escape in the second to cut the deficit to 3-2. Then, Whitney got his escape to start the third and only allowed a stall point to secure the 4-3 victory and a bronze medal.
It’s the Comets junior’s best finish at states, after he secured seventh as a freshman and eighth as a junior.
“I think it’s just a boost of confidence,” Whitney said. “As you get older, you see everybody progresses up and they become juniors and seniors and they start to really make things happen. You’re kind of the older guy now. You kind of take that mentality into everything. It just helps with your confidence.”
Great Nate
Schuman (third in state at 107 pounds) faced familiar opponents in his consolation semifinal and third-place matches. He had two pins and a technical fall over Montoursville’s Branden Eisenhour (fourth in state) in his career and a tech fall over Faith Christian’s Riley Crandall (seventh in state) entering Saturday.
“It could get interesting sometimes,” Schuman said. “As you know each other more and you get to know how each other wrestles more, the matches definitely get closer and they tend to tighten up.”
In the consolation semifinal, Schuman secured a first-period takedown and an escape in the second period for a four-point lead. Eisenhour cut the deficit to two when he opened the third with a reversal. However, Schuman countered with a reversal and secured a 6-3 victory.
“In that first match, I wasn’t scoring a crazy amount of points, but up until I pinned him last week in the regional final it was also a close match,” Schuman said. “So, I just wrestled a smart match there and stayed within myself. You don’t need to force it. It’s OK to wrestle a close match and just be smart with it and wrestle a clean match.”
The Honesdale sophomore rolled in the third-place match, taking down Crandall six times and adding an escape and four back points for the 23-5 tech fall.
“Especially in that third-place match, to be able to go and put up points like I did the last time I wrestled him and just dominate that match it feels amazing,” Schuman said.
Schuman bounced back from an 11-6 semifinal loss to Trinity’s Arav Pandey (second in state, 12th in nation according to FloWrestling) on Friday.
“The goal coming into this tournament was to win the whole thing, and I hit a little speedbump there in the semis,” said Schuman, who went 51-2 this season. “It’s just hard coming off a loss like that to rebound. You can get down on yourself, but you’ve just got to stay within yourself and (say) all right that match is over. Let it sting for a little bit, but then you’ve got to move on to the next one.”
Sheer force
Sheer (fifth in state at 235 pounds) capped an incredible freshman season with two dominant victories Saturday.
“It feels really good,” Sheer said. “I’m really grateful that I could even get here and even wrestle. I’m really happy. And third place is really amazing.”
First, she got revenge against Bedford’s Mylah Steinbuch (third in state) in the consolation semifinals. After losing by pin in the Central Regional final last weekend, Sheer pinned Steinbuch in the second period. Steinbuch got the first takedown, but Sheer responded with a reversal. Sheer chose top to start the second period and went to work for one minute and 30 seconds before locking in the pin.
The Hazleton Area freshman secured a seven-point move against Albert Gallatin’s Jenna Chapman (sixth in state) in the first period, and once again dominated on top in the second period, needing just 29 seconds to secure the pin.
“I was just trying to control her, keep her on bottom and I tried to get the power half and I kept getting my hips up,” Sheer said. So, I tried a little bit to get my hips around and I got the power half.”
District 2’s other medalists
Hanover Area’s C.J. Caines (127 in Class 2A) lost his consolation semifinal match, but rebounded with a win in the fifth-place match.
Hazleton Area’s Jake Benyo (121 in Class 3A) lost his consolation semifinal and fifth-place matches to finish sixth.
In the girls tournament, Delaware Valley’s Kate Prior (170) lost her consolation semifinal and fifth-place matches to place sixth, and Lackawanna Trail’s Cidney Schaffer (100) and Honesdale’s Saige Olver (124) lost their seventh-place matches to finish eighth.
West Scranton’s Tommy Schechterly, Hazleton Area’s Gabe Benyo and Abington Heights’ Hayden Manning were scheduled to wrestle their finals matches Saturday night.
Class 3A
Third place
133: Mason Whitney (Abington Heights) dec. Caleb Kosko (Nazareth Area), 4-3.
Fifth place
121: Abramm Schaffer (Wilson) dec. Jake Benyo (Hazleton Area), 7-4.
Consolation semifinals
121: Dominick Morrison (Hatboro-Horsham) dec. Jake Benyo (Hazleton Area), 5-0.
133: Mason Whitney (Abington Heights) dec. Braiden Weaver (Altoona), 3-2.
Semifinals
114: Gabe Benyo (Hazleton Area) dec. Cael Muller (Notre Dame – GP), 4-2.
160: Tommy Schechterly (West Scranton) maj. dec. Jon Smith (Oxford Area), 10-1.
Consolation fourth round
121: Jake Benyo (Hazleton Area) dec. Teagan Caciolo (Emmaus), 4-2.
133: Mason Whitney (Abington Heights) tech fall Sean Murray (Upper Perkiomen), 16-1 3:19.
Quarterfinals
114: Gabe Benyo (Hazleton Area) dec. Dom Powell (Upper Dublin), 8-7.
121: Mateo Gallegos (DuBois) dec. Jake Benyo (Hazleton Area), 7-2.
160: Tommy Schechterly (West Scranton) dec. Cole Gibbons (Mt. Lebanon), 2-1.
Consolation third round
121: Jake Benyo (Hazleton Area) dec. Tommy Oswald (Lower Dauphin), 9-2.
133: Mason Whitney (Abington Heights) maj. dec. Shane Young (North Penn), 9-1.
215: Connor Smalley (Notre Dame – GP) maj. dec. Brody Spindler (Pittston Area), 18-4.
Consolation second round
133: Mason Whitney (Abington Heights) maj. dec. Matthew Sommer (Northampton Area), 10-0.
145: Eric Orpin (Northeastern) dec. Micah Engelman (Crestwood), 9-5.
215: Brody Spindler (Pittston Area) pinned Kaleb Dumin (Boyertown), 2:12.
Class 2A
Third place
107: Nathan Schuman (Honesdale) tech fall Riley Crandall (Faith Christian), 23-5 4:18.
Fifth place
127: C.J. Caines (Hanover Area) tech fall Cameron Baker (Burrell), 17-2 3:16.
Consolation semifinals
107: Nathan Schuman (Honesdale) dec. Branden Eisenhour (Montoursville), 6-3.
127: Logan Stewart (Reynolds) dec. C.J. Caines (Hanover Area), 8-4.
Semifinals
107: Arav Pandey (Trinity) dec. Nathan Schuman (Honesdale), 11-6.
Consolation fourth round
127: C.J. Caines (Hanover Area) dec. Zane Crouse (Bishop McDevitt), 4-2.
Girls
Third place
235: Evelyn Sheer (Hazleton Area) pinned Jenna Chapman (Albert Gallatin), 1:29.
Fifth place
170: Finley Boetsch (Shikellamy) pinned Kate Prior (Delaware Valley), 2:45.
Seventh place
100: Cambria Leshko (Southern Lehigh) pinned Cidney Schaffer (Lackawanna Trail), 0:52.
124: Chloe Zacherl (McDowell) dec. Saige Olver (Honesdale-G), 4-1.
Consolation semifinals
170: Fallon Jackson (Gettysburg) pinned Kate Prior (Delaware Valley), 4:37.
235: Evelyn Sheer (Hazleton Area-G) F Mylah Steinbuch (Bedford-G), 2:30
Semifinals
155: Hayden Manning (Abington Heights) maj. dec. Olivya Kroope (Emmaus), 9-0.
170: Bryce Snyder (Palisades) pinned Kate Prior (Delaware Valley), 4:37.
Consolation third round
100: Kristen Walzer (Montour) dec. Cidney Schaffer (Lackawanna Trail), 3-0 SV.
124: Mai Graham (Southern Lehigh) pinned Saige Olver (Honesdale), 2:19.
235: Evelyn Sheer (Hazleton Area) pinned Leah Nason (Athens), 1:54.