Expand<\/a><\/p>\nHERSHEY \u2014 West Scranton\u2019s Tommy Schechterly and Hazleton Area\u2019s Jake and Gabe Benyo had their eyes on the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
The sophomore wrestlers all achieved that goal in different ways.<\/p>\n
For Schechterly, it was about getting that first takedown and securing early control of the match.<\/p>\n
For Jake Benyo, it was about getting in position to build the lead with tilts.<\/p>\n
For Gabe Benyo, it was about doing just enough to stay in the hunt for gold.<\/p>\n
The three District 2 wrestlers will compete for a spot in the PIAA Class 2A semifinals after first-round victories Thursday night at the Giant Center in Hershey.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt a little off on my feet probably because of the weight cut, but I still felt really good on top, which is my best position,\u201d Jake Benyo said. \u201cSo, overall I think I felt pretty good, and hopefully I could do the same thing in the quarters tomorrow and then carry it on to the semis.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coming off a Northeast Regional title last weekend, Schechterly didn\u2019t waste much time taking control of his 160-pound first-round match, securing a takedown 44 seconds in against Boyertown\u2019s J.D. Heiser.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t want to be going through the second and third period worried about anything,\u201d said Schechterly, who is ranked fourth in the state according to PA Power Wrestling. \u201cI just wanted to get in there and score, so I didn\u2019t have to do it later on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schechterly chose down to start the second period, got his escape and secured another takedown.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe second takedown definitely stopped the match, stopped his offense, and I started to get a little more attack,\u201d Schechterly said.<\/p>\n
He took a 7-2 lead into the third, and rode out Heiser (20th in state) for all but 10 seconds of the final period.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt took a lot of thinking,\u201d Schechterly said. \u201cHe\u2019s ready on bottom with the legs, he\u2019s ready to catch you. So, it was hard to ride him, but we got it over with.\u201d<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll face Mount Lebanon\u2019s Cole Gibbons (sixth in state) in the quarterfinals, which are scheduled for Friday at 2:15 p.m.<\/p>\n
After a scoreless first period, Jake Benyo compiled 11 points in the second against Council Rock South\u2019s Logan Worth (27th in state).<\/p>\n
The Hazleton Area sophomore (seventh in state) secured a takedown with 37 seconds left in the period, and then tacked on eight back points.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically every time I get a takedown, I always try to look for my tilts because the arms are normally everywhere, so you could pretty much look for one,\u201d Jake Benyo said. \u201cAnd if I get the tilt locked up, it\u2019s pretty much over. I\u2019m really good at tilts.\u201d<\/p>\n
He chose top in the third period, and tacked on one more tilt to secure the 15-0 technical fall.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll face DuBois\u2019 Mateo Gallegos (first in state) in the 121 quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
Gabe Benyo (third in state) wasn\u2019t happy with the way he wrestled Thursday, but still secured his spot in the 114 quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
The Cougars sophomore turned Penn-Trafford\u2019s Dylan Barrett (12th in state) in the second period for two back points.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty good on top, so I got a nice two in,\u201d Gabe Benyo said.<\/p>\n
Barrett got an escape in the second, but Gabe Benyo tacked on an escape in the third for a 3-1 advantage. Then, Gabe Benyo thwarted every shot, only allowing a stall point for a 3-2 victory.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll face Upper Dublin\u2019s Dom Powell (fourth in state) in the quarterfinals.<\/p>\n
\u201c(I\u2019ll) just try to get some fluids in me and feel better from the weight cut,\u201d Gabe Benyo said.<\/p>\n
Others from District 2<\/p>\n
Abington Heights\u2019 Mason Whitney (133), Crestwood\u2019s Micah Engelman (145) and Pittston Area\u2019s Brody Spindler (215) lost their openers, but won in the consolation first round.<\/p>\n
Whitney (third in state) rolled to an 18-2 tech fall over Hempfield\u2019s Brady Deck (30th in state). He\u2019ll face Northampton\u2019s Matthew Sommer (21st in state) in Friday\u2019s consolation second round.<\/p>\n
Engelman (16th in state) got a late escape against Souderton\u2019s Dominic Ramos (ninth in state) for a 5-4 win. He\u2019ll face Northeastern\u2019s Eric Orpin (14th in state) in the consolation second round.<\/p>\n
Spindler (11th in state) secured takedowns in the second and third periods to earn a 7-2 decision over Stroudsburg\u2019s Zion Essington (19th in state). He\u2019ll face Boyertown\u2019s Kaleb Dumin (13th in state) in the consolation second round.<\/p>\n
Abington Heights\u2019 Brady Full (127) and Wallenpaupack\u2019s Gabe Caufield (172) each lost two matches and were eliminated from the tournament.<\/p>\n
First round<\/p>\n
114: Gabe Benyo (Hazleton Area) dec. Dylan Barrett (Penn-Trafford), 3-2.<\/p>\n
121: Jake Benyo (Hazleton Area) tech fall Logan Worth (Council Rock South), 15-0 4:44.<\/p>\n
127: Dom Canali (Trinity) dec. Brady Full (Abington Heights), 4-0.<\/p>\n
133: Braiden Weaver (Altoona) dec. Mason Whitney (Abington Heights), 1-0.<\/p>\n
160: Tommy Schechterly (West Scranton) dec. J.D. Heiser (Boyertown), 7-3.<\/p>\n
215: Sawyer Ermigiotti (Pennridge) maj. dec. Brody Spindler (Pittston Area), 13-4.<\/p>\n
Consolation first round<\/p>\n
127: Deklan Barr (Altoona) dec. Brady Full (Abington Heights), 2-1.<\/p>\n
133: Mason Whitney (Abington Heights) tech fall Brady Deck (Hempfield), 18-2 3:59.<\/p>\n
145: Micah Engelman (Crestwood) dec. Dominic Ramos (Souderton), 5-4.<\/p>\n
172: Xayden Sallit (Emmaus) dec. Gabriel Caufield (Wallenpaupack), 2-1.<\/p>\n
215: Brody Spindler (Pittston Area) dec. Zion Essington (Stroudsburg), 7-2.<\/p>\n
Preliminaries<\/p>\n
145: Aidan Finnigan (Canon-McMillan) dec. Micah Engelman (Crestwood), 1-0.<\/p>\n
172: Brady Allessie (Donegal) dec. Gabriel Caufield (Wallenpaupack), 6-0.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hazleton Area\u2019s Jake Benyo, top, wrestles Council Rock South\u2019s Logan Worth in the 121-pound first round Thursday during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":130933,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-130932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-high-school-sports","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=130932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=130932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=130932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=130932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Hazleton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/STT-L-3AMATS-01.jpg\"\/)
<\/p>\n![\"Hazleton](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/STT-L-3AMATS-01_af3e3b.jpg?w=620\")
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