HERSHEY \u2014 West Scranton\u2019s Tommy Schechterly, Abington Heights\u2019 Hayden Manning and Hazleton Area\u2019s Gabe Benyo hoped to leave the Giant Center with gold medals draped around their necks.<\/p>\n
The District 2 wrestlers didn\u2019t claim the ultimate prize Saturday, but the underclassmen will have more opportunities to stand atop the podium at the PIAA Championships.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt feels great (to get silver),\u201d Schechterly said. \u201cRight now at the moment though I\u2019m pretty bummed. Of course you want to win. It always feels great to win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reaching the state final is an accomplishment in and of itself, especially since all three were at their first state tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt means that I have more to grow, but I\u2019m getting there,\u201d Manning said of the silver medal. \u201cI\u2019m doing well. It shows me I still have more to grow and I think that\u2019s really important.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the Class 3A 160-pound final, Schechterly faced Altoona\u2019s Gavin Ciampoli, who is ranked second in the state according to PA Power Wrestling. The West Scranton sophomore hoped to avenge a 5-2 loss he suffered to Ciampoli on Jan. 10.<\/p>\n
After a scoreless first period, Schechterly (fourth in state) chose bottom and fought off back points as Ciampoli went for the tilt. Then he got his escape for a one-point lead. However, Ciampoli answered with a takedown and two back points for a four-point lead. Schechterly got an escape to cut the deficit to three points, but Ciampoli put the match away in the third, securing an escape and a takedown for a 9-3 victory.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s definitely some things I think I could have done better and should have done better, but it was in the heat of the moment,\u201d Schechterly said. \u201cI had a couple mess-ups, but you learn from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schechterly is West Scranton\u2019s second state finalist, as the program\u2019s all-time wins leader Dave Morgan also earned a silver medal in 2004. He went 39-7 this season, and captured District 2 and Northeast Regional titles.<\/p>\n
Manning (sixth in state) faced not only the No. 1 wrestler in the state at 155 pounds, but also the top wrestler in the country in Chestnut Ridge\u2019s Violette Lasure.<\/p>\n
Lasure secured a takedown in the first period, a reversal and two back points in the second and a takedown and pin in the third for her third-straight state gold medal.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s tough. She\u2019s very strong,\u201d Manning said. \u201cI think it showed me what this next level is really about, this brute strength and toughness that these girls have and I think it\u2019s just preparing me to keep going and moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
Manning went 34-3 this season, and captured a District 2 title and Central Regional bronze. Her losses came to Lasure, Chestnut Ridge\u2019s Juliet Alt, now a two-time state champion; and Clearfield\u2019s Makayla Taylor, who placed seventh in the state at 155.<\/p>\n
Benyo (third in state) had a rematch with Northampton\u2019s Brayden Wenrich (first in state, 16th in nation according to FloWrestling). They faced off in the 114-pound Northeast Regional final last weekend, with Wenrich earning a 9-1 major decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust don\u2019t give up any stupid takedowns, and just wrestle smart and tough,\u201d Benyo said of his mindset entering the finals match.<\/p>\n
He did that, as the match went scoreless until their were 26 seconds left. That\u2019s when Benyo was called for a stall and Wenrich received a point, after he was given a stall warning in the first period. That was the difference, as Wenrich prevailed, 1-0.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I wrestled good, and I\u2019m definitely happy,\u201d Benyo said. \u201cIt was an awesome experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Benyo went 42-5 this season, and captured a District 2 title and Northeast Regional silver.<\/p>\n
Finals<\/p>\n
Class 3A 160: Gavin Ciampoli (Altoona) dec. Tommy Schechterly (West Scranton), 9-3.<\/p>\n
Class 2A 114: Brayden Wenrich (Northampton Area) dec. Gabe Benyo (Hazleton Area), 1-0.<\/p>\n
Girls 155: Violette Lasure (Chestnut Ridge) pinned Hayden Manning (Abington Heights), 4:48.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HERSHEY \u2014 West Scranton\u2019s Tommy Schechterly, Abington Heights\u2019 Hayden Manning and Hazleton Area\u2019s Gabe Benyo hoped to leave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":132577,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[305,178,180,179,726],"class_list":["post-132576","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\/132576","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=132576"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132576\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/132577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}