Seven Lebanon County wrestlers traveled to Bethlehem to take part in the PIAA 2A Southeast Regional Championships, hosted by Freedom High School. Of those wrestlers, six were from Northern Lebanon and one was representing Annville-Cleona. After the first night of wrestling, all seven were still alive moving into the Saturday. However, five of them had incurred one loss in what is essentially a double-elimination tournament.
At this event, the top six finishers in each weight class move onto compete in the PIAA State Championship Tournament, slated to be held at Hershey’s Giant Center beginning next Thursday. Following last night’s matches, it was guaranteed that Aaron Seidel (107#) and Sam Wolford (114#), both of Northern Lebanon, were going to move onto States. It was just a matter of where they would place, which will affect their seeding when they reach Hershey next weekend.
For Seidel, he made quick work of his semifinals opponent and then defeated his opponent from Trinity for the second straight week, this time by a 15-0 Tech Fall. The sophomore Seidel is now 44-0 on the season and will go to the Giant Center in search of his second State Championship.
The freshman Wolford did not fare as well in his semifinal match, as he was matched up against Notre Dame’s Ayden Smith, a two-time State medalist and current District 11 champion. After losing to Smith, Wolford won his next match over his opponent from Conwell-Egan to advance to the 3rd place match. Facing an opponent from Saucon Valley, Wolford lost by way of a decision to finish 4th in the Southeast Region.
The other five wrestlers were not able to advance, despite having fantastic seasons that got them to this point.
Seidel and Wolford will join Lebanon’s Griffin Gonzalez and ELCO’s Ashton Kriss as the four representatives from Lebanon County who will wrestle at the PIAA State Championships. Gonzalez and Kriss qualified at last week’s AAA South Central Regional Championship.
Full Results
Day 1 results are in black. Day 2 results are in green
Aaron Seidel (107#) – Northern Lebanon, Sophomore
1st Round – Bye
2nd Round – Earned a pin in defeating C. Smith of Berks Catholic. Match length 3:20.
Semifinals – Defeated Conwell-Egan’s J. Spofford by pin. Match length 2:22.
1st place Match – Defeated Trinity’s Will Detar by Tech Fall (15-0).
Seidel wins Southeast Region Championship for second straight year.
Sam Wolford (114#) – Northern Lebanon, Freshman
1st Round – Defeated Wilson’s G. Dibiagio by Tech Fall (15-0)
2nd Round – Defeated Pope John Paul II’s B. Pires by Tech Fall (15-0)
Semifinals – Lost to Notre Dame’s A. Smith, last year’s State bronze medalist who went on to win this year’s Regional Tournament. This match ended by pin at the 2:42 mark.
Consolation Semis – Defeated Conwell-Egan’s K. Bagnell in an 8-5 decision.
3rd place match – Lost to Saucon Valley’s C. Hubert in an 8-5 decision. Hubert finished 4th in PA last year.
Wolford finished 4th in the Regional Championships.
Owen Lehman (127#) – Northern Lebanon, Senior
1st Round – Defeated by Conwell-Egan’s S. Harris via pin at 3:37.
Consolation 1 – Earned win via pin over Middletown’s J. Tlumach. Match length 1:46.
Consolation 2 – Lost to H. Yacoviello-Andrus of Bermudian Springs, the District 3 silver medalist, through a pin at the 3:57 mark.
Conor Leonard (152#) – Northern Lebanon, Senior
1st Round – Lost a major decision to Notre Dame’s K. Ramsay.
Consolation 1 – Won a major decision over Columbia’s O. Brady.
Consolation 2 – Lost a 2-0 decision to Conwell-Egan’s H. Mann, this year’s District 12 silver medalist.
Phoenix Music (160#) – Annville-Cleona, Senior
1st Round – Lost a major decision to Notre Dame’s J. Lapenna.
Consolation 1 – Bye
Consolation 2 – Lost to North Schuylkill’s R. Halford by way of a pin at the 2:56 mark.
Clayton Erb (189#) – Northern Lebanon, Senior
1st Round – L. Miller of Northwestern earned a win by way of a 3-1 decision.
Consolation 1 – Pinned Conwell-Egan’s J. Bentley in 1:19.
Consolation 2 – Lost to Faith Christian’s J. Singer, the freshman District 1 champion, by a 4-1 decision.
Hayden Adams (285#) – Northern Lebanon, Sophomore
1st Round – Salisbury’s M. Miller won via a pin at the 3:39 mark.
Consolation 1 – It only took :25 to pin Church Farm’s D. Bower-Prophet.
Consolation 2 – Lost by way of a 3-0 decision to Middletown’s J. Gassert.
Results of last weeks AAA Regional Tournament can be found here.
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