HERSHEY - Shamokin Area's Wes Tillett will try to become the Indians' next state champion today in the PIAA Class AA state finals, after winning two bouts Friday.
Tillett downed Beth-Center's Jeff Tarley 3-2 in a 285-pound semifinal after taking a 6-4 win in the quarterfinals earlier.
Tillett (34-5) is Shamokin's first finalist since his head coach, Todd Hockenbroch, in the late 1990s. He will try to become the Indians' first state champion since Scott Kurtz in 1994 and the school's 19th state champion overall.
He'll have his work cut out for him. He'll wrestle defending champion John Rizzo (40-1) of Richland for the title.
Fellow senior Josh Lahr will wrestle for fifth place at 135 pounds after going 2-2 in a busy day of wrestling.
"Any one of us (Tillett, Lahr and another senior qualifier, Brandon Pesarchick) could have been in this (the finals)," said Tillett. "I'm going to try to win it for all of us. Those guys and I and Lee (Supsic) have all been wrestling together since we were little, going to tournaments all over the place."
"Wes did a great job," said Hockenbroch. "He did everything we wanted him to."
He had to adjust to contrasting body types in his two bouts. Tarley, a short, squat wrestler, was diametrically opposite to Evan Daley of Fort LeBoeuf, the wrestler he beat 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
"I could get my shots against Daley, but not so much against this guy (Tarley) because he was so small. But like I've said before, at heavyweight, if you get the first takedown, you're golden."
Tillett got that takedown, the only one, in the first period when Tarley went after him and Tillett countered nicely. He let the Beth-Center wrestler up to start the third period, then fought off underhooks the rest of the bout.
"I've worked with Coach Hockenbroch and Coach (Nathan) Rhoades and Coach (Bob) Ney on that so often. We knew he would start fast and then slow down."
Tillett got hit with a stalling point, but got the point back when Tarley rushed him and accidentally grabbed his headgear.
"To be honest, I didn't know I got hit with the stalling point; the crowd gets so loud you can't hear," Tillett said.
Lahr went 2-2 on a busy day which wore on him. He dropped a heartbreaker in his quarterfinal bout against Brandywine Heights' Pete Renda, 2-1. Renda had a reversal and Lahr an escape in the second period.
Renda rode Lahr the whole third period, locking the Shamokin senior's leg the whole time but not drawing a stalling warning until six seconds were left in the bout.
Lahr met and beat a familiar foe in his first consolation bout, beating Tri-Valley's Blake Bowman, 6-3 to earn a spot in the medal round.
Lahr then walked the tightrope against four-time placewinner Ronnie Garbinsky of Tyrone. Garbinsky held a 1-0 lead and was attempting to ride Lahr the same way Renda did in the final period. He was hit with a stalling warning, and Lahr finally got loose on a flurry for a reversal with 15 seconds left for a 2-1 win. Garbinsky will wrestle for seventh today.
Lahr then dropped a 3-1 decision in the consolation semifinals against Jeremy Landowski of Burrell, getting hit with a third-period takedown after again forcing the action most of the bout but getting a little frustrated.
"This tournment is rough," Lahr said, showing his scratched-up arms. "I'm all beat up. The kid was good."
Now Lahr (35-7) will get Renda again, this time in the match for fifth.
"I'll have to try to force the action a little more," Lahr said.