All that stood between Caleb Baker and his first Regional title was six seconds, unfortunately he needed seven. Trailing Central Mountain's Zach Corl by a single point with six seconds remaining in the championship bout, Caleb exploded from the bottom, stood up and rolled Corl to his back just as the final horn sounded. The call could have gone either way, but the officials ruled the clock had expired just before Baker established control. Final score: Corl 4 Baker 3.

Caleb wrestled an aggressive, smart match and had the 3rd ranked Corl on the ropes as the clock ticked down to the final seconds. In the first period the Lancer 285 pounder took Corl down and straight to his back, but was denied back points because Corl's shoulders landed out of bounds. The two wrestlers were tied 2-2 at the end of two periods, but Baker regained the lead with an escape in the third stanza. He held off the Central Mountain big man for most of the final period, but Corl got the clutch takedown at the out of bounds stripe with just 6 ticks left.

Baker won his quarterfinals bout by fall over Altoona's Braedon Luciano and followed with a solid 4-2 win over District 9 champ, Andre Buck of Clearfield to make the finals. Caleb may have had to settle for 2nd place this weekend, but he will head to Hershey with a burning desire to make some noise at the state tournament.

Tim Wheeling took 3rd place for the second consecutive year and did it the hard way. After beating Clearfield's Shane Peters 8-1, Tim lost a major decision to eventual champ, 3rd ranked, Tom Traxler of Bellefonte in the quarterfinals. The determined Lancer 112 pounder, then rattled off four straight wins. Two of those wins came against opponents who had beaten Wheeling earlier in the season.

In the consy semis, Wheeling posted a one sided 7-2 win over Trevor Graham of Franklin. Graham had beaten Wheeling, 4-3 just a week ago in the District 10 finals. He followed that amazing feat by posting a surprisingly easy 5-1 decision over TJ Stanton of DuBois who had beaten Tim 3-1 in the Tool City finals in January.

Senior 160 pounder, Dalton Lester came up just one win short of making the PIAA championships. Dalton lost his first and last bouts of the tournament to Central Mountain's Tyler Buckwalter. After his opening round loss, Lester posted three straight wins, one of them over Titusville's Dylan Huffman who had beaten him a week earlier in the District 10 semis. Dalton finished the tournament with another loss to Buckwalter in the consy finals.

189 pounder, Doug Myers went 2-2, posting wins in the opening round and in the first consolation round. Tom Nuhfer went 1-2 at 171 pounds. He posted a 9-5 opening round win over District 9 runner up Logan Shadeck, but then suffered back to back losses to eventual champ, Jermaine Easter of Prep and Titusville 3rd placer, Jake Burnside. Junior, Kyle Kuntz went 0-2 at 103 pounds in his first trip to the Regional tournament.

News and Notes:

8th ranked Caleb Baker wrestled very well in Altoona and certainly opened some eyes by nearly beating 3rd ranked Zach Corl of Central Mountain. Caleb also added another pin to run his season total to 23 and career total to 48. Caleb could very well be on his way to setting a new standard for "career falls."

Tim Wheeling showed what a wrestler can accomplish with enough focus and determination. Many wrestlers would have folded up when faced with the challenge of wrestling two opponents who had already beaten them during the season. But that challenge just seemed to ignite Wheeling, who buzzed right through both wrestlers. Tim also became the first McLane wrestler to qualify for the state tournament back to back years as a freshman and sophomore.

Senior, Dalton Lester finished the season with a team leading 38 wins and also set a new record for most reversals in a single season. Dalton's 38 wins also tied him for 9th place on the "Season Wins" list with Branden Stearns and Jake Keene. Congrats to Dalton for a great year.

Good luck to all of the GM senior wrestlers. It's been a pleasure watching you.

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Team Scores at NW AAA Regionals:
1. 193.5 Central Mountain, 2. 95.0 Cathederal Prep, 3. 79.0 Clearfield, 4. 78.0 Corry, 5. 69.0 Meadville, 6. 68.0 Bellefonte, 7. 56.5 Lewistown, 8. 52.5 McDowell, 9. 50.5 State College, 10. 48.0 General McLane, 11. 47.5 Bradford, 12. 42.5 Altoona, 13. 38.5 Bald Eagle Area, 14. 38.0 Warren, 15. 37.0 Punxsy, 16. 34.0 DuBois, 17. 28.0 St Marys, 18. 19.0 Franklin, 19. 15.0 Hollidaysburg, 20. 14.5 Johnstown, 21. 14.0 Indian Valley, 22. 13.0 Brashear, 23. 12.0 Strong Vincent, 24. 11.0 Titusville, 25. 10.0 Philipsburg-Osceola, 26. 9.0 Conneaut Lake, 27. 7.0 Central, 28. 6.0 Peabody, 29. 4.0 Carrick, 29. 4.0 Schenley, 31. 3.0 Oliver, 31. 3.0 Perry, 33. 1.0 Allderdice,
34. 0.0 Langley, 34. 0.0 Westinghouse

Consolation Finals
(Top Three Placewinners advance to PIAA State Championships)
103: Nick Bogacki, DuBois, dec. Paul Deitz, McDowell, 6-4.
112: Tim Wheeling, General McLane, dec. T. J. Stanton, Dubois, 5-1.
119: Kaleb Loht, Indian Valley, dec. John Agnello, Cathedral Prep, 6-3.
125: Nolan Barger, Clearfield, dec. Dan Yori, Cathedral Prep, 5-3.
130: Kasey Davis, Meadville, dec. Kody Young, Punxsutawney, 3-1 OT
135: Adam Powers, State College, dec. Zach Britton, Bradford, 7-6.
140: Tyler Parsons, Cathedral Prep, dec. Nick Limano, Meadville. 11-4.
145: Curtis Delattre, Warren, dec. Garrett Chase, Cathedral Prep, 3-2.
152: Damian Lascoli, Hollidaysburg, dec. Coleman Hoffman, Bald Eagle Area.
160: Tyler Buckwalter, Central Mountain, dec. Dalton Lester, General McLane, 5-0.
171: Jake Burnside, Titusville, dec. Dustin Taubert, Corry, 2-1 OT
189: Tyson Searer, Lewistown, major dec. Cliff Hill, Clearfield, 13-3.
215: Cody Dolan, Central Mountain, pinned Aaron Bell, Strong Vincent, 1:25.
285: Andre Buck, Clearfield, dec.Logan Thompson, Cathedral Prep, 3-2 OT

Championship Finals
103: Christian Stone, Clearfield, dec. T. J. Brandt, Altoona, 4-2.
112: Tom Traxler, Bellefonte, major dec. Seth Spack, Punxsutawney, 14-1.
119: Shelton Mack, Meadville, dec. Austin Gillihan, Corry, 7-4.
125: Mitchell Port, Bellefonte, pinned Amani Bosko, Warren, 3:37.
130: Steve Spearman, McDowell, dec. Erik Galloway, State College, 9-3.
135: Jordan Rich, Central Mountain, major dec. Jake Schultz, Lewistown, 8-0.
140: Brian Brill, Central Mountain, dec. Scott Bosak, State College, 5-1.
145: Andrew Alton, Central Mountain, won by technical fall over Jake Kondrlik, Corry, 23-8, 3:27.
152: Dylan Alton, Central Mountain, won by technical fall over Zach Towers, Meadville, 22-7, 5:30.
160: Mark Havers, Bradford, dec. Colton Spade, Lewistown, 3-2.
171: Jermaine Easter, Cathedral Prep, dec. Dylan Caprio, Central Mountain, 8-6.
189: Michael Pollard, Corry, major dec. Kevin Walters, Altoona, 13-1.
215: Sean Sadosky, St. Marys, dec. Jon Gingrich, Bald Eagle Area, 3-2.
285: Zach Corl, Central Mountain, dec. Caleb Baker, General McLane, 4-3.

3/7/10