2019 PIAA Individual State Wrestling Championship

Day 2 Wrap From Hershey

Day 2 Wrap From Hershey

A recap from the second day of the 2019 PIAA State Wrestling Championships

Mar 9, 2019 by Willie Saylor
Day 2 Wrap From Hershey

The second day of the PIAA State Tournament is always the most pivotal. Yes, titles will be decided tomorrow, but the glory of becoming a medalist (and the anguish of not) is felt on Friday which includes quarterfinals for both devisions and semi's for AA.

If you happened to miss the live action, Flo has you covered here with brackets, match videos, and below - the best stuff of the day.

Here are the Top 10 things that happened on Friday.


WATCH PIAA FINALS LIVE ON SATURDAY


10) So Many Questions At 138 AAA

A very underrated Senior from Souderton, Tyler Williams came in ranked #3 in the state. In Round 1, Tyler Linsenbigler beat the returning state champ (Jeff Boyd). But Williams skunked Linsenbigler 10-0 in quarters. He'll have 2-time Georgia State Champion Julian Farber (Nazareth) in the semi's.

In the bottom half, the state's #1 ranked Ed Scott (Dubois) needed a late reversal to advance. He'll have Northampton's Devin Britton, who dealt with an injury most of the season and defaulted to Farber the last two weeks of qualifying. 

It all makes for one of the most intriguing set of semi's in Hershey.


9) Chase Shields Makes Third Straight Final

Bishop McDevitt's 2x Runner-Up is back in the finals again. That's good news. Even better news is that Jaret Lane, who beat him in the finals both times, is graduated. Shields is a senior and (to my knowledge) has not committed to any college. He'll face returning runner-up and FloNats Champ Brock McMillen on Saturday.

*Update: Bishop McDevitt Asst. Coach tells me Shields is committed to Drexel. Great pickup for the Dragons!


8) Southern Columbia On Verge Of Team Title

The football power came up just short of the State Dual title, losing in the finals to Reynolds a month ago. But with some key moments on Friday, it looks like they should edge those same Raiders and St. Joe's to win the title this weekend. They lead AA with 6 individual medalists and by 20.5pts over second place St. Joe's.


7) 145 AA Top Half

We told you that the top half bracket at 145 in AA was one of the best groupings of any state bracket in the nation this year. So here's the update. Notre Dame's Andrew Cerniglia, who was 4th as a Freshman for Nazareth in AAA two years ago, carved his way through it. And he did it without surrendering a point while beating Gavin Garcia and returning finalist Caleb Dowling. 


6) Returning State Runner-Up Wins See-Saw Battle

Norwin's Kurt Phipps and Stroudsburg's Cam Enriquez gave us an entertaining bout between two high-level guys. Phipps won 6-5 on a late reversal and rideout. In December, Enriquez beat returning state champ Ryan Sullivan at Powerade to reach the finals where he lost to Phipps by a score of...you guessed it...6-5.


5) Jackson Arrington Rallies Against State's #1

Forest Hills Freshman Jackson Arrignton trailed by four in the 3rd before knocking off the #1 ranked wrestler in 113 AA. Arrington is ranked #64 on the Freshmen Big Board


4) Our (195) Pets' Heads Are Falling Off!

Within moments of each other, Jameel Coles beat #4-Cole Urbas and Donovon Ball beat #9-Max Shaw. Those are NATIONAL rankings, people. Urbas and Shaw were 2nd and 3rd in the state, respectively, last year.


3) The AAA Team Race

I don't know that I've ever seen a team race that still involved so many schools going into the last day. It's the same group from team states, and no one has taken control. Nazareth leads 51-48 over Erie Prep, but BECA (47.5), Northampton (42.5) and Council Rock South (40) are all within the window. The huge swing match was Prep's Paniro Johnson taking out Jagger Condomitti, which was part of a 4-for-4 quarterfinal round for them. 


2) All The Last Second Wins In the Blood Round

So you've always dreamed of being a state champ. You had your dreams crushed earlier. Now you have to wrestle in the Blood Round to guarantee a medal. But you're trailing late. Time to get some heart. Like this, or this.


1) Hillegas and Chlebove Both Won

Not that we were exactly cheering for anyone. But the most anticipated match of the entire state championships (which will be a semifinal) WILL happen. Both Hillegas and Chlebove won their quarterfinal and will meet in a battle of two-time state champions at 9AM ET Saturday.