Daniel Boone found a great way to soothe the disappointment it felt at the end of the wrestling dual meet season.
After missing out on a spot in the BCIAA Team Tournament on a tiebreaker, the Blazers bounced back by capturing their first sectional team title Saturday at Gov. Mifflin.
Daniel Boone had four champions, highlighted by Outstanding Wrestler Tucker Hogan, to capture the championship of the District 3 Class 3A Section 1 Tournament.
“This kind of eases the pain a little bit,” said Daniel Boone coach Jim Hogan. “We knew that we were going to be a better tournament team than we were a dual meet team. They showed it today. It all came together at the right time.”
Dean Houser, Gavin Richard and J.T. Hogan also won titles for the Blazers, who scored 167 points to edge runner-up Conestoga Valley, which scored 159.5 points.
In all, 10 Berks wrestlers won sectional titles to lead 26 county wrestlers who placed in the top four of their weight classes to advance to the District 3 Class 3A Championships Friday and Saturday at Spring Grove.
“It shows that we have a lot of tough guys,” said J.T. Hogan, who won his third title. “Even if we can’t fill a team we have guys who can compete with anybody.”
Nobody could compete with sophomore Tucker Hogan, J.T.’s younger brother and the coach’s son.
Tucker Hogan scored three first-period falls at 172, the last one in the finals against Gov. Mifflin’s Jeff Lang, to win his second straight title and run his record to 35-1.
“The guys came together today and just had an awesome tournament,” said Jim Hogan. “They all wrestled great.”
Also winning titles were Wilson’s James Garcia, Dominic Jurado and Ryan McMillan, Twin Valley’s Jacob Grzybek and Exeter’s Nick Nettleton and Johnny Miller.
J.T. Hogan had the toughest time. After scoring a pair of falls at 152, he needed overtime to earn a 6-4 decision that handed Lebanon’s Griffin Gonzalez just his second loss of the season.
Houser won his title at 106 with a first-period fall over Oley Valley’s Chase Parisan in one of four all-Berks championship matches.
Richard, a senior who won a sectional title in 2019, earned a 4-1 decision over Conestoga Valley’s Luke Morley at 120.
Brett Marchiano placed second at 138 for the Blazers. Wilson’s Dominic Jurado scored an 11-2 major decision over Marchiano to boost his career wins total to 96.
“I’m hoping to get my 100th win it at states if I place in districts,” said Jurado, who would have qualified for the PIAA Tournament last year if not for COVID-19 restrictions. “I felt pretty good but I didn’t wrestle my best today. I’m going to make adjustments for next week at districts.”
J.T. Hogan, Nettleton and Miller already have reached the 100-win milestone this season but are still looking to reach bigger goals in the next couple of weeks.
Nettleton won this third straight title with a 10-3 decision over Cocalico’s Jonathan Rathman at 160.
Nettleton and Miller achieved their 100th wins on the same day at home at the Exeter Duals in January.
“It was a pretty big moment in front of all my friends and family,” Nettleton said. “It was cool.”
Miller, who placed second last year, rebounded to earn his second sectional title by pinning Ephrata’s James Ellis at 189.
“It’s been a super exciting season so far,” Miller said. “I’ve just got to keep it rolling.”
Garcia and McMillan kept their seasons going with big wins in the finals.
Garcia defeated Conestoga Valley’s Trent Ruble 8-0 to win the title at 113 after capturing last year’s 106-pound crown.
McMillan scored a takedown with seven seconds left to earn a 3-1 decision over Twin Valley’s Ean Winchster at 215. Winchester, who entered the bout 33-1, had defeated McMillian in the BCIAA Individual Tournament in January.
Grzybek earned a title for Twin Valley by scoring a fall over Octorara’s Tyler Walters at 126.
Source: Berkshire mont
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