Wilson’s Jurado gets 100th career win during PIAA Wrestling Championships

HERSHEY >> He had plenty of examples to observe early on.

During his freshman season, Dominic Jurado saw three Wilson teammates — Brandon Connor, Kolby Eidle and Anthony Steinmeyer — reach the 100-win mark for their high school careers. It inspired the Bulldogs senior to follow suit, which he ultimately did this year.

Jurado got his 100th victory in the first round of the PIAA Wrestling Championships Thursday at Giant Center. His 13-0 decision of Central Mountain’s Taylor Weaver at 138 enabled him to join his former teammates and approximately a dozen other Wilson mat alumni who have triple-digit wins.

“It’s a lot harder,” he said of getting the milestone victory at the state tournament, where the level of competition is astronomic. “But I wasn’t thinking about 100. I wanted to win, and clear my mind.”

Jurado (100-34) used the experience of seeing his older teammates get their “hundreds” to sustain him during a less-than-memorable freshman season, where he went 12-14 while working back from knee surgery the previous year. He was 30-11 as a sophomore, qualifying for the Class 3A South Central Regional in the process, and scored a fourth-place regional medal during his 22-4 junior year.

“My freshman year, I thought maybe I’d break the record,” Jurado said. “But it wasn’t a good year.”

“He had a slow start his freshman year, with the knee surgery,” Wilson coach Jason Gibble said. “But he came out in 10th grade and had some good years.”

Jurado did most of his damage to Weaver in the second period, piling up takedowns and near falls. In the course of this 36-5 season, Jurado has been a master of the bonus points: 12 tech falls, eight pins and four major decisions.

“He’s very good on top,” Gibble said. “Aggressive, solid on his feet … good all-around.”

Jurado heads Wilson’s three-man state contingent. He’s joined by sophomore James Garcia, who went 1-1 at 113, and 10th-grader Ryan McMillan, who is competing at 215.

Dominic’s quarterfinal opponent will be Hempfield Area’s Briar Priest (36-2), the South West Regional champion, who scored a second-period pin on Nazareth’s Jake Doone.

Daniel Boone’s trio of wrestlers went a combined 4-1 in Class 3A Thursday. They all qualified for today’s action, with two of them — Dean Houser (106) and Tucker Hogan (172) — remaining in the championship chase.

J.T. Hogan, the only Blazer with previous state-level exposure, started out at 152 with a buzzer-beating, 5:52 pin of Sun Valley’s Anthony Gamble-Williams. But in a sudden-victory first-rounder, the senior ended up short or Altoona’s Luke Sipes 3-1.

“Dean and Tucker did what they needed to do,” Boone coach James Hogan said. “J.T. had a tough second match. But, overall, we wrestled well going into the second day.”

Tucker Hogan (41-1) is coming off a gold-medal performance at the South Central Regional two weeks ago. He had a technical fall on Kennett’s Darrale Barrett. He rung up a 16-0 lead by the 3:05 mark.

Houser (39-5) followed J.T. Hogan’s path by starting in the preliminary round. He beat Canon-McMillan’s Tanner Mizenko 7-0, then defeated St. Mary’s Aiden Beimel 3-1.

Making Houser’s performance even more remarkable was the fact he was feeling sick to his stomach prior to his second bout.

Today’s pairings will see Houser face Haverford High’s Cole McFarland (35-3) and Tucker Hogan go against Canon-McMillan’s Matt Furman (32-8). J.T. Hogan will take on the winner of the consolation between Abington Heights’ Sal Schiavone (34-10) and Council Rock South’s Bekhruz Sadriddinov (30-9).

Also in 3A, Exeter has one wrestler alive in the quarters (Johnny Miller at 189).

Miller (42-2) got started with a 9-0 major decision of Phoenixville’s Owen Koch. His first bout today will be against Mifflin County’s Trey Shoaemaker (37-4).

Exeter’s Nick Nettleton wrestled in a consolation match after press time Thursday.

In Class 2A’s opening session, Berks Catholic saw four wrestlers qualify for today’s action, two of them in championship quarterfinals.

Brayden Hartranft came out of preliminaries to post a pair of wins at 106. The freshman opened with a 5-2 decision of Franklin’s Cael Dailey, then followed with a 5-1 decision of Sullivan County’s Colton Wade.

Brody Kline needed to wrestle just once on opening day, but he made it count with a 5-3 decision of Girard’s Abraham Kemp.

The Saints also have Carmine Lenzi (138) and Gabriel Davis (172) alive in wrestlebacks. They both opened with victories in the prelims before falling in the first round.

Brandywine Heights’ Jacob Deysher went 1-1 Thursday at 120. The junior went sudden-victory to prevail over Montoursville’s David Kennedy, 9-7, but then was edged by Brookville’s Cole Householder.

Hamburg’s Charles Sheppard broke even at 285. He scored a 5:31 fall on Burgettstown’s Joey Baronick, 5:31, but was dropped into the consis by a first-period pin from Corry Area’s Xavier Reyda.

Wyomissing’s Caleb Brewer also went into consolation bracket at 285. The sophomore handled Meadowbrook Christian’s Gunner Treibley, 5-3 before being beaten by Tussey Mountain’s Matt Watkin 3-2.

Eliminated after losing twice Thursday were Brandywine’s Dillon Reinert at 126, Berks Catholic’s Marvin Armistead at 132 and Berks Catholic’s Mason Iswalt at 285.

Source: Berkshire mont