Southeast Region wrestling info

Here are some helpful links, courtesy of Road to Hershey, to prepare you for this weekend's PIAA Class AA Southeast Region wrestling tournament at Wilson High School in suburban Reading.

Remember, the top five placewinners advance to next weekend's PIAA Championships.

Southeast Region timeline

Southeast Region brackets (as of Thursday night)

District 3 Wrestling: Coaches earn honors

Boiling Springs coach Rodney Wright has been named the District 3 Class AA Coach of the Year.

Wright guided the Bubblers to an 11-2 record and the Mid-Penn Capital Division championship. The Bubblers were seeded fourth for the 3-AA Team Championships and ended up winning the title. Boiling Springs avenged regular-season losses to Bermudian Springs and Biglerville in the semifinals and finals, respectively.

The Bubblers went 2-2 at the PIAA Team Championships with wins over Muncy and perennial state power Reynolds.

Cumberland Valley head coach Daved Heckard was inducted into the District 3 Wrestling Coaches Hall of Fame on Saturday night.

Heckard graduated from CV in 1996 and from Villanova University in 2000. Heckard, who won the 1996 189-pound Class AAA state title, also earned a masters degree in Education Administration from Penn State University.

Heckard was inducted as both a wrestler and coach.

Football: Yonchiuk to replace Gay?

Word out of the Lancaster-Lebanon League is that current Lebanon head football coach Gerry Yonchiuk is the pick at Red Land to replace Frank Gay, who resigned after eight years as head coach in January.

Jeff Reinhart, a former sports reporter with Lancaster Newspapers, broke the news on his blog Thursday.

We'll be speaking with Red Land brass Monday to try and confirm what is so far only a rumor.

District 3-AAA: State Qualifiers

The following nine area wrestlers have qualified for the PIAA Class AAA Championships, to be held March 11-13 at Giant Center in Hershey. The top three finishers in today's District 3 Class AAA/Southcentral Region tournament advance.

Big Spring: Greg Warner (second at 103), Dereck Enders (second at 119)

Carlisle: Jayshon Wilson (first at 145)

Cedar Cliff: Grant Dickey (third at 171)

Cumberland Valley: Jon Brigham (third at 119)

East Pennsboro: Zach Nye (first at 215)

Mechanicsburg: Rustin Barrick (third at 152), Zach Thomson (first at 160)

Northern: Zach Ross (third at 135)

District 3-AA: Regional Qualifiers

The following 11 area wrestlers have qualified for next weekend's PIAA Class AA Southeast Region at Wilson High School in West Lawn (tournament schedule). The top five finishers in today's District 3 Class AA tournament advance.

Boiling Springs: Joseph Byers (first at 103), Mark Lentz (first at 125), Roland Miller (fourth at 130), T.J. Nickel (fourth at 145), John Riddle (third at 160), Logan Murphy (third at 189), Tylor Unger (first at 285)

Susquenita: Harley Mabius (fourth at 140), Zach Howell (fourth at 215)

Trinity: Devon Bentley (fourth at 103), Adam Geiger (171, finals)

Camp Hill football finds its man

Special thanks go out this morning to Sentinel reporter Tom Ash, who broke the story of Camp Hill hiring former Red Land coach Frank Gay to lead its football team.

Gay resigned from Red Land after being the head coach for eight seasons. In that span, Red Land won its first district playoff game and captured the 2006 District 3 Class AAA title.

Our earlier post on Gay resigning from Red Land can be found here.

Gay will take over the Camp Hill program pending approval from the school board, which is scheduled to meet March 14.

Now that it looks like Camp Hill has filled its opening, the only area job that remains vacant is Red Land.

Cedar Cliff nearly had a vacancy when Jim Cantafio was named a finalist for the Hempfield job but was ultimately passed over. Hempfield determined neither Cantafio nor Mark Evans, the other finalist, were qualified for the job.

The coaching search at Hempfield continues.

District 3 Class AAA: Friday's list

The following is a list of where area wrestlers stand heading into the second day of the District 3 Class AAA/Southcentral Region tournament. The top three finishers qualify for the PIAA Championships, to be held March 11-13 at Giant Center in Hershey.

SEMIFINALS
Big Spring (4): Greg Warner (103), Dustin Rook (112), Dereck Enders (119), Chad Wickard (130)
Carlisle (1): Jayshon Wilson (145)
Cedar Cliff (1): Grant Dickey (171)
Cumberland Valley (2): Jon Brigham (119), T.C. Warner (140)
East Pennsboro (2): Austin Klucker (160), Zach Nye (215)
Mechanicsburg (2): Rustin Barrick (152), Zach Thomson (160)
West Perry (1): Bobby Manning (140)

CONSOLATION QUARTERFINALS
Big Spring (1): Wyatt Keck (125)
Carlisle (1): Ian Shannon (130)
Cedar Cliff (2): Jake Colello (140), Dylan Carmichael (160)
Cumberland Valley (1): Kyle Friend (285)
East Pennsboro (1): Charlie Bise (125)
Mechanicsburg (1): Mitchell Ramsey (145)
Northern (1): Zach Ross (135)
Shippensburg (1): Cary Hess (215)

ELIMINATED AFTER SECOND ROUND OF CONSOLATIONS
Big Spring (1): Danny Hockensmith (171)
Carlisle (1): Zack Stouffer (125)
Cumberland Valley (2): Wills Long (152), Dennis Zaitsev (189)
Mechanicsburg (2): Michael Capasso (189), Luke Weaver (215)
Red Land (2): Jake Green (130), Austin Hoover (152)
Shippensburg (2): Jarsed Furry (112), Hunter Kyner (130)

ELIMINATED AFTER FIRST ROUND OF CONSOLATIONS
Big Spring (1): Colby Whitten (189)
Carlisle (3): Gavin Oplinger (119), Will Warrick (152), Tim Loney (189)
Cedar Cliff (2): Marcus Clement (152), Matt McCullough (215)
Cumberland Valley (3): Alex Wolfe (112), Travis Hench (135), David Miller (160)
Mechanicsburg (1): Sawyer Mundorf (285)
Northern (1): Heath Rupp (215)
Red Land (1): Kurt Wintermyer (285)
West Perry (1): John Adams (160)

District 3 Class AA: Friday's list

The following is a list of where area wrestlers stand heading into the second day of the District 3 Class AA Championships. The top five finishers qualify for next weekend's Southeast Region at Wilson High School.

SEMIFINALS
Boiling Springs (7): Joseph Byers (103), Mark Lentz (125), Roland Miller (130), T.J. Nickle (145), John Riddle (160), Logan Murphy (189), Tylor Unger (285)
Susquenita (1): Zach Howell (215)
Trinity (1): Adam Geiger (171)

CONSOLATION SECOND ROUND
Boiling Springs (1): Andrew Mellott (135)
Camp Hill (1): Steve Murray (171),
Susquenita (4): Cody Albright (119), Harley Mabius (140), Ryan Bennett (145), Todd Mullen (189)
Trinity (1): Devon Bentley (103)

ELIMINATED AFTER FIRST ROUND OF CONSOLATIONS
Boiling Springs: Anton Morrow (152), Jordan Schmick (171)
Camp Hill: Logan Rini (119), Mario Ponce (130),ss Gus Bostdorf (215)
Susquenita: Matt Mitchell (103), Austin Sheibley (112), Nick Cain (125), Donny Peters (135), Jay Bennett (160), Brent Sterner (285)

Kyner leads Shippensburg trio to Hershey

Shippensburg senior 130-pound wrestler Hunter Kyner, right, had a good feeling about Saturday’s District 3 Class AAA Section I tournament.

“I was thinking I could win it,” said Kyner, who came into Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School as a No. 4 seed. “I knew I had to beat those two kids so it was going to be tough.”

The two wrestlers Kyner spoke of were top-seeded Ian Hammond of Chambersburg and sixth-seeded Chad Wickard of Big Spring.

To qualify for the sectional final, Kyner pinned West Perry senior Robbie Webber in 3:03 in the quarterfinals and then surprised Hammond, 2-0, in the semifinals.

After holding Hammond down in the third period, Kyner jumped to his feet and pumped his fists in celebration.

“I knew I had to beat (Hammond) on my feet,” Kyner said. “I didn’t take him down but it worked out my way.

“I didn’t stop and just went 110 percent the whole time. I knew I had to wear him down.”

In the final against Wickard, Kyner could manage only two escapes in a 4-2 defeat.

Wickard and Kyner battled through a scoreless first period before Wickard hit a reversal early in the second for a 2-0 lead.

Kyner escaped but Wickard answered with a takedown for a 4-1 lead after two.

The only scoring in the third period was an escape by Kyner.

“I was expecting to win it,” said Kyner, who will make his third appearance in the District 3 Class AAA/Southcentral Region tournament on Friday at Hersheypark Arena. “I’ll have to get them (this) weekend. I’m just going to stay focused and work hard.”

Kyner will be joined in Hershey by teammates Jared Furry and Cary Hess, who finished second at 112 and 215, respectively.

Note: This story appeared in Wednesday's edition of The Shippensburg Sentinel.

Football: Glad Cantafio is staying

Since he took the Cedar Cliff High School football job prior to the 2008 season, Jim Cantafio hasn't been afraid to share his opinions.

He's told us numerous times that Cedar Cliff, a small Class AAAA school, should be classified as AAA. Cedar Cliff is the sixth-smallest Class AAAA school in District 3 and when the new PIAA enrollment figures came out last year, he wasn't happy that his school remained in the state's largest classification and shared his feelings with us.

Before the start of the 2010 season, we called Cantafio and asked him about offseason weight training in football. He put it bluntly and said when he arrived at Cedar Cliff, his players weren't exactly in football shape. Cantafio has worked hard to improve Cedar Cliff's offseason program and, judging by the on-field results the last two years, he's doing a nice job.

There have been numerous times we've called Cantafio looking for his opinion on things that don't always directly involve his Colts (the rivalry with Red Land, his thoughts on 2010 Defensive Player of the Year, Mechanicsburg junior Bryton Barr and the proposed six classifications for football) and he's never turned us down.

Now, here's our opinion: we're glad Cantafio is staying at Cedar Cliff. He applied for the Hempfield opening this winter and was a finalist before the administration determined that neither he nor the other finalist, Mark Evans, were good enough for the job.

That's a win for both Cedar Cliff and the Mid-Penn Conference. Other than being easy to work with, Cantafio is good for the Mid-Penn. He's passionate about his job and has a burning desire to win football games.

Cantafio has brought Cedar Cliff back from the dead -- the Colts qualified for the 3-AAAA postseason each of the last two years -- and will continue to challenge for the Mid-Penn Keystone Division title.

It's not surprising that Cantafio applied for the Hempfield job -- it's a big school (fifth-largest in the district) that competes in the Lancaster-Lebanon League, which is where he experienced success at both Conestoga Valley and Wilson.

But now that he's likely to stay at Cedar Cliff for at least the 2011 season, the Colts need to move on and prepare for what should be an outstanding season -- Cedar Cliff returns nearly its whole team and will be one of the favorites in the Keystone -- that could very well last until Thanksgiving.

District 3 Wrestling info

Below are a few links (courtesy of roadtohershey.net) to help you prepare for the upcoming District 3 Wrestling Championships. The tournament will be held at Hersheypark Arena on Friday and Saturday.

Time schedule

Class AAA brackets (as of Wednesday afternoon)

Class AA brackets (as of Wednesday afternoon)

Enjoy!

Big day for Thomson

Saturday turned out to be special for Mechanicsburg senior Zach Thomson.

The 160-pounder was one of three champions for coach Roger Barrick at the District 3 Class AAA Section I tournament and helped the host Wildcats to a third-place finish behind Big Spring and Cumberland Valley.

Thomson's 3-0 decision over Cedar Cliff senior Dylan Carmichael was his first section title but it was a victory in the afternoon's semifinals that Thomson will remember.

Thomson made short work of West Perry senior John Adams and pinned him in 3:24. The victory was Thomson's 103rd of his career and made him the all-time wins leader at Mechanicsburg.

"My main goals were to get my 100 wins, break the school record for wins and place at states," Thomson said. "It's nice that I won here and it would be nice if I won districts but the bottom line is to get to states."

To do that, Thomson needs to finish in the top three of this weekend's District 3/Southcentral Region tournament at Hersheypark Stadium.

Thomson (31-1 this year) opens against Solanco junior Cole Martin (32-13).

"It's nice because people come up to me in school and say, 'Good job,'" said Thomson, who notched career win No. 100 on Feb. 12. "My name will always be on the wall here."

District 3 Class AA area wrestling qualifiers

27 Qualified for District 3 Class AA Championships
Divided by sectionals finishes

FIRST
Boiling Springs: Joseph Byers (103), Mark Lentz (125), Roland Miller (130), T.J. Nickle (145), John Riddle (160), Logan Murphy (189), Tylor Unger (285)
Trinity: Adam Geiger (171)
Susquenita: Donny Peters (135)

SECOND
Boiling Springs: Anton Morrow (152)
Camp Hill: Steve Murray (171)
Susquenita: Austin Sheibley (112), Cody Albright (119), Harley Mabius (140), Ryan Bennett (145), Zach Howell (215)

THIRD
Boiling Springs: Jordan Schmick (171)
Camp Hill: Gus Bostdorf (215)
Susquenita: Nick Cain (125), Jay Bennett (160), Todd Mullen (189), Brent Sterner (285)
Trinity: Devon Bentley (103)

FOURTH
Boiling Springs: Andrew Mellott (135)
Camp Hill: Logan Rini (119), Mario Ponce (130)
Susquenita: Matt Mitchell (103)

District 3 Class AAA area wrestling qualifiers

Class AAA
47 qualified for District 3/Southcentral Region
Divided by sectional finishes

FIRST
Big Spring: Dustin Rook (112), Dereck Enders (119), Wyatt Keck (125), Chad Wickard (130)
Carlisle: Jayshon Wilson (145)
Cedar Cliff: Grant Dickey (171)
Cumberland Valley: T.C. Warner (140), Dennis Zaitsev (189)
Mechanicsburg: Rustin Barrick (152), Zach Thomson (160), Luke Weaver (215)
East Pennsboro: Austin Klucker (160), Zach Nye (215)

SECOND
Big Spring: Greg Warner (103)
Carlisle: Zack Stouffer (125)
Cedar Cliff: Marcus Clement (152), Dylan Carmichael (160)
Cumberland Valley: Alex Wolfe (112), Jon Brigham (119), Mick Straub (215), Kyle Friend (285)
Mechanicsburg: Michael Capasso (189)
Northern: Zach Ross (135)
Shippensburg: Hunter Kyner (130)
West Perry: Bobby Manning (140)

THIRD
Big Spring: Danny Hockensmith (171); Colby Whitten (189)
Cumberland Valley: David Miller (160)
East Pennsboro: Charlie Bise (125)
Mechanicsburg: Mitchell Ramsey (145), Sawyer Mundorf (285)
Red Land: Jake Green (130), Austin Hoover (152)
Shippensburg: Jared Furry (112), Cary Hess (215)

FOURTH (only Section I qualified four wrestlers)
Big Spring: Cody Seibert (160)
Carlisle: Jahdiel Nunez (103), Gavin Oplinger (119), Ian Shannon (130), Will Warrick (152), Tim Loney (189)
Cedar Cliff: Jake Colello (140)
Cumberland Valley: Travis Hench (135), Wills Long (145)
Mechanicsburg: Joey Krulock (171)
Northern: Heath Rupp (215)
Red Land: Kurt Wintermyer (285)