Brody Spindler placed second at 215 pounds to help Pittston Area finish eighth in a 29-team, multi-state field Dec. 27-28 in the Turner Holiday Wrestling Classic at Conestoga Valley High School.
Spindler ran his record to 13-0 on his way to the final, where he suffered his first loss of the season.
John Boggs, a state seventh-place finisher last season from St. Joseph’s Prep in Philadelphia, edged Spindler 1-0 in a championship meeting of defending district champions.
Spindler pinned Chris Miller from Salesianum, Del., in 30 seconds and Anthony Neuhard from Central Dauphin in 1:46 in the quarterfinals. He defeated Wyatt Holdren from Avon Grove 5-1 in the semifinals.
Jesuit from Florida outscored Salesianum 205½-192½ for the team title. Central Dauphin, the top Pennsylvania finisher, was one point back in third. Pittston Area had 112½ points, six behind seventh-place Delaware Military Academy and one in front on ninth-place Shikellamy.
The Patriots had four other wrestlers place in the top eight in their weight classes.
Ethan Aftewicz, at 152, and Noah Gruber, at 285, were fifth. Tibor Toth was sixth at 121, and David Krantz was seventh at 107.
Aftewicz defeated Exeter’s Sam Johnson by a 21-4 technical fall in the fifth-place match. He went 4-2 in the tournament with two first-period pins, two technical falls, and a 3-2 quarterfinal loss to Montgomery’s Trace Furman.
Gruber won his first two bouts and three of his first four with pins in under a minute. He also went 4-2, including a forfeit win in the fifth-place match.
Jesuit’s Brock Glover defeated Toth 9-1 in the fifth-place match at 121. Toth overcame a loss in his first bout to win four straight, including two pins, on the way to the consolation semifinals.
Krantz, who started his tournament with two first-period pins, defeated Canton’s Levi Vermilya 10-4 for seventh place.
Tim Riefler (114) won three times while Jahiem Butler (127) and Chase Baron (145) won twice each for Pittston Area, but did not place.
