Pittston Area’s Brody Spindler trailed into the last 30 seconds of the Class 3A Northeast Regional 215-pound consolation final with a state tournament berth on the line Saturday afternoon at Bethlehem Liberty.
Spindler reversed Southern Lehigh’s Ryan King to force a tie.
He did not stop there.
Seconds later, Pittston Area’s Spindler punched his ticket to Hershey for Thursday’s start of the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athketic Association Individual Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center.
Spindler’s pin in 4:39 put him in the consolation final to decide third and fourth place. The top four in each weight class must it to Hershey.
Others came close to that goal.
Pittston Area’s Dominic Innamorati, as well as Wyoming Area’s Nate Obrzut and Connor Novakowski at Class 2A Northeast Regionals in Williamsport, all came within one win of the state meet with two consolation bracket victories to begin Saturday before losing and winding up in fifth- and sixth-place matches.
Spindler advanced to the 215-pound semifinals with a pair of hard-fought decisions Friday night. He lost in Saturday’s semis.
Obrzut and Novakowski bounced back from Friday night losses with consecutive consolation wins Saturday morning to reach the consolation semifinals.
Pittston Area’s Oscar Ciriaco picked up his second victory of the event Saturday morning before losing in the next consolation round and being eliminated.
Spindler made it to the semifinals with his Friday night wins. He joined Hazleton Area’s Robbie Anderson, in Class 3A, and Hanover Area’s Derek Warman, in Class 2A, as the only regional semifinalists from the Wyoming Valley Conference.
Spindler defeated Jason Schubert from Pleasant Valley 2-0 and Dante Morrison from host Liberty 3-2. He scored an escape early in the second period and added a penalty point against Schubert for stalling with 34 seconds left. Spindler trailed 1-0 before getting an escape and takedown midway through the third period of the quarterfinal.
The results guaranteed Spindler of a top-six medal. The top four finishers in each weight class advance to the PIAA Individual Championships, which begin Thursday at the Giant Center in Hershey.
Obrzut suffered a heartbreaking loss in his only bout Friday night, falling to South Williamsport’s Ryan Casella 7-6 on the ultimate tiebreaker.
After a scoreless first period, Obrzut scored a takedown to take a 2-1 lead into the third period. The bout was tied 5-5 after regulation and 6-6 after three overtime periods.
Casella escaped for the win 18 seconds into the 30-second rideout tiebreaker.
Obrzut pinned Honesdale’s Evan Funk in 1:32, then Nanticoke’s Seth Raymer in 2:08 Saturday morning.
Novakowski lost by pin at 121 Friday, but then, like Obrzut rolled through two straight matches with other District 2 wrestlers. He won a major decision over Lackawanna Trail’s Brayden Clarke 19-6 then pinned Honesdale’s Sam Eisele in 2:42.
Obrzut and Novakowski were also guaranteed of placing in the top six.
Innamorati won by first-period pin in his first consolation bout Saturday. He won a decision, then lost by pin Friday night at 145.
Ciriaco alternated wins and losses, finishing 2-2 at 107.
Tibor Toth from Pittston Area was also eliminated after he lost two straight at 114.