Brody Spinder made it to the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Individual Wrestling Championships in Hershey where the Pittston Area sophomore 215-pounder had his season end with consecutive losses to begin the tournament.
Spindler went the distance in both his bouts in Hershey, but lost a pair of decisions and did not make it out of Thursday, the first of three days in the tournament.
Meadville’s Ty Tidball beat Spindler 8-1 in a preliminary round bout. Easton’s Kurtis Crossman then knocked Spindler out of the tournament with a 3-2 decision.
Tidball led 2-0 after one period on a takedown before the midway point in the session. He increased the lead to 8-0 with an escape, takedown and three back points in the second period.
With Tidball protecting his lead from there, he was warned for stalling in the third period, then penalized, accounting for Spindler’s only point.
Spindler’s comeback effort came up short in the consolation bout.
Crossman used an escape and takedown early in the second period for a 3-0 lead.
Spindler escaped in the second and again with 1:15 left in the third.
Crossman was warned for stalling with five seconds left, but was able to secure the one-point victory.
Spindler, the District 2 runner-up, finished his sophomore season with a 31-9 record to run his two-year career record to 60-21.
CLASS 3A NORTHEAST REGIONAL
Brody Spindler led Pittston Area to a 13th-place finish, best among Wyoming Valley Conference schools, out of 42 teams in the Class 3A Northeast Regional March 1-2 at Bethlehem Liberty.
Spindler was fourth at 215 pounds.
The top four in each weight class qualified for the PIAA Championships in Hershey.
Dominic Innamorati just missed, placing fifth at 145 pounds.
Spindler began the second day in the semifinals after winning twice in the first day.
Brandon Stiehler from Pocono Mountain West knocked Spindler into the consolation bracket with a 12-4 victory.
Spindler then pinned Southern Lehigh’s Ryan King in 4:39 of the consolation semifinal to earn his state berth.
King had the lead into the last 30 seconds of that bout.
Spindler reversed King to force a tie, but he did not stop there.
Seconds later, Spindler pinned King.
Innamorati lost out on a state shot when he was defeated by Nazareth’s Cade Campbell 9-1 in the 145-pound consolation semifinals. He recovered to beat Southern Lehigh’s Brock Frable 13-7 in the fifth- and sixth-place match.
Oscar Ciriaco won twice at 107 for Pittston Area but was eliminated earlier in the second day.
CLASS 2A NORTHEAST REGIONAL
Nate Obrzut finished fifth at 285 pounds and Connor Novakowski was sixth at 121 after the two Wyoming Area wrestlers came up one win short of making it into the top four and qualifying for the PIAA Championships in Hershey.
They scored enough points to land Wyoming Area in 21st out of 35 teams in the final standings.
Both Wyoming Area wrestlers wound up in the top six when they followed up quarterfinal losses on the opening night of the tournament with two straight consolation victories the next morning.
Novakowski fell to Hughesville’s Chase Shaner 7-2 and Obrzut lost to Central Columbia’s Aiden Hidlay 4-3 in the consolation semifinals.
Obrzut received a forfeit from Scranton Prep’s Max Shnipes in the fifth-place bout.
Novakowski was pinned by Milton’s Ty Locke in 53 seconds.
