Bald Eagle, Penns Valley advance 7 combined wrestlers to semis at Southwest AA Regional

ALTOONA – Of the 14 combined regional qualifiers representing Bald Eagle and Penns Valley, all 14 kept their regional runs alive through Day One of the Southwest Class AA regional on Friday.

For Bald Eagle, Tanner Guenot (133), Caden Judice (145) and Dawson Lomison (152) advanced to their respective semifinals with 2-0 outings. Ty Corey (114), Liam Purcell (127) and Gage Gardner (285) remain alive in consolations.

Guenot finished his day not surrendering a takedown, tech falling Juzef Betts (Valley) and pinning Eli Mullen (North Star) to reach his third straight regional semi.

Through those matches, the junior finished with eight combined takedowns – the last of which was converted into a pin. Ranked No. 5 in the state, Guenot faces top-seeded Lucas Barr (McGuffey) – ranked No. 7 in the state – in Saturday’s semi.

It was a similar story for Judice, who fell one point short of a tech fall in his opening round against No. 16 William McNeal (Derry) before tech falling three-seeded Brenden Schardt (Meyersdale). His opening bout featured a dominant third period, one which he carried into a three-takedown first against Schardt.

Ranked No. 4 in the state, he’ll face No. 8 Josef Garshnick (United) in Saturday’s semifinal. Judice faced Garshnick in the District 6 semifinals two weekends ago, winning by 6-5 decision.

In both his matches, Lomison worked a takedown in the first 30 seconds, never trailing on his way to two decision wins and a championship semifinal bid.

The junior secured a takedown in all but one period on the day, defeating Josiah Bosch and No. 19 Victor Bonus (McGuffey) by 8-1 and 7-3 decision respectively. Ranked No. 7 in the state, he’ll face No. 5 Luke Boyer (Elizabeth Forward) in Saturday’s semifinal.

Of Penns Valley’s eight regional qualifiers, four advanced to semifinals in Max Dinges (121), Conner Myers (127), Tripp Watson (139) and Brayden Lisowski (172).

Dinges opened his day with a second-period tech fall before battling No. 10 Preston Bubash through an overtime thriller.

In a 5-5 tie, Dinges secured an escape in the first tiebreaker before riding out Bubash in the second, winning by 6-5 decision. Ranked No. 4 in the state, Dinges will face No. 7 Dakota Santamaria (Tussey Mountain) in Saturday’s semifinal.

Myers experienced similar drama on his way to semifinals. After opening with a major decision, he’d also see overtime against No. 20 Lukas Smith (Berlin Brothersvalley) following a back-and-forth third.

In the first tiebreaker, he’d secure a last-second reversal before riding Smith out through the second. Ranked No. 16 in the state, he’ll face No. 5 Cameron Baker (Burrell) in Saturday’s semifinal.

On paper, Watson pulled off perhaps the most improbable runs of the bunch, defeating two wrestlers that outranked him.

He edged out No. 20 Mason Wright (Bethlehem Center) in tiebreakers to make it to quarters, using a late takedown to force overtime before notching a match-sealing escape in the second tiebreaker period.

Then, he used a strong third to score four crucial points in a 5-4 decision against No. 13 Trenden Willey (Chestnut Ridge). Ranked No. 23 in the state, he’ll face No. 29 Carter Katus (Burgettstown) in Saturday’s semifinal.

Lisowski had the shortest winning run of the bunch, not seeing a third period and barely seeing a second behind two quick pins.

After pinning Jonah Bosch to open, Lisowski needed just one takedown to land an opening against No. 15 Carter Durst (Berlin Brothersvalley), posting a first-period pin in the state-ranked affair. Ranked No. 4 in the state, he’ll face No. 4 Mason Horwat in Saturday’s semifinal.

Action at Altoona is set to resume at 9 a.m. on Saturday.