3 wrestlers top District 4

WILLIAMSPORT -- Winning district titles may become a regular thing for Line Mountain freshman Zain Retherford, who won his first Sunday at the District 4 AA Championships.
But Retherford might take some advice from Shamokin upperclassmen Brandon Pesarchick and Derek Shingara, who have 238 career wins and four trips to the state tournament between them, but each finally won elusive district titles.
The lesson is, in this district, titles aren’t a given, no matter how good you are.
“Finally,“ Pesarchick said about getting that elusive first district title with his 113th career win. “I was talking with my dad and my uncle on the way here, and they’ve both really followed my wrestling. They said, ‘You’ve made the show, now it’s time to win it.’”
He did that with a 9-2 win over Central Columbia’s Ben Emmett in the 130-pound final. Not long afterward, Shingara was an 8-4 winner over Towanda’s Zack Ripic in the 140 final.
Shingara said it was nice to win his first district championship, but said it wasn’t paramount on his mind.
“The big thing now is to advance,” he said. “Just go back this week and get ready for next week.”
Shamokin also had pair of runners-up. Josh Lahr, a district champ in 2009, forfeited out of the 135-pound championship against Montoursville’s unbeaten Luke Frey, and Wes Tillett (285) was pinned in the final by defending state runnerup Tyler DeMott of Benton.
Shamokin finished third in the team standings, a point behind runnerup Athens, 113-112. Benton won its first district title ever with 151 points.
“It was a good week,” said Shamokin coach Todd Hockenbroch. “Our goal was to get seven wrestlers to regionals, same as last year, and we fell one short. But we got four in the finals, and had two champs, and we really wrestled well all weekend.”
Like last week in the Southern Sectional final, Retherford (33-1) had little trouble in beating Mifflinburg’s David Sheesley (28-6). The Line Mountain freshman had two takedowns and a three-point back point combination in the first period to build a 7-1 lead, although Sheesley did score his first point in the two bouts with an escape and almost had a reversal in the first period.
“He was a lot more open this week,” Retherford said. “I really couldn’t work much on him last week. I was feeling a little sick (but) I knew I had to go out and score some points right off the bat.”
Pesarchick (32-5) took a 7-1 lead in the first period against Emmett (27-3) and almost pinned him, with the buzzer saving Emmett. After that, the only points were scored in the third period.
Pesarchick said he didn’t think Emmett shut down after falling behind.
“I don’t know that he just wrestled to keep it close,” said Pesarchick. “He’s a defensive wrestler anyway. I wrestled him last year to get to states and it was even closer than this one. I thought I had him pinned.”
Pesarchick said a bigger problem is that other wrestlers in the district have become accustomed to the offensive style of the Indians.
“You just have to adjust and try some other things,” he said.
Shingara (29-6), echoed Pesarchick’s sentiments.
He had four takedowns in his 8-4 win over Ripic (30-7), and let Ripic up for three of his four points.
“I just look to change my style a little,” said the senior, who won his 125th career bout. “The key is to keep attacking.”
Advancing was something Lahr, like his other teammates in the final, had already done, but with his recent knee surgery, winning this tournament wasn’t the biggest thing. Lahr was walking with a slight limp after getting his second-place medal, but said everything was fine.
“This is just the way I always walk,” he joked. “I’m just resting up a little.”
Lahr (15-6) said it didn’t bother him that he didn’t have a chance to gauge his progress against Frey, a 2008 state champ who beat Lahr 6-0 in a dual meet a couple of weeks ago.
“I’m looking forward to the future,” he said, noting that, sooner or later, Frey will stand in his way.
It didn’t even bother him taking a loss by a forfeit.
“That doesn’t bother me,” he said. “I was talking with my mom and dad about that, and that’s just one of those things.”
Wrestlers who take forfeits in the PIAA tournament must take the loss on their record or not advance, according to District 4 wrestling chairman Steve Gobble.
Although being pinned is never good on anyone’s ego, Tillett (31-4) felt good about his bout with DeMott. DeMott took him down early with a five-point move, but Tillett also had a nice reversal with a Peterson and went hard after DeMott (34-1).
“Last year I didn’t move on my feet against him,” Tillett said. “That’s the key. I just have to stay away from those underhooks. He’s too strong.”   
 

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