PIAA Class AA wrestling
Scotties’ Shane Datz is man on a mission You might say that Shane Datz is a man on a mission.
A double mission actually, but he is going to have to travel a long, and tough, road before realizing his hoped for goal.
Last weekend, Southmoreland junior Datz went into the Southwest Regional wrestling finals with an unbeaten record, hoping to carry that status into the state finals at Hershey this weekend. But in the latter respect, Jordan Sweaney of Beth-Center had other ideas.
Sweaney scored a 7-5 decision in overtime to win the Southwest Regional 189-pound championship, and snap Datz’ perfect run, and at the same time, reverse a 5-3 loss to Datz in the WPIAL finals the preceding week. And he did it the hard way.
Before he could even get to the finals, Sweaney had to get past District Six champion Sean Kisel, of Forest Hills. He did that with a 5-1 decision, moving him to the finals against Datz.
In his earlier win, Datz shot a four-point move on Sweaney in the first period to start his win. This time it was a five-pointer to start. But Sweaney battled back and cut the deficit to 5-4, with a reversal with 1:06 to go in the third. Then, with just 26-seconds left in the bout, Datz was hit with a stalling point, evoking a 5-5 tie and sending the match into overtime. It took Sweaney just 33 seconds to get a takedown and end the match with a 7-5 championship win.
Now Datz wants a rematch, but it’s going to be a long road. In fact, if they do meet again in the winner’s bracket it will be for the state championship for Sweaney is on the top line of the 189 Hershey lineup, and Datz is in the next-to-last pairing in the lower half of the bracket. The only other way they could meet again is if both should lose and get rematched in the consolations.
Datz (34-1) is paired with Tad Yelland (31-7) of Wilkes-Barre GAR, who finished third in the Northeast, and that winner will get either Southeast Division champion David Iobst (33-5) of Wilson Area or Grant Stetz (28-7, Southwest-5) from Westmont-Hilltop.
Sweaney (27-3) is matched with Travis Young (34-5, Southeast-5) from Newport, and the winner faces either Jeff Rice (31-4, Northwest-3) of Commodore Perry or Steve Rimbey (29-6), Southeast runner-up from Lehighton.
Southmoreland coach Jon Banko said, “Shane didn’t wrestle bad. He just lost in overtime, but other than that he wrestled about like I expected him to do. But by not winning, he felt he made it tougher on himself.”
Looking ahead to the 189 pairings at Hershey, Banko said, “Shane is going to have a tough time. There are two wrestlers in his bracket, Jason Manross of Saegertown (Northwest champion) who is unbeaten (34-0), and Iobst, and both are highly regarded wrestlers. There are good wrestlers in the whole division, but I like to think that Shane has a good shot.”
This is the third trip to Hershey for Datz, who finished seventh two years ago and third last year.
Southmoreland’s second state entry is heavyweight Justin Poole (28-5), who finished fourth at the regionals. He is paired in the upper half of the bracket with Northwest champion Kyle Smith (34-3) of Brockway, and the winner draws either Southwest runner-up Jon Neese (27-2) of Marion Center, or Dustin Swartz (46-3, Southeast-3) of Juniata.
Banko said, “Justin is in tough; the four he is in with are all tough wrestlers. Justin has already met Neese, losing to him, 4-3, last weekend in the semifinals. But I shouldn’t have to tell them too much. Shane has been here before, but this is Justin’s first trip to Hershey.”
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There are also two second-place finishers among the area wrestlers headed east, Stush Demaske of Jefferson-Morgan (145) and Mike Morgan (152) of Beth-Center.
Senior Demaske (33-5) was a 5-3 loser in overtime to Todd Cessna of Elderton in the regional finals and was deprived of two goals with that loss- he was seeking his 100th career win, which would also have given him the division championship. He was leading 3-2 in the third when Cessna escaped to tie, 3-3, then won with a takedown 32 seconds into overtime.
Demaske is paired in the opening round with Ryan Bennick (32-5, Southeast-3) from Jim Thorpe, and that winner faces either Northwest champion Brian Luton (29-5) of Clarion, or Brandon Weimer (26-7, Southwest-4) from North Star.
Morgan (31-9) has a first-round test with Jordan Stiner (34-11, Northeast-3) from Canton, and that winner gets either Southeast champion Ryan Hluschak (38-1) or Northern Lehigh, or Seth Cramer 30-16, Southwest-5) of Berlin-Brothers Valley.
Beth-Center has a third entry at Hershey in Brandon Palmer (28-13) who finished fifth in the Southwest, earning that spot with a 2-1 win over Jake Jahnke (Mars) in the consolations. He has an opening match with Northeast champion Troy Charles (29-1) of Hughesville, and that winner faces either Southwest runner-up Pierce Frauenheim (32-4) of Shadyside Academy, or Brian Bell (22-8, Northwest-3) of Erie Strong Vincent.
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Followers of Section 2-AAA will get a look at five wrestlers who might be returning to that section in a year or two. Last year, Mount Pleasant was in Section Two, but decreased enrollment allowed the Vikings to drop one class. They climaxed their new assignment by winning the WPIAL-AA championship a month ago.
MP Coach Mark Mears said earlier that the enrollment is going up again, so there is the chance that the Vikings might have to move back up one class, in which case they would probably be given their old spot in Section Two.
There are five MPHS wrestlers going to Hershey, four of them underclassmen (three freshmen, one sophomore).
They include sophomore Zach Holt, (103, 36-6), Southwest-3; freshmen Lee Vanella (34-16, Southwest-5, 112); Joe Geary (33-13, SW-5, 119), Donnie Ament (37-13, SW-5, 130), and the lone senior Victor McCoy (37-13, SW-3, 152).