SUNBURY -- For the past three years, Cumberland Valley has been the roadblock in Shikellamy's quest to get to Hershey and the second round of the PIAA team wrestling tournament. A perennial runner-up to District 3's powerful Central Dauphin program, CV always trekked north and brought a quick end to the Braves' postseason hopes.

But Cumberland Valley, the third seed, was knocked out of its district tournament by Wilson in the quarterfinals with Spring Grove winding up the tournament's runner-up after a pounding by Central Dauphin. So the Rockets of the York-Adams Interscholastic Association traveled to the Shikellamy Field House for Thursday night's first round of the tournament and the once-beaten Rockets were no barrier for the Braves.

Shikellamy, getting keys victories from Landry Badman and Mike Barnhart and a gutsy effort in a loss by Robert Easton, handled Spring Grove, 35-17, and advanced to the second round on Friday morning at the Giant Center in Hershey.

The Braves will face District 10 champion Erie Catherdral Prep at 11 a.m.

"The kids had a ton of heart," said Shikellamy coach Brett Michaels. "Conditioning was a major, major factor. This win is big for these kids, it's big for the program. I feel good for everybody involved."

The Braves had to overcome a sluggish start to earn their first trip to Hershey and they did it by winning six of seven matches from 215 through 130. The Rockets, whose 20-match win string was ended by Central Dauphin, jumped out 9-3 when Logan Wisner handled Colby Slonaker, 7-3, in the opener at 160 and, after Shik's Taiten Valiquette edged Paul Smith, 4-3, Neal Grudhi stunned Dominick Wolfe with a second-period fall at 189.

"It was a bit of a slow start for us," Michaels admitted. "But we wanted to take three of the first six bouts. We gave up bonus points at 189 and we didn't get bonus points in a couple of matches we thought we might."

It didn't matter, though.

Nick Bennick, a hero in the Braves' final against Jersey Shore on Saturday, started a four-bout win streak, with an 11-5 major decision at 215 and Nolan Blackwell followed with a 6-4 victory in a testy bout at heavyweight to tie the score at 9-9. Jake Witmer followed with a six-takedown effort in a 12-4 major decision at 103 to set the stage for Landry Badman in a toss-up bout against Spring Grove sophomore Toby Shaffer.

Badman, 22-6, trailed 3-2 after the first period but picked up a reversal and takedown in the second period to go ahead, 6-4. Shaffer started the third period down and picked up a reversal with 25 seconds left but Badman got the winning reversal with 10 seconds remaining for an 8-2 win and a 16-9 Shikellamy lead.

"I got my weight down to 112 and came out to wrestle," Badman said. "I knew I could hang with him. The whole match he couldn't hold me down so I knew when I got reversed at the end I knew I could get another reversal so I wasn't worried."

Michaels knew 112 would be a tough bout.

"Landry's win was huge," Michaels said. "Shaffer just wrestled Shyheim Brown of Central Dauphin in the District 3 final and that was only a 4-0 match against Brown, who was third in the state last year. We knew he would push Landry and it was the firs time he was pushed being down at 112."

Easton, with a modest 1-2 record, seemed a likely bonus-point win for the Rockets and 31-match winner Jake Verheyen. He wasn't though, excelling in an 8-0 loss that kept the Braves ahead, 16-13.

"That was absolutely huge," Michaels said. "That kid is ranked in the top 10 in the state and Robert went out there and showed a ton of heart. I know they were expecting six points there and Robert held him to a major."

Joey Zoda (125) and Jake Teisher (130) followed with victories to push the margin to 10 points. Zoda rode a 10-point third period to a 17-6 major and a third-period takedown locked up at 7-3 decision over Toby Allison. Matt Neff added an 8-4 win at 135 for a 26-13 lead.

Barnhart, who was pinned in the match with Jersey Shore, sealed the win with a second-period fall over Jonathan Gross at 140, reversing the freshman to his back for the pin.

"I just had to bounce back after losing on Saturday," Barnahrt said. "I just paced myself and took it slow and the fall came."

Said Michaels, "He had a tough match against Jersey Shore but he bounced back. We wanted him to wrestle a controlled pace and he was dominant. We felt he was in good condition to control the match and his pin sealed it for us."

Tony Waltz followed with a 9-2 win at 145 before Miles Wolfe fell, 11-1, at 152.