By Harold Raker
HERSHEY -- Zain Retherford looks like he might not be allowed on some of the rides at Knoebels Grove. But he looked 10 feet tall Friday night in the Giant Center.
The Line Mountain freshman 103-pounder overcame a 3-1 second-period deficit and eked out a 4-3 decision over unbeaten defending state champion Nick Roberts of North Star in the PIAA Class AA championships.
Roberts was 37-0, ranked No. 1 in the nation by both Intermat and USA Wrestling Magazine (which had Retherford ranked No. 18). Roberts was ranked No. 1 by Pennsylvania Wrestling Rankings with Retherford No. 2, and Off the Mat projected Roberts to win the title with Retherford finishing third.
Also advancing to this afternoon's championship finals was Lewisburg junior Nathaniel Brown, with a pin in one minute, 43 seconds over Lewendo Teague of Sharon in the semifinals as he overcame his long semifinal round jinx.
Milton freshman Ryan Solomon, the Valley's other semifinalist, saw his quest for gold fall short with a 9-2 loss to Commodore Perry's unbeaten Stephan Ceremuga.
Solomon later lost 3-2 to Schuylkill Valley's Dylan Scheidt. Solomon, 33-9, will wrestle for fifth place this afternoon against Penn Cambria senior Zak Newton (38-8). The consolation finals for third through eighth places will begin at 12:30 today with the finals at 2:30.
Retherford's win caused as much of a stir from the announced crowd of 6,692 as a power failure that hit the Giant Center nearly two hours later. The tournament continued with the use of a generator until PPL restored power within a half hour.
The Eagle, now 39-1, fell behind early on a Roberts takedown and escaped to make it 2-1 after one period. He deferred his second-period choice, Roberts chose down and escaped to make it 3-1.
"I knew if I was going to come back, I had to score right away," Retherford said.
Nevertheless, he had to battle for the tying takedown, getting it just before the clock ran out in the second. Asked if it was the hardest he had ever worked for a takedown, he said, "It was one of the top five."
"I knew I had to score, but I wasn't confident that I would. I just knew I had to do something or he would win."
He kept his cool, even after Roberts was able to wiggle out of bounds on what may have been a takedown by Retherford, then got the winning escape with 48 seconds left.
He received a stalling warning, but said it didn't bother him. "I only had 10 seconds left on the clock, so I figured I could just go forward and run down the clock a little bit."
Going into the bout, Retherford said he considered himself the underdog and believes the crowd was behind him. "I think they were hoping I would win, not knowing for sure that I would win."
Retherford said he wrestled Roberts two years ago at Olympian Ken Chertow's camp, where the Eagle freshman still works out. "I knew he did that sit-out to the head and he hit that on me right away. And I knew he is real good at under-hooks. He used to throw me around when I was 75 pounds and he was 87," he said.
Retherford had a lot of success in his younger years, but he admitted that Friday night's victory was his most exciting to date. "It's definitely the top. I won (a Pennsylvania Junior Wrestling championship) when I was little, but (Roberts) used to beat me in the wrestling room and now I came back and beat him."
Retherford will meet Bermudian Springs sophomore Brad Farley, the Southeast Region champion, 38-1, in the televised (PCN) final.
Brown, now 40-0 and ranked No. 1 by Off the Mat and PWR, was happy to finally get past a semifinal round. "I feel like every tournament I've ever wrestled, I made the semis, and then I'd lose. I'm excited and I'm ready to have fun," he said.
Brown's finals opponent will be Shady Side Academy senior Matthew Cunningham, 47-4, the Southwest Regional champ.
Brown said he was helped by a Friday morning talk with former Bucknell University coach Bob Ferraro. "He gave me a lot of really good advice that I used, like go out and do what you like and have fun with it and don't worry about the results.' I was wrestling OK, but I was worried about winning. (After this morning), I decided I was going to relax and have fun and that's what I did," he said.
Against Teague, who was 43-1, Brown used a sweep to get the early takedown.
He coupled it with an outside collar tie, something he said has been effective in the tournament because a lot of wrestlers haven't seen it.
"Sometimes things fall the way you want them and tonight was my night," he said.
Brown said he knew a lot about Teague, from watching him defeat teammate Eric Hummel in last year's tournament and he also beat him in freestyle, but the support of his family and friends was the biggest help.
"My coaches, my family, I probably have 10 teammates down here to support me. I really have to thank them," Brown added.
Brown reached the semis with a 10-2 major over Luke DeLuise, Pius X. Retherford advanced by a 9-1 major over Robert Ritschard of Oley Valley. Solomon posted a 2-1 ultimate tiebreaker win over Ian Gimbar of Saucon Valley in the quarterfinals.
Four Valley wrestlers lost in the quarterfinals, but rebounded with victories in the second-round consolations to assure themselves of a medal.
They were Shamokin's Brandon Pesarchick (130), Warrior Run's Elias Biddle (145) and Tyler Hain (152) and David Sheesley of Mifflinburg. In addition, Shamokin's Wes Tillett, who lost his preliminary bout Thursday, bounced back with a pair of consolation wins to also guarantee a medal.
Four other locals saw their seasons end with losses in the second-round consolations.
Ethan Midkiff, a Mifflinburg senior at 125, was pinned by DeLone Catholic's Tyler Small in 1:10 in the quarterfinals, then lost 7-2 to Matt Bryer of Cochranton.
Line Mountain sophomore Adam Kritzer, at 130, lost 8-0 in the quarterfinals to Joe Spisak of Boiling Springs, then fell 6-0 in the consolations to Jeremy Landowski of Burrell.
At 135, Shamokin junior Josh Lahr was pinned in 5:32 by a returning state champion, Nick Hodgkins of Wyomissing, in the quarterfinals, then fell 5-3 in overtime to Nikko Stevens, Northern Lehigh.
Shamokin senior Derek Shingara, at 140, lost 3-2 to Richard Baker, North Star, on a controversial takedown at the buzzer, then fell 5-4 to Ian Chiesa of Northwestern.
Biddle won a 3-2 tiebreaker decision over Athens' Garrett Russell (whom he beat 7-4 in last week's regionals) and advanced to today's third-fourth bout with an 8-5 win over Pen Argyl's Philip Racciato.
Pesarchick beat Reynolds' Austin Matthews 10-4, then got himself a berth in today's third-fourth bout with a 14-7 win over Tyrone's Ronnie Garbinsky.
Hain , a two-time silver medalist battling a rib injury, lost 9-5 to Fort LeBoeuf's Jeremy King (whom he beat 7-4 in last year's semifinals) and will wrestle for seventh place this afternoon.
Sheesley will also wrestle for seventh place today after losing 8-5 to Pius X's Anthony Bilotta as will Tillett after a 7-4 win over Boiling Springs' Tylor Unger followed by a 3-1 loss to Benton's Tyler DeMott. The latter avenged a loss to Tillett in last week's regional finals.
