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Boozel techs two; in region semifinal

Juniata’s four still looking for state spot

Sentinel photo by TAMI KNOPSNYDER
Mount Union’s Josh Boozel works to turn McGuffey’s Seth Burgdolt during their Round of 16 bout at 106 pounds in the Class 2A Southwest Regional wrestling tournament Friday in Indiana, Pa. Boozel won a technical fall over Burgdolt.

INDIANA, Pa. — The way Josh Boozel sees it, last weekend was little more than a warmup for this weekend’s Class 2A Southwest Regional wrestling tournament.

The Mount Union junior recorded a pair of technical falls on Friday at the Kovalchick Complex to reach the semifinal round and guarantee himself a spot in the state tournament in two weeks. He was the only local wrestler to reach the semifinals, which will begin at noon today.

Three other wrestlers from Mount Union and four from Juniata are still alive in the consolation rounds and have a chance to place in the top six and advance to the state tournament.

For Boozel, qualifying was nice, but the real prize awaits on Saturday, as he’s hoping for a rematch with Bishop McCort’s Kaden Cassidy in the championship match.

A week ago, Cassidy won a bloody battle in the District 6 finals when Boozel was disqualified with one second remaining in the the tiebreak period.

“Last time was just to see where we were at,” Boozel said of that loss. “We chose positions where we knew the kid was good, just for this, because this is more important than districts.”

In order to get a potential rematch with Cassidy, Boozel will first need to get past Burrell’s Trent Valovchik. History is on Boozel’s side on that one, as he beat Valovchik 10-4 in the Thomas tournament last month.

“We’ve got to go one match at a time, you can’t get caught looking forward,” Mount Union coach Corey Wertz said.

The cut on the bridge of Boozel’s nose, which along with Cassidy’s own bleeding a week ago, delayed his district finals match but didn’t cause any problems on Friday.

“It’s good today,” Boozel said. “I superglued some stuff on it today. It ended up falling off the last match, but it’s getting a little better.”

Andrew Todaro (138 pounds), Levi Hockenberry (195) and Jake Ryan (220) each lost in the first round for the Trojans but rebounded with a victory to advance.

“Four out of five to Day 2? That’s not too bad, I guess,” Wertz said. “It could be a lot worse.”

Juniata has all four of its entrants alive for the second day, but each is in the consolation round. Garret Gabel was the only Indian to win his first-round match, as he beat Bentworth’s Jonathan Vargo 7-3 at 182 pounds.

“Nice win,” Juniata coach Mike Robinson said.

Gabel then lost by technical fall to top-seeded Dominic Fundy of Beth-Center in the second round, but remains in the hunt for a spot in the state tournament.

“Fundy, I remember following him last year to the regional finals, just a tough, hard-nosed young man,” Robinson said. “We’re expecting he’s going to end up finishing pretty high this year in the state medals.

Juniata’s Tyler Wileman (145), Jared Heister (160) and Nathan Foltz (285) each lost in the first round but bounced back to win in the first round of consolations.

“I’m happy for them,” Robinson said. “Basically, just have to keep stressing to wrestle aggressively. Do not wrestle defensively. You’ve got to wrestle to go out and put as many points on the board as you can in five minutes. They’re in the consi round now and you have a short first period. You’ve got to battle through that and point as many points on the board.”

Mount Union’s Tucker Helfrick was eliminated on the first day. He was a district seventh-place finisher who advanced as an alternate.

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