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Mustangs advance two wrestlers

WILLIAMSPORT – Midd-West wrestling coach Dale Franquet calls it the 4-5-4 method. If the Mustangs Cameron Snook and Owen Zechman follow their coach’s approach, they could end up at the PIAA wrestling tournament in Hershey a couple of weeks down the road.

Snook and Zechman have accomplished the first two numbers in the formula with top four finishes at the South Sectional tournament last weekend and getting into the top five at the Class 2A District 4 Wrestling tournament at Williamsport.

Snook was the runner-up at the sectional tournament and and followed that with a fourth place finish at 182 pounds Saturday night. Zechman claimed the final transfer spot at the sectional tournament and duplicated that effort with a fifth place finish at 220 pounds at the district tournament.

The duo were the only Midd-West wrestlers to advance to the Northeast Regional tournament next weekend in Williamsport.

“This time of the year it’s all about top four, top five, top four (finishes) and getting to states,” Franquet said. “Once you get to states, everything is out the window. You have to find a way to win two matches in a row down there to get into the top eight.”

After losing to Wyalusing’s Joe Koss, the eventual runner-up, 3-2, in Friday night’s quarterfinals, Snook had plenty of work to do on Saturday. He blanked Northeast Bradford’s Alec Morris, 8-0, in his first consolation bout and then topped Danville’s Noah Zakarian, 8-1, to reach the consolation semifinals.

Snook assured himself of a top four finish when he pinned Warrior Run’s Christian Wachter in 4:13. In the battle for third place he was edged, 6-5, by Troy’s Zachery Zimmerman, a state qualifier last year and the top seed at 182 pounds. Zimmerman was edged by Koss, 4-3 in the semifinals.

“Cameron came back and wrestled really good consolation matches,” Franquet said. “He had a chance to win the third place match. Next week might be a different story.”

Zechman worked through a 4-2 weekend and beat Montoursville senior Michael Martin, 5-4, in the critical 5th place bout. Zechman had beat Martin, 7-5 Friday night. He had two falls in his first two consolation bouts before being pinned by Wes Shurock of Mount Carmel in the consolation semifinals.

“Owen really wrestled tough in the wrestle-backs,” Franquet said.

Entering the tournament, Noah Ettinger might have seemed like the Mustang with the best chance to advance. But he couldn’t navigate through the tough 138-pound bracket, losing to Wyalusing’s Luke Yonkin in the 5th place bout, 12-0.

Ettinger was beaten, 10-1, by one of the hottest wrestlers in the tournament, Line Mountain’s Caleb Shaffer, in the semifinals. Ettinger had pinned Shaffer in the South Sectional semifinals last week.

“That was very disappointing after he had controlled (Shaffer) the whole match at sectionals,” Franquet said. “I think it was nerves and he was mentally out of it after

the semifinals.”

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