Sentinel photo by MIKE GOSS Mifflin County's Andrew Alexander tries to break free of Notre Dame-Green Pond’s Cael Muller in the 118-pound weight class match on Thursday.

HERSHEY — The day has come for local wrestlers to battle for their dreams of being a state champion as the PIAA held its annual state wrestling championships at the Sweetest Place on Earth, the Giant Center in Hershey Park.

It would be a day where all local wrestlers would advance to day two of PIAA state wrestling action.

On the girls’ side, Juniata’s Maddy Bryner made the most of her first appearance in the big show.

In the night cap, the Huskies representative at 114 pounds, senior Andrew Alexander went 1-for-1 on the day, falling in his first match but coming out of his second matchup with a 6-0 victory.

In the consolation round, Alexander went up against Cocalico’s Mason Messner.

The two spent the first period battling for position but had to settle for a stalemate when the buzzer sounded, ending the period.

Alexander took the down position in the second and was able to use his speed and agility to escape Messner’s advantage. From there, Alexander was able to put his opponent down and quickly on his back. With the takedown and the two back points he was able to go into the final stanza holding a solid 6-0 lead. That would be all he would need as he kept Messner at bay to win and advance to Friday action.

“I think I controlled things pretty well,” said Alexander when asked about his win over Messner. “I’m not too proud of my first match but I think I redeemed myself in that second match.”

Starting off his day, Alexander came into PIAAs sporting a record of 30-5 as he faced off against Notre Dame-Green Pond’s Cael Muller who was sitting at 32-10. The two met last year with Muller winning a close 4-3 contest. In this matchup Muller won 8-0. Muller started out by picking up an early takedown and four back points early in the first, taking a 7-0 advantage.

In the second, Alexander, from the top position, tried to keep control of Muller. But late in the second, Muller was able to reverse the hold and held an eight-point lead going into the final period.

“This is the best tournament in the United States. It’s tough,” said Mifflin County coach Kirby Martin. “It takes a lot of mental toughness. He bounced back and was able to have a match. It was one to be proud of.”

In the lone girls competition, Bryner matched up with Central Dauphin’s Abby Stettler in her first match.

In the opening period, the two remained in the neutral position where Stettler was able to work her down on the mat, taking a 3-0 lead. She fell in the match 15-0 via tech. fall.

” Coming in for the first time, I know she doesn’t like to say it but it’s a big stage and she had first-match jitters,” said Juniata coach Jared Dressler. “Coming in through there and not knowing what the competition was pretty huge for her first time. But she was able to bounce back and when she came off that loss she said we’re just going to bounce back and win the consolation round.”

But in her consolation match, Bryner roared back in a big way as she notched a pin against Ringgold’s Mia Scalise in a first-period pinfall. After being taken down early Bryner reversed her fortunes as she was able to battle back and take control, putting Scalise into a pinning combination that guaranteed her another day of mat action.

“I’m very happy to go on,” said Bryner. “The arm bar I put on the second girl is something that I have been practicing and practicing on. I was hoping to use it in the first match but I wasn’t able to.”

Going into Thursday’s event, the three-day event consisted of three wrestlers from class 2A in Midd-West’s 145-pound Charley Paige and teammate Evan Maneval at 160. The Mount Union Trojans were also represented as well at 172 pounds by Rowan McLain-Hartman.

Hartman hit the mat first in the first round of pigtails against Derek Dube of General McClain.

Hartman led off with a takedown, he added four back points as he had Dube on his back for a nearfall.

In the second period, Hartman upped his lead to 10-0 and then notched four more back points before notching the 18-0 tech. fall at 3:40.

Hartman fell in his second match against Faith Christian’s Nick Singer, falling by pin with 35 seconds left in the second period.

Both Maneval and Paige picked up opening match byes to move into the official first round.

Paige was also successful on his first bout of the day, going up against Kyler See from Northeast in a thrilling 6-4 victory.

Paige was quick to the draw, posting the early takedown. But See immediately was able to turn it around and cut the Paige lead to 3-2.

But the Midd-West grappler was able to escape upping his lead to two.

With Paige in the upper starting position to start, See was able to work his way around to it on a reversal, knotting things at four.

With an escape late in the second and one in the third, Paige was able to keep away from See’s grip to pay a hard-fought 6-4 win.

At 160 Midd-West’s Maneval got his first match of the day.

Maneval battled early against Clearfield’s Colton Ryan but wasn’t able to pull out the victory, falling by major decision, 12-2.

Maneval kept his tournament alive as he battled back from trailing 3-0, to scrape and push his way back against Gavin Marcom of Western Wayne, winning 14-11.

After being taken down early, Maneval made his move to get on the board, posting an escape.

The second period belonged to Maneval as he rallied to post an escape, takedown and four points on back points to take the lead.

He would then hold on after a late run by Marcom.

Paige has punched his ticket to day two with an opening match win.

With his win in the preliminary round, Hartman will take his game to Friday to continue his run at a medal.

All will be back in action with Class 2A kicking things off at 8 a.m.