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CV’s Fischer Punches Ticket to State Tourney

BY ERIC PYLES

The ‘Road to Hershey’ took on a different meaning this year as the 2022 edition of the District 3-3A Championship moved from Hershey to Spring Grove, leaving just the PIAA Championships in the sweetest place on Earth. “All of our guys competed hard,” said head coach Trent Turner of the eight wrestlers Conestoga Valley sent to the championship tournament. Unfortunately, only two managed to land on the medal stand.

Keaton Fischer was one of those two, nabbing his first career district medal while serving as the top finisher for CV thanks to his bronze at 145.

“Keaton Fischer reaped the rewards of a ton of hard work in the offseason. He had the toughest road to the medal stand than anyone,” said Turner.

That difficult path saw Fischer drop his quarterfinal bout opposite Hempfield’s Reagan Lefevre by a 6-4 final, wiping out his opening round win over Gettysburg’s Jaxon Townsend. That quarterfinal loss dropped Fischer into the consolation bracket where he ran off four straight wins to earn that bronze. He started fast, taking out Jarod Baker (Spring Grove) in just 36-seconds then battled Cedar Cliff’s Max Haas for a 4-0 victory. Fischer needed overtime to get past York Suburban’s Noah Rice in the consy semifinal but did just that with a 50 win. That setup Fischer’s consolation final match with Cocalico’s Aiden Swann which Fischer claimed 11-0. “That run was nothing short of amazing,” Tuner said. “I believe that he will represent CV Wrestling well at the Giant Center in Hershey.” Fellow senior and co-captain Trent Ruble was the second Buckskin to make the medal stand, doing so in the 113pound bracket. Ruble picked up his second sixth place district medal after missing the podium last year.

“I would have loved to have had two state qualifiers, but Trent still had an exceptional career,” said Turner.

Ruble posted a 3-3 mark over the two-day event with all three losses coming to others on the medal stand. The first of those losses came in the quarterfinals where eventual silver medalist Nico Tocci of Warwick knocked Ruble out of gold medal contention via an 11-5 decision. Ruble opened his district time by blanking West York’s Nate Brown 10-0 and rebounded after the loss to Tocci by pinning Keegan Zeigler of Cedar Cliff early in the third period of their tangle. Ruble’s final win was a 15-0 tech fall win over Cumberland Valley’s Alex Tennis that ensured the senior his second medal. Rumble stumbled from there, falling to Penn Manor’s Travis Clawson and Chambersburg’s Rylan Carter to settle into the sixth-place spot.

Turner also mentioned the other three seniors that took part in the District 33A Championships, saying, “We had a great group of seniors this year and it’s always hard to see some of their season’s end prematurely, but I am proud of all that they accomplished and how they led the team through this year.”

Turner was talking about Nathaniel Kirchner, Jonathan Lopez and Mukhammed Karayev who went a combined 3-6 over the weekend. Lopez accounted for two of those wins but also suffered two losses to put his record at 2816 for the season. Things started well for Lopez in the 189-pound bracket with an 85 win over Solanco’s Robert Castagna but went south with a quarterfinal loss to Teague Conover (Spring Grove). He was able to bounce back with a 7-2 win over Dallastown’s Michael Klinger but saw his season come to a close with a loss to Ephrata’s James Ellis in the consolation quarterfinals.

Karayev picked up the third win for the trio, slipping by Red Land’s Ethan Eisner, 4-3, in the opening round of the 285-pound festivities but then suffered back-to-back losses to Ben Stewart (Central Dauphin) and Caleb Mussmon (Hempfield), leaving Karayev with a 22-11 record for the year.

Kirchner’s time in Spring Grove ended with losses to Dallastown’s Isaiah Feeney and Big Spring’s Clayton Hetrick in the 172-pound draw. He finished with a 26-21 mark for the year.

The remaining three Buckskins went a combined 1-6 with Luke Morley picking up the lone victory. He did so in his first consolation bracket match, topping Central Dauphin’s Dallas Schorr by a 6-4 final. Morley’s other two matches in the 120-pound bracket also went the distance but Morley ended up on the wrong side of those finals, with the sophomore falling to Gabriel Pecaitis (Gettysburg) and Jake Mitchell (Cumberland Valley).

CV’s Jake Needham suffered setbacks in the 152pound bracket, falling to Cade Dobbins (Dallastown) and Jarrett Wilson (Carlisle) and freshman Abdoul Akala finished his season with a 23-17 mark after losses to Gettysburg’s Jacob Cherry and Hempfield’s Grant Hoover.

BOWLING

The last remaining CV bowlers, Ryan Muckle, and Jocelyn Ross, spent Saturday February 26th at ABC North Lanes in Harrisburg, competing in the District 3 singles championship. Neither was able to make it out of the qualifying round with Muckle finishing 33rd on the boy’s side and Ross 10th on the girl’s side. Muckle’s five-game count of 853, fell short of the finals cut of 1057. The same was true for Ross and her 928 which came up just short of the finals cut line of 965.

Staff photo

The Buckskins’ Jonathan Lopez turns Solanco’s Robert Castagna for back points during his 8-5 win in a 189-pound, firstround match at the South Central AAA Regional Tournament in Spring Grove on February 25.

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Photo by Cheri Sine

Conestoga Valley’s Keaton Fischer works towards an 8-6 win over Gettysburg’s Jaxon Townsend in a 145-pound opener in the South Central AAA Regional Championships in Spring Grove on February 25. Fischer went 5-1 in the Tournament to place third in the bracket and qualify for the PIAA Championships in Hershey’s Giant Center on March 10-12.

Photo by Cheri Sine

Conestoga Valley’s Abdoul Akala mixes it up with Jacob Cherry of Gettysburg in a 160-pound, opening-round contest at the South Central AAA Regionals in Spring Grove on February 25.