Saucon Valley advance three to the 2021 PIAA State Championships.
Last weekend, the Saucon Valley Panthers advanced four wrestlers into the PIAA Super-Regional tournament which was hosted by Pottsville High School on Saturday. With a top-four finish in the Super-Regional, a trip to Hershey was on the line for a chance to compete for State Title. It was mixed results, especially early-on, for the Panthers. Fortunately for Saucon, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.
During the early rounds of Saturday’s session all four Panthers found themselves wrestling their way back through the consolation bracket. Only sophomore Jake Jones (172) was able to grab a first-round win. Liam Scrivanich (160), Ty Csencsits (189) and Dante Mahaffey (215) each stumbled out of the gates and dropped to the Consy’s.
Saucon Wrestling is a proven wrestling powerhouse.
Scrivanich, only a sophomore, wrestled well but went two-and-out with losses to Midd-West senior Avery Basset and Southern Columbia’s Garrett Garcia. Jake Jones (172), defeated Kohen Lehman from North Penn-Liberty by a 14-9 score in his quarterfinal bout. Jones, however, fell in the semis to Southern Columbia’s Gavin Garcia. Ty Csencsits (189) lost a close one to Wesley Barnes of Southern Columbia in his opener, but bounced back in a big way to advance with a 12-0 major-decision over Newport’s Mason Huggins. Dante Mahaffey (215) fell in an “Ultimate-Tie-Breaker” to Benton’s Zach Poust, but successfully battled back in a hard-fought, 7-4 scrap against Brody Kline of Berks Catholic.
So the drama of the day built with Jones, Csencsits and Mahaffey all finding themselves in the notorious “blood-round” where a win would guarantee a place on the podium at Hershey next week while a loss would bring about an end to the season.
All three Panthers prevailed to win their blood-round match and advanced for an opportunity to wrestle for third-place. First, Jake Jones won by a 5-4 decision over Hamburg’s Brant Mason. Then, Ty Csencsits powered past Tri Valley’s Jake Scheib to win by fall with :03 seconds left in the bout. Finally, Dante Mahaffey held on to defeat Faith Christian’s Leo Muzicka 3-2.
With a guaranteed PIAA State medal and a place reserved on the Giant Center podium, two of the three powerful Panthers pushed further to take third-place. Jones kept this momentum going and defeated Ethan Gush of Muncy by a 9-4 score. Mahaffey got the better of Savauri Shelton, 3-2. Unfortunately, Csencsits was edged out 5-4 by Bryce Ender of Halifax and finished fourth. Nonetheless, Saucon Valley is now guaranteed three state medalists at next week’s 2021 PIAA State Championships!
UP NEXT: Jones, Csencsits and Mahaffey have each punched their ticket to Friday’s 2021 PIAA State Championships in Hershey!
Good Luck, Panthers. The Source is with you!