Four Saucon Valley Panther wrestlers took to Hershey's, Giant Center mat on Friday night to battle for their position on the PIAA State Wrestling Championships podium. Josh Jones (132) and Matt Arciuolo (160) led the way as they both competed in the semifinals. Thomas Spirk (138) and Nick Rosengrant (145) continued to compete through the consolation bracket.
Five of six Saucon Valley wrestlers advanced on to Day-Two of the 2019 PIAA State Wrestling Championships. Josh Jones (132), Nick Rosengrant (145), Matt Arciuolo (160) and Dane Csencsits started the day in the quarterfinals of the championship bracket. Thomas Spirk (138) who suffered an opening-round defeat, was still alive and in wrestle-back mode of the consolation bracket. This PIAA tourney is a grind and the Panthers are tough customers who look forward to these types of challenges.
Day-One for the Saucon Valley Panther wrestlers is now in the books. Josh Jones (132), Thomas Spirk (138), Nick Rosengrant (145), Matt Arciuolo (160), Dane Csencsits (195) and Nick Warnke (285) all qualified for the 2019 PIAA State Wrestling Championships last weekend. Because Jones and Arciuolo entered the tourney as top seeds, they earned preliminary-round byes. Dane Csencsits, a #2 seed, also earned a bye. Warnke and Rosengrant are #4 seeds and, along with Spirk who is a #5 seed, saw opening-round action.
Last weekend Saucon Valley junior, Josh Jones, earned his place on the 2018 PIAA State Wrestling Championship podium as the runner-up to 4-time state champion Gavin Teasdale. Teasdale, a highly-regarded Penn State recruit, did defeat Jones by a 2-0 score, but Jones made Panther Nation proud by taking Teasdale to the wire and coming within inches of claiming the gold. Jones is a highly-decorated wrestler who, by virtue of goal-setting and hard work, has a very bright future.
The hearty wrestling tradition that runs deep through Saucon Valley has grown a little deeper on Saturday as brothers Josh and Jason Jones took their respective places on the podium at the 2018 PIAA State wrestling championships. Panther junior, Josh Jones (126), finished in 2nd Place, while senior brother Jason (138) won his medal-round bout to finish 7th overall. It was a great day for Panther wrestling!
Since the year 2000 Saucon Valley wrestling has placed wrestlers on the state championship podium every year except for 2010 and 2014. The Panthers are certainly well-represented throughout its wrestling history and 2018 will be no exception to their success. Senior Jason Jones and his brother Josh, a junior, are both guaranteed to leave Hershey with some hardware. The question is how high on the podium will they each finish.
Almost one week after taking six Panther wrestlers to the PIAA Southeast Regional tournament and advancing all six to the State tournament, Saucon Valley coach Chad Shirk still has five of those six grapplers alive to live another day in Hershey.
It was a great weekend for the Saucon Valley wrestlers who competed in the PIAA Southeast Regional wrestling tournament at Wilson West Lawn High School. Led by Josh Jones' gold medal effort, all six Panthers qualified for the regional tournament and all six will be moving on to States.
After last weekend's PIAA District XI wrestling tournament the Saucon Valley Panthers crowned three champions and advanced six wrestlers to compete in this weekend's regional tournament at Wilson West Lawn High School. Panther seniors Jason Jones (138) and Angelo Mahaffey (152) were joined by junior Josh Jones (126) and sophomores Thomas Spirk (145), Dane Csencsits (195) and Nick Warnke (285).
The Saucon Valley Panthers faced off against against the Muncy Indians in the PIAA Team Championship Quarterfinals on Friday afternoon. The Panthers won 7 of the 14 bouts but stumbled, then fell 39-31 to the Indians.
