For York-Adams wrestlers, road to Hershey starts Saturday with sectional action

For York-Adams League wrestlers, the road to Hershey starts Saturday.

The individual Pennsylvania high school postseason begins Saturday with sectional action. The York-Adams Class 3-A competitors will wrestle in Section 4 at South Western, while the Y-A 2-A participants will compete in Section 1 at Susquenita.

All of those participants have the same goal — advancing the PIAA state championships at the Giant Center in Hershey on Friday, March 12, for 2-A wrestlers, and Saturday, March 13, for 3-A wrestlers.

Each sectional weight class this year features eight wrestlers.

There will be 14 3-A programs in Section 4 at South Western — 13 from the Y-A League and Waynesboro from the Mid-Penn. Only the top two finishers in each class will advance to the District 3 3-A Championships. There are four sections in 3-A.

There are 17 2-A programs in Section 1 at Susquenita, with eight of the from the Y-A League. The top four finishers in each class will advance to the District 3 2-A meet. There are just two sections in 2-A.

The 2-A wrestlers who advance out of sectional action will have to bounce back quickly. The District 3 2-A Championships are Sunday at Central Dauphin East.

The 3-A wrestlers who make it out of sectionals will have a little more time to rest. The District 3 3-A Championships (which also serve as the Southcentral Regional) will be Saturday, Feb. 27, at Spring Grove.

The 2-A Southeast Regional is also Saturday, Feb. 27, again at Central Dauphin East.

Top seeds at South Western: The top-two seeded wrestlers in the 3-A sectional at South Western are:

106: 1. Spring Grove’s Levi Snyder (16-1). 2. York Suburban’s Tyler Adams (18-1).

113: 1. Spring Grove’s Braxton Rice (12-4). 2. New Oxford’s Jerry Dattoli (11-3).

120: 1. Dover’s Mason Leiphart (15-0). 2. Dallastown’s Zach Luckenbaugh (17-2).

126: 1. Spring Grove’s Ivan Vega (15-2). 2. Red Lion’s Tyler Bootier (14-5).

132: 1. York Suburban’s Bryson Neidigh (17-1). 2. Dallastown’s Ashton Deller (16-3).

138: 1. Dallastown’s Caden Dobbins (17-2). 2. Gettysburg’s Ethan Dalton (20-5).

145: 1. York Suburban’s Noah Rice (10-3). 2. Waynesboro’s Kaden Rouzer (10-4).

152: 1. Central York’s Jeremiah Smith (13-5). 2. Gettysburg’s Jared Townsend (19-6).

160: 1. Red Lion’s Ryan Fry (17-2). 2. Gettysburg’s Jacob Cherry (22-3).

172: 1. Spring Grove’s Thomas Dressler (16-1). 2. York Suburban’s Jamal Lewis (9-0).

189: 1. Gettysburg’s Max Gourley (24-1). 2. Dallastown’s Brooks Gable (18-1).

215: 1. South Western’s Robert Utz (9-1). 2. New Oxford’s Dylan Forbes (14-3).

285: 1. Gettysburg’s Trevor Gallagher (21-3). 2. Dover’s Jarod Love (9-1).

Possible showdown at 189: The most highly-anticipated weight class at South Western is likely 189, where the top two seeds are returning state qualifiers who both have committed to NCAA Division I programs.

Gable has committed to the Air Force Academy, while Gourley is headed to the Virginia Military Institute.

Gable won a District 3 3-A title a year ago at 145 before bulking up to 189 this season.

Gourley, who finished third in the district a year ago at 182, handed Gable his only loss of the season on Feb. 6, 4-2. Gourley’s only loss came to Carlisle’s Colton Zimmerman, 14-7, on Feb. 4. Zimmerman is 16-2 this season. Zimmerman is the No. 1 seed in Section 3 at Mechanicsburg.

Other than Gable and Gourley, the other returning state qualifiers competing at the South Western sectional are Leiphart, Dobbins, Forbes and Dressler.

Class 2-A: In the 2-A sectional at Susquenita, the following Y-A wrestlers grabbed top-two seeds: 

132: 1. Bermudian Springs' Brennan Schisler (11-2). 

138: 1. Littlestown's Connor Brown (16-0).

145: 1. Biglerville's Levi Haines (16-0).

172: 2. Delone Catholic's Tate Neiderer (10-1).

215: 1. Bermudian Springs' Savauri Shelton (13-0). 2. Kennard-Dale's Bronson Leach (14-3).

285: 1. Bermudian Springs' Hogan Swenski (13-0). 2. Fairfield's Jake Moyer (12-1).

Haines is a two-time state silver medalist. Brown grabbed an eighth-place state medal a year ago. 

Neiderer, Shelton and Moyer were state qualifiers a year ago. Another state qualifier from 2020, Littlestown's Ayden Dillon (14-2), is seeded No. 3 at 145 behind Haines and Newport's Ganon Smith (10-1).

Reach Steve Heiser at sheiser@yorkdispatch.com.