Mount Carmel duo wins District 4 championships

by BY CHUCK SOUDERS

Posted on February 25, 2007

WILLIAMSPORT — Josh Malick wanted to make up for a dumb mistake.




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Tyler Erdman didn’t want to lose to another Warrior Run kid. Jon Fausey wanted payback, and Line Mountain coach Mike Martz just wanted his team to wrestle like it could, and things would take care of themselves.

They all got what they wanted Saturday at the District 4 Class AA Wrestling Tournament.

Mount Carmel’s Malick, Line Mountain’s Erdman and Fausey, and Mount Carmel’s James Haynes each won individual titles, leading a group of 14 area athletes who will advance to next week’s Northeast Regional Tournament, also at Williamsport.

Martz definitely got what he wanted. Line Mountain advanced seven of the eight wrestlers it brought here and won the team championship with 125.5 points, six points ahead of Canton (119.5), with Mount Carmel third (93).

The Red Tornadoes advanced four wrestlers, with Shamokin advancing two and Southern Columbia one.

Malick won at 112 pounds, Erdman at 125, Fausey at 160, and Haynes at 189.

Line Mountain also had runnerups in Chad Thorpe (119) and Shawn Fausey (171), who lost a tight duel to Central Columbia’s unbeaten Nate Johnson on a late escape 2-1 in a battle of the two top-ranked wrestlers in the state at that weight.

Southern heavyweight Josh Marks suffered his first defeat, losing 3-1 in the final to his rival Roman Husam of Lewisburg. Husam scored a takedown with about 10 seconds left in the bout for the win.

“We thought we had a good chance (to win the title) last night, but Canton’s kids really wrestled their butts off and made it close. Our guys wrestled their butts off, too. I’m pleased with how we wrestled,” Martz said.

Canton only had one champion, but advanced eight wrestlers to regionals.

Mount Carmel coach Randy Reidler was also pleased with his team’s showing.

“We had eight kids here, six placed and four advanced. That’s a heck of a two-day performance at a tournament like this,” Reidler said.

Malick (33-0) had a little bit of a struggle in the semifinals, with a 4-2 win over Canton’s Garth Mahosky, but came back strong with a 12-4 major decision in the finals over Warrior Run’s Micah Watts.

“I did something dumb (in the semifinals),” Malick said. “I took a bad shot with a 4-0 lead and he took advantage of it. My coaches went over it with me. That was a good match for me, though.”

Malick had no problems in the title bout, taking a 10-2 lead in the fiirst period and cruising through.

“I’m just taking things one match a time, one weekend at a time,” he said. “It’s time to move forward, forward.”

Haynes (31-1) flattened Montoursville’s Gene Baier in 5:18 in the final after dominating the whole bout.

“James is a 100-percent gifted athlete who is starting to get a lot better as a wrestler,” said Reidler. “He’s going to be a great wrestler before he’s done here. He’s still only been wrestling four or five years.”

Other area wrestlers advancing were Line Mountain’s Justin Erdman, Nick Lansberry and Ed Klock; Mount Carmel’s Mike McCollum and Randy Elliott; and Shamokin’s Derrick Shingara and Ryan Burns.



©The REPUBLICAN & Herald 2007

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