Line Mountain places fourth at Top Hat tournament

by Frank Dimon

Posted on December 7, 2008

WILLIAMSPORT -- Line Mountain coach Mike Martz isn't a betting man, but if he was he wouldn't have put a lot of money on his Eagles' chances of battling their way into the top five teams at the Top Hat wrestling tournament in Williamsport this weekend.


Too bad for Martz that he didn't wager on his team. The Eagles, with three champions and three other placewinners, finished in fourth place with 128 points. That was well behind Central Dauphin, which repeated as team champion with three champions and a trio of runners-up.

"The odds weren't very good that we would finish this high," Martz said. "But we could have taken third place with just a little better effort somewhere. I am satisfied, but there is room for improvement."

The Eagles picked up an unlikely title from senior Ryan Burns (125), a gut-check championship from sophomore Travis Erdman (135), and the expected crown for senior Jon Fausey (189).

Burns, whose phoenix-like return began Friday night when he knocked off the No. 4 seed, continued his comeback with a stunning 2-1 win over defending Top Hat champ and No. 1 seed Simon Rice of Central Dauphin in the morning semifinals. Burns converted a first-period takedown in that match to beat Rice, who finished third in Class AAA at 112 last season.

"Getting that first takedown always helps relax me, and in that match it turned out to be enough to win," Burns said.

Burns followed that momentous win with a similar plan against Drew Rebling of South Western in the finals. Burns again picked up a first-period takedown, allowed a second-period escape, and widened the margin with a third-period escape for a 3-1 decision.

"It doesn't matter what the score is, a win is a win," Burns said.

Erdman, who placed fifth at 130 a year ago, accomplished something his older brother, Tyler, couldn't with his with a narrow 2-1 decision over Indian Valley's Tyler Bedelyon: a Top Hat title.

The older Erdman, now wrestling at 125 pounds for Elizabethtown College, lost 1-0 to Red Lion's Chris Albright in the 119-pound final a year ago.

Like Burns, Travis Erdman converted a first-period takedown and then made it stand up in a tense bout. His finals win followed a 3-2 overtime victory that went to rideout against No. 1 seed Luke Walker of Cumberland Valley in the semifinals.

Neither win surprised Erdman, who had beaten both wrestlers during summer competition.

"I beat both of them by a hair this summer, so I knew that I could beat them," Erdman said. "In matches like that you just have to be mentally tough and gut it out. I guess I did that."

Fausey, a Top Hat champion at 171 last year, claimed his second title with another close triumph, and one that had the flavor of an ACC-Big Ten challenge. Fausey, who has signed to wrestle at Virginia, edged Illinois-bound Tony Dallago of Central Dauphin when he escaped with 40 seconds left in the third period to break a 2-2 deadlock. Dallago won a Top Hat championship at 160 last year.

"We expect Jon to win and that's what he did," Martz said. "It was a good win."

Martz was also happy with his other placewinners. Ryan Klinger, who lost to heralded Central Dauphin sophomore Kenny Courts in the semifinals at 160, bounced back with a fall in the consy semis before dropping a 4-2 decision to Mifflinburg's Dave Snook for fourth place.

At 152, Josh Nguyen split a pair of morning matches before losing a 13-7 decision to Dave Hoffman of Titusville and settling for sixth place. Carlos Zrake, the Eagles' 140-pounder, lost both of his matches during the day and finished eighth.

Snook's third place at 160 was the best effort for the Wildcats, who travel to Lewisburg for a dual meet Tuesday night. Snook lost a tough 5-3 semifinal decision to Cumberland Valley's Tristan Warner, who later earned the Outstanding Wrestler award by stunning Courts 8-3 in the final at 160. But the Mifflinburg senior rebounded with 5-3 win over Adam Zellman of Elizabethtown before knocking off Klinger.

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