Lions roll into state quarterfinals

   For all that Chestnut Ridge has accomplished over the last six-plus years, the Lions haven't been able to win a state team medal two years in a row.
   That could change this weekend, and they got past the first hurdle earlier today with a 51-21 domination of Freedom in the Class AA first round.
   The second half of the dual was right in Chestnut Ridge's wheelhouse with its run of strong upperweights. And the Lions got pins in five of six weights, from Seth Holderbaum, Jared McGill, Austin Crouse, Duane Knisely, and Dalton Seace, respectively, to pull away from the Bulldogs.
   While that was impressive, even more so in my opinion were the efforts of Gryphon Callihan at 126, Luke Moore at 138, and Baltzer Bollman at 145.
   Callihan drew Z.J. Ward, a two-time state qualifier. We didn't see Ward at the Thomas Chevrolet Tournament two weeks ago, but he was in the lineup today. And the Freedom wrestler took a 5-1 lead in the second period. Callihan fought back to 5-4 and had a chance at a takedown in the third period, losing just 7-5.
   After Trevor Weyandt won by fall, Moore took the mat and promptly countered Kenny Duschek's shot for his own takedown. Duschek, also a prior state qualifier, never trailed again but had to fight off Moore's aggressiveness. Moore had a slow start to his freshman season, but he's quietly coming along as crunch time is here.
   Then at 145, Bollman gave up four takedowns to Jake Pail, but didn't give up any more than that. The Lions gave up just 15 points to that trio plus Freedom's Trent Schulteis (152), a returning state medalist.
   While I believe Chestnut Ridge would have had enough to win the match anyway, the start of it couldn't really have gone much better for Greg Lazor's group.
   As for a quarterfinal with Hamburg tomorrow, it should be interesting. Shameless plug, but I was eight for eight today with my first round picks, which you can see in my last blog post. I also said the Hamburg/Greenville match was close to call, and it was with the Hawks winning 36-34 on a technical fall from one of the Gimbor twins, both returning state qualifiers who transferred in this year from Brandywine Heights.
   Also of note is Hamburg had the largest and loudest crowd of any Class AA school by far at the Giant Center. I would imagine a similar showing of fans of the District 3 champions on Friday.

- Make sure you see my match coverage from today's match in the Friday edition of the Bedford Gazette. Pick up a copy or go online. And if you're here in Hershey, the online version is free access, so make it a great read over the breakfast table before you head to the Giant Center for the quarterfinals.