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First Posted: 3/6/2014 HERSHEY &#8211; Just another first-round match in the PIAA Class 2A Championships for Austin Harry and another victory.
For the fourth straight season, Harry picked up a first-round victory in the state&#8217;s wrestling tournament to run his career win total at the Giant Center to eight over his four-year career.
On Thursday morning, the Lake-Lehman 132-pounder knocked off Biglerville&#8217;s Scott Cooper 3-1. The Black Knight senior didn&#8217;t score until the second period when he managed an escape about 15 seconds in and then grabbed a takedown with a single leg with about 45 seconds left in the period when he countered a bad shot from Cooper with his own good shot.
The only point he allowed came in the third period when Cooper was attempting to escape and Harry was called for a locked hands violation. Both wrestlers were on their feet as Harry was trying to keep Cooper from escaping when he was called with the violation. That&#8217;s uncharacteristic of Harry to get hit with a call like that.
&#8220;You can&#8217;t blame the refs for anything, they try their best, you just gotta continue wrestling hard,&#8221; said Harry, who is the only of four WVC wrestlers to win a match in Class 2A. &#8220;Locked hands is when you&#8217;re both on the mat and hands are locked. We were both on our feet and I didn&#8217;t think they were locked. But they made the call and you gotta keep wrestling.&#8221;
Up next for the Black Knight is Dalton Zimmerman from Brookville, who won via major decision in his opening-round bout.
Hanover&#8217;s Ian Brown, who has been lauded as the favorite in the bracket and could see Harry in the semifinals, won with a tech fall. Harry and Bedford&#8217;s Ryan Easter, who was runner-up last season, were the only two in the bracket to win by a close score.
&#8220;A 3-1 win is as good as a tech fall down here,&#8221; Lehman coach Tom Williams said.
Harry agrees with his coach and isn&#8217;t concerned heading into today&#8217;s match.
&#8220;It&#8217;s the first match. All the nerves are there so my legs were a little heavy, but I&#8217;m glad I got that one out of the way,&#8221; he said.
Three Wyoming Valley Conference underclassmen making their state debuts in Class 2A on Thursday didn&#8217;t fare as well as Harry.
Wyoming Area sophomore Charlie Johnson lost via tech fall to Reynolds&#8217; Michael Bartolo. Johnson came back later in the morning in a first-round consolation match against Tamaqua&#8217;s Colin Mashack and lost in the third overtime period 9-6.
Even though Johnson held a two-point lead with 30 seconds left in overtime and let it slip away, he takes plenty of positives from his sophomore season, but knows he has work to do if he wants to return.
&#8220;I&#8217;m a little disappointed in myself. I feel like I should&#8217;ve at least won a match if not placed down here,&#8221; Johnson said. &#8220;I gotta train harder. I gotta work on my tilts and everything more. I noticed even last week that I did nothing except when I was on my feet. I couldn&#8217;t work a tilt at all.&#8221;
Harry&#8217;s teammate Derek Dragon, a junior, was attempting the initial takedown but instead got taken down himself. From there, it was all North Schuylkill&#8217;s Auston Hummel, who eventually got an escape and a takedown in the second period before working a pin with a headlock in 2:58. He then lost his first-round consolation match via major decision and was eliminated when he wrestled returning state qualifier Nick Mort from Fairfield.
GAR&#8217;s Saul Wilkins was also pinned. The junior was caught via half nelson late in the first period and couldn&#8217;t get off his back against ELCO&#8217;s Wes Bankus, who recorded the fall in 1:49.
Dragon and Wilkins were eliminated after losses in the first round of consolations. Like Johnson, Wilkins lost in overtime.
Wilkins held a 2-1 lead after he escaped in the second overtime period, but in the third OT, his opponent, Gene Ringer, picked up a point for an escape himself to equal the score to force the rideout.
Ringer chose bottom and escaped with 14 seconds left to secure the victory and end the remarkable season of the Grenadiers&#8217; first-year wrestler.
&#8220;It&#8217;s unbelievable,&#8221; GAR coach Rick Simon when asked about the success of his wrestler. &#8220;For a kid that&#8217;s so athletically-gifted to make it here at states is something that all kids dream of. And for him to do it in his first year in astonishing.&#8221;

Harry the lone WVC 2A survivor