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<p>HERSHEY &#8212; For the second straight afternoon, Jimmy Hoffman was locked in a tight contest in the PIAA Class 3A Championships.</p><p>And for the second consecutive afternoon, he won that match and advanced in the championship round of the 132-pound bracket.</p><p>The Hazleton Area junior defeated Hempfield&#8217;s Luke Kemerer 1-0 on Friday at Giant Center to advance to Saturday&#8217;s state semifinals &#8212; which are set to begin at 9 a.m. &#8212; where he will face Council Rock South&#8217;s Zack Trampe (47-1), the 2015 state runner-up.</p><p>With the win, Hoffman (41-6) not only assured himself a medal for the first time in three appearances, he also extended the Wyoming Valley Conference&#8217;s streak of having a state semifinalist to 15 straight years, dating back to 2002.</p><p>&#8220;I love it,&#8221; Hoffman said. &#8220;To finally break that match, this is like the blood round, and to finally be able to push off it and succeed is just an outstanding feeling. Medal secured and now I&#8217;m really happy.&#8221;</p><p>Hoffman and Kemerer were scoreless after the first period. Hoffman chose bottom to start the second and escaped about 15 seconds into the period to go up 1-0. For the rest of the period, he fended off shots while taking a few, but neither participant scored.</p><p>Kemerer, looking to generate some offense, chose neutral to start the third period. Yet again, Hoffman played defense, staying away from the big shots. He almost got taken down twice but was out of bounds both times. Like his second win the day before, Hoffman won by one point, an escape, to move on.</p><p>&#8220;We practice getting out all the time, and to be able to get out on bottom at the state tournament has really been helping me,&#8221; Hoffman said. &#8220;I like those matches better because it shows that you&#8217;re in the match the whole time and you had to work full time. Whereas if you beat a kid by 10, 11, 12, you were in control the whole time.&#8221;</p><p>Even though it was a big win on Friday and he accomplished one goal, Hoffman knows he still has work to do for the semifinals, and knows what he has to do in his bout against Trampe.</p><p>&#8220;I need to get a takedown right off the bat. If I do that and get that takedown I&#8217;ll feel more secure,&#8221; Hoffman said.</p><p>Abington Heights&#8217; Nick Carr joined Hoffman in the 3A semis later in the round when he won his 160-pound match 9-4.</p><p>Carr and Hoffman are the only two in the entire district in either classification to claim medals.</p><p>Tunkhannock&#8217;s Mike Manley (152 pounds) and Dallas&#8217; Cole Dixon (182) won their second round consolation bouts, but then lost their third round consolation matches and were eliminated.</p><p>After winning his first consolation match, a 7-2 win vs. Nolan Poust from New Oxford, Manley saw his solid career come to an end with a tough 1-0 loss to Jonathan Ross from Northern York in the third round of consolations. Ross was ranked second in the state to start the tournament and was a fifth-place medalist last year.</p><p>Manley ends his four years at Tunkhannock with 43 wins this season, the most in school history, and 105 career victories after picking up two wins at the state tournament.</p><p>He started his improbable run to Hershey after not even winning a district title this season, but fought back to advance and become the school&#8217;s first state qualifier since 1993. He fell just one point shy of being the school&#8217;s first state medalist since 1989.</p><p>&#8220;He wrestled his butt off all weekend and he wrestled tough, but just came up a little short there in the end; he had a great year,&#8221; Tunkhannock coach Bob Hegedty said. &#8220;To see him have the season he had was great. We stressed to the kids before districts to just move on and you never know what can happen and he came up just one win short of placing down here.&#8221;</p><p>Dixon did win his first district title this season, improving on previous second and third place finishes. He then took second at regionals to reach the state event where he won twice, but ultimately finished his season with a mark of 42-4 and 101 career victories.</p><p>He started Friday with a 3-2 win over Brinton Simington from Altoona before falling 7-1 to Gregg Harvey from Boyertown; Harvey was sixth-place medalist a year ago.</p><p>Dixon also got his career off to a sluggish start with a losing record, and made a phenomenal run in his last three years.</p><p>&#8220;I think Cole wrestled to the best of his ability and did the best that he could, he just ran into a roadblock in that last match,&#8221; Dallas coach Mike Richards said. &#8220;I couldn&#8217;t be happier with his season. He exceeded my expectations. We were hoping get a district title and maybe make a showing at regionals.</p><p>&#8220;But to get to the finals at regionals and come down here and win two matches and go 2-2, I couldn&#8217;t be happier.&#8221;</p><div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>132-pounder extends WVC streak at states to 15 years</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>drosengrant@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>ONLINE</strong></p><p>To see video of Hazleton Area&#8217;s Jimmy Hoffman talking about advancing to the state semifinals read this story on timesleader.com.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> ppahwgBYxZI</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppahwgBYxZI</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

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Hazleton Area’s Jimmy Hoffman reaches Class 3A 132-pound semifinals at PIAA Championships