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Kingston American Legion Post 395 celebrates 100th anniversary

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Beyond the Byline: Elks do so much for so many

<p>HERSHEY &#8212; Throughout his career during big tournaments, D.J. Erickson has worn an old Hanover Area singlet from the 1990s that he found. While wearing it on special occasions, he only lost a handful of matches.</p><p>So on Saturday at Giant Center, for the last match of his career, the Hawkeyes senior pulled it out once again. And one more time, it brought him some luck.</p><p>Erickson won his 152-pound seventh-place bout, 3-1, by getting a takedown with just two seconds left to end his career on a winning note. He finished seventh in the state while being the first PIAA medalist for the Hawkeyes since 2001.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s super important because nobody wants to end on a loss. You always want to say you went out on top. I went out with a win,&#8221; Erickson said. &#8220;All the hard work, blood, sweat, tears that went into this long career. I finally got to end on my terms. It wasn&#8217;t as high as I wanted, but hey, stuff happens.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s been a crazy ride. And I&#8217;m sad to see it come to an end. But the medal signifies a lot of hard work and dedication I put in over the past 10-12 years.&#8221;</p><p>For nearly a minute in the second period of the match against Hudson Holbay from Westmont-Hilltop, Erickson laid on the mat with an injury while holding a 1-0 lead. He banged his ankle during practice earlier in the week, and it got rolled in the second period.</p><p>But that wasn&#8217;t going to stop him from getting up and finishing the match.</p><p>&#8220;There was only two, three minutes left in the match at that point. So I&#8217;ve been saying it all week that I could find out I had a torn ACL all week and I&#8217;d still be wrestling, because what have you got to lose,&#8221; Erickson said. &#8220;It&#8217;s the last tournament, what have you got to lose. Injuries heal. You gotta be able to tough through those things.&#8221;</p><p>Erickson continued in the match, eventually getting the deciding points to end his career with a school-record 124 victories, including another school-best mark of 41 this season to leave a lasting impression on the program.</p><p>&#8220;He&#8217;s put in a lot of hard work (in the) offseason (and) preseason and even right after the season last year in March,&#8221; Hanover Area coach Mike Griffith said. &#8220;He&#8217;s a great leader. He has great character. He leads by integrity and he helps push the guys to levels they don&#8217;t even realize. He&#8217;ll yell at the guys more than I do sometimes.&#8221;</p><p>Elsewhere in District 2, Montrose&#8217;s Joe Hester placed eighth at 132 pounds. He became the first from the school to medal at the state tournament since 2000, and was just the fifth medalist ever from the program. The senior is also the school&#8217;s all-time wins leader with 133.</p><p><strong>Tigers roar to title</strong></p><p>At last month&#8217;s PIAA Class 2A team championships, Southern Columbia lost to Reynolds by eight points in the state final.</p><p>This weekend, the Tigers made sure no one was going to be better than them. With nine participants in the tournament, they cruised to the team championship thanks to six medalists, including champion Gaige Garcia at 195. The team racked up 121 points, 25.5 more than second-place St. Joseph&#8217;s Catholic Academy.</p><p>The team is coached by Jerry Marks, and one of his assistants is Ernie Yates. Both Marks and Yates spent time at Berwick. Marks was an assistant under Yates for several years at Berwick before taking over at Southern in 2008-09. He is also a teacher at Berwick.</p><p>Yates, a Hall of Fame coach for the Bulldogs for 25 years with 325 victories, joined the Tigers staff a few years after retiring in 2013. The last two years Marks was on Yates&#8217; staff at Berwick, 2007 and 2008, the Dawgs had a state finalist each year. The Bulldogs program hasn&#8217;t produced a state qualifier since.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">D.J. Erickson of Hanover Area secures his 152-pound seventh-place finish with a 3-1 decision over Hudson Holbay of Westmont-Hilltop during the PIAA Class 2A wrestling championships on Saturday in Hershey. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson6.jpg</photo0><caption0>D.J. Erickson of Hanover Area secures his 152-pound seventh-place finish with a 3-1 decision over Hudson Holbay of Westmont-Hilltop during the PIAA Class 2A wrestling championships on Saturday in Hershey. </caption0><photoCredit0>Ed Boardman | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson3.jpg</photo1><caption1></caption1><photoCredit1>Ed Boardman | For Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson2.jpg</photo2><caption2></caption2><photoCredit2>Ed Boardman | For Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson5.jpg</photo3><caption3></caption3><photoCredit3>Ed Boardman | For Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson4.jpg</photo4><caption4></caption4><photoCredit4>Ed Boardman | For Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson7.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson7.jpg</photo5><caption5></caption5><photoCredit5>Ed Boardman | For Times Leader </photoCredit5></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo6>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson-1.jpg</photo6><caption6></caption6><photoCredit6>Ed Boardman | For Times Leader </photoCredit6></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson8.jpg">
<div class="neCaption"></div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo7>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/web1_erickson8.jpg</photo7><caption7></caption7><photoCredit7>Ed Boardman | For Times Leader </photoCredit7></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div>

2A wrestling: Hanover Area’s Erickson ends standout career with PIAA medal