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HERSHEY &mdash; When wrestling in the PIAA Championships, participants will face the toughest competition they have seen all season.
				For four Hazleton Area wrestlers, that was the case in the Class 3A tournament as they all fell in the round of 16 at Giant Center to standouts.
				The Cougars&rsquo; Charles Everdale (152), Bryce Molinaro (160), Jake Marnell (182) and Seth Hunsinger (195) all dropped matches in the round to opponents who have impressive resumes.
				But that doesn&rsquo;t make taking the losses any easier, Marnell said.
				&ldquo;The way I see it is everyone here is beatable. Once you step in this arena, everyone&rsquo;s equal,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;So it&rsquo;s all about who has the best mindset and who wants it the most once you get to this level.&rdquo;
				It wasn&rsquo;t just the Cougars wrestlers who lost on Thursday. All six Wyoming Valley Conference wrestlers lost at least once and fell into the consolation rounds in the Class 3A event.
				But when the tourney resumes Friday at 2:15 p.m., there are only Cougars remaining from the WVC. Everdale, Marnell and Hunsinger remained in medal contention are looking to win twice in the consolations to secure a medal. Molinaro, Wyoming Valley West&rsquo;s Cadden Kucek (120) and Dallas&rsquo; Taylor Bolesta (285) all went winless in two matches and were eliminated.
				The tournament started off well for the Cougars as they picked up three wins in the pigtail round. But the excitement level didn&rsquo;t last too long as they all dropped their next matches.
				In the preliminary round, Everdale, Marnell and Hunsinger were all victorious. Everdale was the first to win and hit a milestone in the process when he picked up career win No. 150 when he defeated Joel Martsinovsky from Council Rock South 4-3 to became just the tenth member of the elite club in District 2.
				But Everdale, who suffered a finger injury, ran into a buzzsaw in the round of 16 when he faced Gettysburg&rsquo;s Luke Sainato, who piled up two sets of full back points en route to a 10-0 victory. Sainato won the Southcentral region last weekend and was a returning state qualifier.
				Marnell won his first round match against New Oxford&rsquo;s Dylan Forbes by notching a fall in 5:10 for his first win at states. But again, the Cougar grappler ran into a very tough opponent in the round of 16 when he faced the second-ranked wrestler in the country and defending state champion Gerrit Nijenhuis from Canon-McMillan and was pinned in 1:43.
				&ldquo;It&rsquo;s tough going from a match that I dominated to a match where I kinda got my ass kicked,&rdquo; Marnell said. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think I wrestled well. I think I could have kept that match a lot closer than it was. Nothing you can do about that now. You just gotta bear down and wrestle back.&rdquo;
				Hunsinger beat Carl DiGiorgio from Central Bucks West 6-2 in the preliminaries, but then lost to Ryan Catka from Sun Valley 10-3. Catka is the brother of Hunter Catka, who won a state title in 2018 and was third last year.
				&ldquo;Seth, I don&rsquo;t think he wrestled bad. I think there were some things that he could have done differently to make that match close,&rdquo; Marnell said.
				In the middle of those matches, Cougar teammate Bryce Molinaro fell in the round of 16 to a three-time state qualifier in Selinsgrove&rsquo;s Coy Bastian, 5-0.
				Molinaro, a sophomore, then wrestled in the first round of consolations and lost 5-1 versus Father Judge&rsquo;s Matt Kidwell.
				Bolesta, an all-state football player, dropped his championship round bout then lost in his next match via late pin against Logan Holland from Blue Mountain and was eliminated. The senior district champion and regional runner-up made his first state appearance and ran into tough competition.
				Kucek fell in the pigtail round before dropping a 7-3 decision to Ruston Dzielak from Cumberland Valley. The Spartan senior ended his nice career with an appearance at the state event for the first time.
				All six Wyoming Valley Conference wrestlers in Class 3A lost at least once in the tournament making it definite that the conference will not have a state champion in Class 3A for the 13th straight season.
				From District 2, Delaware Valley&rsquo;s Jason Henderson won his 195-pound round of 16 match by fall to advance to the quarters. Abington Heights&rsquo; Gavin Drake was pinned in his opening-round bout by returning state champion Nate Schon from Selinsgrove then lost his next match and was eliminated.

PIAA 3A wrestling: Hazleton Area trio still alive at states