HERSHEY - Things are liable to get Zainy around the PIAA Class AA state wrestling championships in the next few years, but that won't be funny for a lot of guys.
Line Mountain freshman Zain Retherford completed his first varsity season by marching through the state tournament as surely as Sherman marched through Georgia, winning the state 103-pound title Saturday at the Giant Center with a workmanlike 6-2 win in the finals over sophomore Brad Farley of Bermudian Springs.
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The Northeast Region and District 4 did itself proud once again in Class AA. Besides Line Mountain's Zain Retherford, Athens' David White (112), Benton's Eric Hess (160) and Lackawanna Trail's Eric Laytos (215) won titles, and Benton's Mike Rhone (119), Coltin Fought (125), Montoursville's Luke Frey (135), Lewisburg's Nathaniel Brown (171) and Towanda's Travis Chesla (189) were runners-up.
Overall, the Northeast had 28 place winners, 25 from District 4 and all three participants from District 2.
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HERSHEY - Wes Tillett got some payback.
Brandon Pesarchick didn't, but both he and Tillett got something something else - medals for placing at the PIAA Class AA state wrestling championships.
Tillett got a takedown and two back points with 14 seconds left to take a 7-6 win over Milton Hershey's Chris Ramirez, the wrestler who beat him with a pin in the first round on Thursday, to take seventh place at 285 pounds.
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COAL TOWNSHIP - You could point to any number of reasons for Nativity's 58-43 victory over Lourdes in the opening round of the PIAA Class A playoffs at Shamokin Area High School.
Every one of them would be legitimate.
The Golden Girls, with a starting five returning intact from a loss in last season's Class A state championship game, flat-out shot the ball better - 39 percent to 32 percent - than the Raiders.
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OREFIELD - Patient on offense and defense - just waiting for a time to strike - Allentown Central Catholic was a dangerous predator on Saturday.
Shamokin was the unwitting prey as the Vikings bounced the Indians from the PIAA Class AAA playoffs with a 36-22 win in their first-round game at Parkland High School.
Patience on offense allowed the Vikings to move the ball around the perimeter of the Shamokin zone until they found the shot they wanted.
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HERSHEY - For the sixth consecutive season, Line Mountain will have a representative in the PIAA Class AA state finals, and that's a streak that might not end for awhile.
Freshman Zain Retherford used a second-period takedown and a third-period escape to upset previously unbeaten and defending state champion Nick Roberts of North Star, 4-3, who was also ranked No. 1 in the country in some polls, in Friday's semifinal round to reach today's state championship.
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Athleticism, game plan or experience. ... Guess which one is most important once a team gets to the state playoffs.
To improve athleticism, extra preseason suicide drills can be run, tapes can be studied to one-up a team's game plan, but only playing a game gives a team a boost in experience.
The disparity in experience set the tone early in Tamaqua's 51-36 win over Mount Carmel on Friday evening in the first round of the PIAA Class AA state playoffs.
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