The AAA side of the PIAA state Tournament didn’t see the same team domination as the AA, where two teams won eight of the titles. Instead, the winning was spread around to twelve teams with just Northampton having two atop the podium.
Nazareth’s Depth Powers Team Championship
Nazareth powered to the team title with their depth as they had zero finalists amongst their five state placers. Defending champions came through and the 16th member of the four-time champion club came at 133 pounds with Bethlehem Catholic’s No. 4 Keanu Dillard.
Dillard Joins Elite Four-Time Champion Club
Dillard’s ending did not endear him to the fans, but he did what was necessary to join the elite club, he had not been hit for stalling early and used that to his advantage down the stretch. Dillard had two recent encounters with No. 16 Wilmont Kai (Whitehall), a defending champ himself, winning 1-0 and 4-2. The state final match replicated the previous 1-0 result.
Norwin’s Landon Sidun is top ranked in the country and can join the club of four next year after securing his third crown over No. 30 Tommy Gretz (Connellsville). Sidun was tripped up in the region finals by DuBois’ No. 12 Mateo Gallegos and was not going to let anything sidetrack him here as he rolled to a merciless 17-0 tech of Gretz.
Brown and Bechtold Finish Careers as Two-Time Champions
No. 3 Elijah Brown (Belle Vernon) and No. 5 Dean Bechtold (Owen J. Roberts) are now two-timers and that’s where their counts will stop as they are graduating seniors.
Brown kicked Dean’s brother, Decker (No. 18 nationally) to the 215-pound consolation bracket on a 4-1 semifinal result. On the other side, No. 17 Paxton Hunt (Garnet Valley) posted a 7-3 upset of No. 15 Kendahl Hoare (DuBois). Hunt gave it his best effort but was not able to add the greatest upset to his resume and Brown’s second period escape accounted for all the scoring of the 1-0 decision…