| It was a repeat performance for the Berries at the District 9 Wrestling Championships as they once again advanced six into the North West AA Regional. But this time, they will be taking two District champs among their competitors. Brayden McFetridge (215) and Dalton Wenner (107) earned spots on top of the podium Saturday at PennWest Clarion’s Tippin Gymnasium. Teammates Elijah Brosius (121) and Conner Reszkowski (133) placed second. Dane Wenner (139) finished third. And Devyn Fleeger (152) snagged the final qualifying spot with a fourth-place finish. Dalton Wenner started things off in the finals for the Berries with a quick match-up against Andrew Coriaty of Oswayo Valley. The freshman controlled the bout from start to finish. In less than a minute, he had Coriaty on his back and at the 1:01 mark, a whistle and a slap of the mat declared him a winner by pin. Wenner’s record is 28-3 on the season and 3-0 on the weekend. It is the second year in a row Cranberry took the lightweight bracket at the District 9 Championship. Brosius, last year’s winner, moved up to the 121 weight class for this year’s competition and earned a repeat appearance at the district finals. Brosius’ final-round opponent was Evan Davis of Clearfield, who finished in second place last year in the AAA division. Davis took the lead in the match with a takedown in the first period. The second stanza ended with the same 0-2 score. Sophomore Brosius made a move to take down Davis, but despite calls from the crowd to award points, the ref maintained that no scoring actions were completed. Brosius remained aggressive but was unable to wrangle Davis and the match ended with a 0-2 decision in favor of the Falcon senior. Brosius’ record is 27-9 on the season and 2-1 on the weekend. Reszkowski struggled to gain momentum in his 133 match-up with Parker Pisarchick of Brockway. Pisarchick scored two points in each of the first two periods and three in the third to win the bout by a 0-7 margin. The second-place finish marks an improvement for the sophomore Berry. Last year Reszkowski was fourth at Districts in the 126 weight class. His record is 27-9 on the season and 2-1 on the weekend. McFetridge capped off the Cranberry finals run with a technical fall over Gavyn Ayers of Coudersport. The match started off slow for the senior and the first two minutes ended with no score. From there, it was McFetridge’s match nearly all the way. He struck first and bounced back from a reversal to end the second period with an 8-3 lead. Ayers battled a nosebleed, taking timeouts in the second and third periods. Even with the breaks in the action, McFetridge held on to the rhythm of control, dominating the final two minutes of the contest. By the time the final whistle blew, he walked away with a 20-4 victory. McFertidge’s record is 32-4 on the season. He was 4-0 on the weekend, with three pins. The quartet of finalists will be joined at regionals by Dane Wenner and Fleeger who wrestled in the third-place matches earlier in the afternoon. |   
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Dane Wenner pinned Anthony Ceriani of Brookville in 1:58. It is the sophomore second year earning third place. He is 31-8 on the season and 3-1 on the weekend.
 Fleeger struggled in his match against Andrew Wolfanger of St. Mary's, losing 17-6. It will be a return to the 152 regional bracket for Fleeger, who is now 25-13 on the season and was 2-2 on the weekend.  |   |
Cranberry had two other wrestlers make it to Saturday afternoon, missing regional qualification by just one place. Alex McLaughlin’s bout at 114 and Brandon Murray’s contest at 127 played out very similarly. Both freshmen were falling behind in the point count when they were able to make quick moves in the second period to secure somewhat sudden pins. McLaughlin pinned Ian O'Shea of Port Allegany in 3:44. Murray pinned Brett Moss of Coudersport in 3:23.
Those results helped Cranberry finish third among the 16 teams at the championships with 155.5 points. Clearfield won the team award with 186 points.
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