The Oilers had to work hard at it but found a way to grind out a win over the Bobcats 38-36 Tuesday night in the District 10 semifinals basketball game at Slippery Rock University.

Despite snagging the tip-off Oil City couldn't capitalize and found themselves down quickly when Seneca's Logan Kibbe struck first with a trey at the 7:15 mark. 
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Sayyid Donald quickly responded with a 3-pointer of his own to even up the score. The back-and-forth battle was underway on the scoreboard. The Bobcat defense seemed to frustrate the Oilers at times, stripping the ball, forcing bad passes and rushed decisions.

Neither team was finding much success getting the ball through the hoop as the first quarter ended with Oil City up by one at 9-8.

Titusville qualified four wrestlers for the North West AA Regional competition following their top eight finishes at the District 10 Championships Saturday at Sharon High School.  

Senior Brock Covell placed highest among the Rockets. He earned the third place spot on the podium for the 172 weight class after winning his final match of the weekend with a 7-1 decision over Josh Divens of Sharpsville.

Covell started the weekend with a pin over Gabriel Jordan of Saegertown in 2:35 and a 7-1 decision over Danick Hinkson of Commodore Perry. On Saturday he faced a nearly unbeaten Jalen Wagner of Reynolds and fell just short of victory in the 1-0 loss.

Covell rebounded in the consolation bracket pinning Alex Hackwelder of Grove City in 1:51 before meeting up with Divens and earning his final victory.

He was 4-1 on the weekend, which improves his season record to 32-6 and his overall win count to 96.

Teammate Nate Stearns also competed in the consolation finals, finishing in fourth place in the 139 bracket. Stearns suffered an early loss to Zac Turberville of Slippery Rock in his only bout Friday. The Titusville junior muscled through three matches on Saturday to earn a spot in the third place, along the way defeating Nick Fisher of Harbor Creek with a pin in 33 seconds, Blake Glass of Fort LeBoeuf with a 3-1 decision, and Logan McDonald of Youngsville with a 1-0 decision. In his final match, Stearns lost to Cash Morrell of Cochranton in a 6-3 decision.

Stearns was 3-2 on the weekend and improved his overall record to 26-9.

Titusville also had two wrestlers finish in eighth place, slipping into the final regional qualifying spot for regionals next week.
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Sawyer Wolfkiel was 2-3 on the weekend in the 107 bracket and fell to Brady Bowers of Fort LeBoeuf in his final match of the weekend. Gavin Donaldson has two pins on the weekend on his way to an eighth-place finish in the 145 weight class. He forfeited his final match to Gregory Kiser of Saegertown. 

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. 
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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. 
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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. 

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. ​

At the finish, Rocky Grove checked the win box with a 51-48 victory. On Tuesday, they face a very tough Farrell, who they recently lost to in one of the season's more interesting games.

At the start of the night, Damon Curry stood 19 points away from the 1,000 point club. He got 18. Luckily, the Knights won so all he needs is a single shot Tuesday to join this elite membership.

Early on in their matchup against Mercyhurst Prep, it looked like the Knights would slowly build the lead toward the running clock mark. But the green and white Lakers came to the game ready to aggressively push the Knights and force Franklin to have to earn the win.

Tuesday had the makings of being Cole Buckley's night. Number four was driving and scoring almost at will in the first quarter scoring 10 points. He was two-thirds of the Knights' overall offense at that point.

In the second quarter, the rest of the squad picked up and it looked like the Knights were starting to cruise. They led 36-21 at the half including a buzzer-beating tip-in by senior guard Ethan Owens.

During the third quarter, the Lakers began to surge, outscoring the Knights by seven points and ending at 49-38.

Franklin opened the fourth with perhaps their sloppiest play of the season. They were suddenly being out rebounded and the Lakers were robbing the Knights left and right and turning those steals into baskets. After only a few minutes, the lead was down to single digits and the Lakers' confidence was growing.

Then, with only a couple minutes left on the clock, Mercyhurst rattled off nine unanswered to take the lead 56-55

Damon Curry was fouled with 6.8 seconds remaining. In his left hand, which was injured early in the season, the Knights' fate relied.  He sunk the first free throw that rattled a bit but fell. He then missed the second and into overtime they went.

In overtime, the Franklin squad looked more like itself, building a little lead and then counter-punching when the Lakers hit pay dirt. 

Oil City, who was playing up the road in Meadville Friday night, easily handled North East with a 68-37 win. They will move on to the semi-finals and take on Seneca, who upset Girard.
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If both Oil City and Franklin win Tuesday, it will set up another chance for brothers, Jason and Bundy Fulmer to go head-to-head as coaches in an all-Venango County District 10 championship game. 

Freshman Dalton Wenner is the top seed in the 107 bracket. He had a first-round bye and then pinned Gage Singer of Johnsonburg in 1:12 in the quarterfinals. He will match up with Michael Copello of Ridgway in the semis. 

Alex McLaughlin, a freshman, dropped his opening bout to Logan Powell of Clarion. He moved to the consolation round where he faces Kayin Bard of Kane.

Sophomore Elijah Brosius, the 2022 champ at 106, is the second seed in the 121 bracket and received a first-round bye. He pinned Nicholas Wilfong of Port Allegany in 1:55 to advance to the semifinals, where he will face Cole Bish of Redbank Valley. 

Freshman Brandon Murray, who is a fourth seed, moved straight into the quarterfinals at 127, a bracket that only had one match in the first round of competition. Murray pinned Brett Moss of Coudersport in 3:39. His semis match will be against Cole Householder of Brookville. 

Sophomore Conner Reszkowski is the third seed and had a first-round bye at 133. In the quarterfinals, Reszkowski pinned Cullen Catalone of St. Mary's in 0:35. He squares off against Brecken Cieleski of Brookville in the semifinals.

Sophomore Dane Wenner went into the D9 competition as the second seed at 139. He went straight into the quarterfinals where he pinned Jett Finch of Coudersport in 1:16. During the semifinal round he will wrestle Ben Reynolds of St. Mary's.

Opening action in the 145 bracket includes a match between sophomore Daniel DeLong fell to Owen Deutschlander of Coudersport. Delong later lost to Alden Furgeson of Port Allegany in a 12-6 decision.  

Junior Devyn Fleeger, the third seed, got a bye into the 152 quarterfinals, where pinned Alex Marfink of Sheffield in 2:19. In the semis he will face Reece Bechakas of Kane.

In his first D9 competition, freshman Jack Nuhfer lost by technical fall to Mason Gordon of Port Allegany in the 160-pound match. He later fell to Carter Freeland of Clearfield. 

In 172 action, junior Jaden Smalley was pinned by Aiden Bliss of Port Allegany and then Matt Alston of Clarion.

145

• Section 2 champ Gunnar Gage of Cambridge Springs has a bye.
• Section 1 runner-up Gavin Donaldson of Titusville v. Mitchell Blood of Conneaut Area
• Andrew Proper of Maplewood v. Lucas Phelps of North East
• Gregory Kiser of Saegertown v. Jackson Bowers of Fort LeBoeuf

152

• Drew Kockler of Franklin v. Section 1 runner-up Steffan Lynch of North East
• Landen Wolfkiel of Titusville v. Mitchell Tingley of Commodore Perry
• Carter Stewart of Saegertown v. Kyle Cousins of General McLane

160

• Section 2 runner-up Collin Hearn of Conneaut Area v. Logan Latimore of North East
• James Sherman of Cambridge Springs v. Chance Kimmy of General McLane
• Johnathan Miller of Titusville v. Vito Gentile of Reynolds

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172

• Section 1 runner-up Brock Covell Titusville v. Gabriel Jordan of Saegertown
• Jonah Heckathorne of Franklin v. Zac Beckwith of Union City

189

• Aaron Shartle of Saegertown v. Sam Kightlinger of Harbor Creek
• Kameron Mong of Titusville v. Aiden Osborne of Commodore Perry

215

• Section 2 champ Porter Brooks of Saegertown has a bye.
• Section 2 runner-up Drew Dygert of Conneaut Area v. Joseph Krall of Warren
• Gary Kiselka of Franklin v. Ryan Dedrick of General McLane

285

• Isaiah Gilchrist of Conneaut Area v. John Duran of Fort LeBoeuf
• Logan Corner of Saegertown v. Owen Nickerson of Corry Area​

​Tickets for the matches must be purchased online and can be done so by clicking here. 

Read about the Cranberry wrestlers competing at the District 9 championships by clicking here. ​