Updated: D9 championship brackets, Cranberry advances 7 to semis

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This story was updated with the results of Friday's opening round matches, in which Cranberry advanced seven wrestlers into the semi-finals and had two alive in the consolation bracket.

The Cranberry wrestlers are prepping for a trip to PennWest Clarion later this week for the District 9 2A championships. 
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The preliminary, quarterfinals and consolation rounds 1 and 2 will be held starting at 4 p.m. Friday. The semifinals and consolation quarters will start at 10 a.m. Saturday. The third- and fifth-place matches will get underway at 3 p.m. There will be a recognition award and hall of fame ceremony at 4:30 p.m. The parade of champions and finals will be held at 5 p.m. 

​Cranberry is planning to take 11 wrestlers to the competition, including two top seeds and one returning champion. Last year the Berries qualified six out of districts and into the North West Regional competition. ​​

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.

(Photos from throughout the 2022-23 season.)

Cranberry’s lone senior competitor Brayden McFetridge, the 215 top seed, recorded two pins on the night. The first against Eric Myers of Clearfield in 1:57 and the second against 
Gavin Carroll of Redbank Valley in 0:31. His Saturday will start off with a semi-final match against Trenton Guiher of Curwensville

And finally, junior Henry Milford was among those to head directly into the quarterfinals, where he was pinned by an undefeated Carson Neely of Port Allegany in the 285 weight class. He falls to the consolation bracket where he will face ​Nick Bailor of Clearfield.

The top four finishers in each bracket will move on to the North West Regional on March 3 and 4 at Sharon High School. 
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Read about the Venango and Crawford county wrestlers on the D10 brackets by clicking here.