On to states: Five Berries earn a trip to Hershey

"I just feel very blessed and fortunate to have a group of young men to work with like I have this year," Cranberry coach Dustin Wenner said at the end of the day Saturday. He will be taking five of his wrestlers to Hershey to compete in the PIAA AA Championships. Two of them are his own sons.

His younger son Dalton Wenner, the District 9 champion, was the North West AA Regional champion at 107 with a decisive win over Sierra Chiesa, the District 10 champion.

'I'm pretty emotional right now," coach Wenner said following Dalton's victory. "Having my own son win a North West regional title... God has certainly blessed me with a tough young man here and I'm very proud of him."

"It's an honor just to do it, wrestle, be out there and do my best," the champion humbly said.

Dalton Wenner went into the final against the first-ever female District 10 champion and state qualifier having defeated her earlier in the season. He knew she was going to be tough.

​Early in the finals match, he found himself in a position to put her into a cradle and took full advantage of the situation.

​"I had a chance to pin her and I was going to try to capitalize," he said. "It just happened, got into it and just went for it."

Dalton's sparring partner, Elijah Brosius is going to states for the second year in a row. Coach Wenner pointed out how this connection is important for success.

The two wrestlers push each other just makes them both better, Wenner said.
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Cranberry ended up in fourth place out of 39 teams represented at the regionals and has five moving on to states. 

"... When (the) season began, I thought we could possibly send two or three kids to the state tournament but not five," coach Wenner said. "But due to the great work ethic of these kids all season, they proved me wrong."

It will be a return trip for Brosius, who medaled in the 107 bracket last year. He was able to punch his ticket to Hershey in the 121 bracket this year with a 9-1 win over Cole Bish of Redbank Valley in the consolation semifinals and a third-place finish over Sebastian Chiesa of Northwestern with a 9-5 decision. Brosius was 3-1 on the weekend. 

Sophomore Conner Reszkowski was 3-2 on the weekend on the way to a fourth-place finish in the 133 weight class. He beat Parker Pisarchick of Brockway 13-7 in the consolation semifinals before dropping a 7-4 decision to Brody Beck of Cambridge Springs. 

Dane Wenner pinned Cash Morrell of Cochranton in 0:36 to earn a spot in the 139 third-place match against  Ben Reynolds of St. Mary's. Wenner controlled the match from the first period, logging a 10-4 at the end of the match. He was 4-1 on the weekend.

Rounding out Cranberry's state qualifiers is Brayden McFetridge. He finished out his weekend by pinning Miska Young of Port Allegany in 1:34 in the third-place match at 215. McFetridge earned his spot in the match by defeating Ryan Dedrick of General McLane in a 9-3 decision.

​McFetridge will cap off a successful senior season with his first trip to Hershey after going 3-1 on the weekend and 32-4 so far on the year. ​

The PIAA State Championship will be held March 9, 10 and 11 at the Giant Center in Hershey. Matches can be watched online through Flo Wrestling.