Burrell’s Corrado, Oswalt to wrestle for PIAA Class AA gold

By: David Bohr
Friday, March 6, 2020 | 8:14 PM

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HERSHEY — Burrell will have two wrestlers competing for gold medals Saturday at the PIAA Class AA championships at Giant Center.

Ian Oswalt punched his ticket to the 132-pound final with a 3-1 win over Anthony Glasl of Brockway on Friday night. Shortly thereafter, AJ Corrado claimed his spot in the 152 final with a 3-2 victory over Malachi DuVall of Penns Valley.

“I’m in the position to win now,” Oswalt said. “Obviously, I needed to win all three matches to get here, but now that I’ve won the semi, I have a real opportunity in front of me.”

The junior scored the first points with a takedown with 11 seconds left in the first period. Glasl made an escape in the second period, but Oswalt (45-6) regained his margin with an escape in the third.

After that, it was 90 seconds of holding off any shot Glasl tried to take.

“I knew I didn’t have any stall calls,” Oswalt said. “Not that I want to stall, but you do what you have to do to win at states.

Oswalt had lost in the semifinals a year ago.

“I didn’t want to feel that again,” Oswalt said.

In the morning session, Oswalt defeated Adam Jacob of East Pennsboro, 3-2, in the quarterfinals with a takedown midway through the second period.

His finals opponent will be Brock McMillan (35-3) of Glendale.

Corrado (45-7) followed Oswalt’s example in his semifinal by taking a 2-0 lead with a first-period takedown, though DuVall answered with an escape before the frame ended.

They exchanged escapes, putting Corrado ahead 3-2 from the last 1:55. The junior fended off a couple of nice shots from DuVall and spent the last 15 seconds holding on to DuVall’s ankle to fend off a deciding takedown.

“I saw 15 seconds on the board, and I didn’t want to do anything stupid,” Corrado said. “I saw an opportunity, his ankle was too far forward, and I grabbed it.”

Corrado and DuVall had wrestled against each other several times before, but Corrado did not want to think about his opponent’s tendencies.

“I try to wrestle a body, not a name or a face,” Corrado said.

Earlier in the day, Corrado beat Benjamin Haubert of Palisades, 3-2, in the quarterfinals with an escape and takedown in the third period.

Corrado will face Caleb Dowling of St. Joseph’s in the 152 finals on Saturday afternoon.

Ricky Feroce guaranteed himself a medal the hard way at 182 after dropping a 10-7 decision to Dane Scencsits of Saucon Valley in the quarterfinals. In a must-win third-round consolation contest, the senior posted a 5-3 win over Alec Snyder of Wilson Area to assure himself a spot on the medal stand.

In the evening consolations, Feroce (38-16) beat Patrick Cutchember of Quaker Valley 3-1 and then lost 7-2 to Andrew Sharer of Penns Valley. That puts Feroce in the fifth-place match on Saturday against Ethan Finch of Sheffield.

Tags: Burrell