By Kenny Varner

ALTOONA – Four local wrestlers continued their journey in the attempt to advance to compete with the best of the best wrestlers in the state at Hershey.

Day two kicked off at the SW Class AA Regionals at Altoona Saturday with Mount Union’s 215-pounder Josh Ryan.

The Trojans’ grappler punched his way to Hershey placing third as he pinned Somerset’s Zane Hagans at 1:27.

His only loss on the day came in the semis as he fell to Braeden Welsh of Fort Cherry by a takedown 3-0, sending him into the 3rd place contest.

Ryan went 2-0 on the day opening up with a dominating 9-2 win over Burrell’s Luke Boylan.

In his second and final match on the night, Ryan muscled out a hard fought 3-0 win over Southmorland’s Kaden Shannon. The win put the Trojan matman into the semifinals against Braedon Welsh of Fort Cherry and a chance of advancing on to battle in the finals for a Regional title.

It was a tough go for Juniata’s 152-pounder Ryder Smith as he fell in a tough 2-0 battle in his opening bout against Burrell’s Calio Zanella.

Teammate, heavyweight 285-pounder Kelton Bonnell lost by a second period pinfall to South Park’s Parker Cunningham.

Mount Union’s other representative Michah Atherton also fell by pin fall late in the third period of his opening bout.

All are looking to keep their season alive.

Smith started his second day going up against Chestnut Ridge’s Christian Feight at 152-pounds.

It would be a nail biter from beginning to end.

In the first period both tried to get the advantage but neither was able to keeping it a scoreless 0-0 tie after one.

Smith had the top position in the second and was able to keep Freight in check for most of the period. But Freight was able to notch the escape, taking a 1-0 advantage into the final stanza.

In the third, Smith got an escape of his own. Freight put himself ahead as the clock wound down notching a takedown. Smith rallied late and was able to put Freight down, cutting it to 4-3. But time would run out on Smith as he nearly picked up the come from behind victory.

“He went out and showed fight,” said Juniata coach Jarred Dressler. “He needs to get aggressive right off the bat and go after it as strong as he is.”

Bonnell opened his consolation appearance with a match against Michael Wano of River Valley.

The heavyweight wasted little time in keeping his day alive as he was able to pin Wano in the second period with 16 ticks left in the second.

After a scoreless first, Bonnell made the first move and was able to take Wano down for the takedown. After the two hit a stalemate. Bonnell was able to took advantage of Wano trying to sit out of his control and was able to get his shoulders to the mat and get the winning pin.

“After the first loss he (Bonnell) came out had his head on that he wanted to move on,” said Juniata coach Jarred Dressler. “Then in the conseys he ran into a buzz saw in the next match and dropped it. He showed some grit coming back from the first match.”

Rounding things out in first round of the consolation action was Michah Atherton as he battled fellow 160-pounder Stephen Predajna of Mount Pleasant.

Despite only one local wrestlers making it to Hershey, the toughness and heart these wrestlers had during their time on the maps were evident to all who watched.