HERSHEY – There is no hiding at the PIAA Wrestling Championship. No matter where a wrestler turns, he is going to face someone good. Three Westmoreland County wrestlers survived the first round Thursday and advanced to the quarterfinals Friday at the Giant Center with solid wins.
The competition for Derry senior Anthony Mucci and sophomore Mason Horwat and Burrell senior Isaac Lacinski gets a lot hotter Friday. Mucci (43-6) was a takedown machine in his 21-6 technical fall win against Montoursville senior Blaize Vogel at 133 pounds. He took Vogel down seven times and will meet Northern Lebanon junior Aaron Seidel (55-1) in the quarterfinals.
“It was a great start — starting out with my attack,” Mucci said.“I’m wrestling the way I know I can. Give 100 percent effort and I’ll win these matches.
I know I can wrestle with anybody on my feet.” Mucci said he knows his next match will be a lot tougher. “I’m just going to give everything I’ve got,” Mucci said.
Horwat (44-4) looked strong as well. He breezed to an 18-6 win against Line Mountain junior Dalton Schadel at 152. He’ll face Schuylkill Valley senior Ian Vitalo (38-4) in the quarterfinals.
“We had a couple nice wins, but we’ve got some work to do,” Derry coach Troy Dolan Jr. said. ‘We had a couple of tough draws.
Giovanni (Beatrice) had two tough opponents, but it was good for him to get here.” Derry brought six wrestlers to the state tournament and five picked up at least one victory durin.