Kelby Mixell

CHAMBERSBURG — It can be a beautiful thing when a team puts it all together in the playoffs.

For at least the first day of the District 3 Team Wrestling Championships, Chambersburg can be very happy with the way it performed in front of the home fans at CASHS Field House on Wednesday night.

The Trojans not surprisingly ran through a depleted Hershey team 54-19 in the first round, then surprisingly trampled Gettysburg — a team it had defeated 35-34 on criteria earlier in the season — 46-15 in the quarterfinals.

That advanced No. 2 seed Chambersburg (15-1) into the semifinals and a battle with No. 3 Cedar Cliff (14-0), the defending champion. That match is scheduled for 5 p.m. Thursday at Spring Grove.

“That was a pretty complete match,” said Trojan coach Matt Mentzer. “We got leads and we kept scoring points down to the end.

“That was a darn good team we wrestled, and I did not expect a score like that. I thought we could win a bunch of matches, but you never know. We won every match I thought we could except for maybe the one at 195, and that was decided on one big move.”

You could find many bouts that made a big difference for Chambersburg, but two in particular stood out.

In the first bout of the match, at 285, the Trojans’ Joey Fuller produced a surprising 9-4 win over Robert Hatfield. Fuller entered with a 3-13 record and Hatfield was 12-12.

But Fuller opened with a bang by taking Hatfield down to his back in the first minute for a 4-0 lead. Hatfield tied it 4-4 in the second, but Fuller notched a takedown in the last few seconds to lead 6-4, then closed it out with two penalty points for locked hands and an escape.

Mentzer said, “That was unexpected, but I’m happy for that kid. He used to wrestle, then stopped. But I convinced him wrestling would help him for football. He got some points early, and during one break, he said, ‘I could win this one,’ and I said, ‘Yes, you can.’

“After he won, I said, ‘You don’t get that kind of feeling from football, do you?’ And he agreed, it’s different, because it’s one-on-one.”

The other killer for Gettysburg (15-4) came at 132. In the previous dual, the Warriors’ Nathan Ridgley had pinned Kelby Mixell. But Wednesday, Mixell turned the tables with a 4-3 victory.

“I had to get better head position,” Mixell said. “I made sure I knew where I was all the time and stayed in good position.”

A slick takedown right at the edge put Mixell up 2-0, and he led 3-1 after an escape to open the third. Ridgley tied it with a takedown early in the third, then let Mixell up for a point, but he couldn’t get through for the winning takedown.

Mentzer said, “That was a flip-flop from the last time. I thought Kelby could compete with him. He went out and got that first takedown and then wrestled smart and stayed away from the upper body stuff.”

After Gettysburg took a 6-3 lead with a pin at 106, the Trojans ripped off wins in seven consecutive matches — five by bonus points — to all but put the victory away with a 30-6 lead.

Karl Shindledecker had a technical fall at 113, Anthony Colangelo earned a 19-6 major at 120, Cole Grove won 12-3 for a major at 126, then after Mixell, Spencer Runshaw won by 10-2 major, followed by a 12-4 major from Tate Nichter — sealed on a takedown with 0:07 left — and, finally, an 8-3 decision by Seth Runshaw at 152.

“I thought that was a nice match by Colangelo,” Mentzer said. “He’s had a tough year and has wrestled some really good kids, but it was a good, solid win tonight.”

After Dylan Reinert’s pin at 160 brought the Warriors to within 30-12, a 14-0 major by Carson Mello at 170 and a pin in 1:41 by Luke Nichter at 182 clinched the Trojan victory.

Wyatt Hull added an exclamation point when he pinned his man at 220.

Mentzer said, “We have some good kids, but I think maybe we’ve outperformed ourselves sometimes this year.

“And we’ll need to tomorrow. Cedar Cliff is the best team in the district, but I think our kids believe they can win it.”

Against Hershey, which gave up four forfeits, Chambersburg got pins from Shindledecker, Grove, Spencer Runshaw, Tate Nichter and Mello.

District 3 Class 3A Wrestling
FIRST ROUND
Chambersburg 54, Hershey 19
220 – Wyatt Hull (C) won by forfeit (6-0)
285 – Joey Fuller (C) won by forfeit (12-0)
106 – Ayden Bertoldi (H) tf April Rump, 18-2 (12-5)
113 – Karl Shindledecker (C) p Colin Phipps, 0:49 (18-5)
120 – Ethan Ketner (H) d Anthony Colangelo, 9-4 (18-8)
126 – Cole Grove (C) p Logan Kreamer, 0:30 (24-8)
132 – Kelby Mixell (C) won by forfeit (30-8)
138 – Spencer Runshaw (C) p Tariq VonGetzie, 3:16 (36-8)
145 – Tate Nichter (C) p Devan Lamb, 0:42 (42-8)
152 – Tanner Updegraff (H) d Seth Runshaw, 5-1 (42-11)
160 – Carson Mello (C) p Guy Emrich, 0:44 (48-11)
170 – Luke Nichter (C) won by forfeit (54-11)
182 – Nyiem Flucas (H) tf Bryce McKenzie, 22-7, 2:27 (54-16)
195 – Andrew Burd (H) d Guy Lozius, 3-2 (54-19)
QUARTERFINAL
Chambersburg 46, Gettysburg 15
285 — Joey Fuller (C) d Robert Hatfield, 9-4 (3-0)
106 — Jacob Fetrow (G) p April Rump, 2:36 (3-6)
113 — Karl Shindledecker (C) tf Montana DeLawder, 15-0, 4:10 (8-6)
120 — Anthony Colangelo (C) md Ethan Dalton, 19-6 (12-6)
126 — Cole Grove (C) md Jacob Cherry, 12-3 (16-6)
132 — Kelby Mixell (C) d Nathan Ridgley, 4-3 (19-6)
138 — Spencer Runshaw (C) md Derren Gebler, 10-2 (23-6)
145 — Tate Nichter (C) md Luke Sainato, 12-4 (27-6)
152 — Seth Runshaw (C) d Garrett Young, 8-3 (30-6)
160 — Dylan Reinert (G) p Zae Kirk, 0:50 (30-12)
170 — Carson Mello (C) md Devin Compton, 14-0 (34-12)
182 — Luke Nichter (C) p Sam Rodriguez, 1:41 (40-12)
195 — Max Gourley (G) d Guy Lozius, 7-5 (40-15)
220 — Wyatt Hull (C) p Dru Hartman, 3:20 (46-15)

District 3 Tournament
Wednesday’s Matches
FIRST ROUND
Dallastown 55, Solanco 15
Cumberland Valley 42, Conestoga Valley 17
New Oxford 34, Wilson 32
Central Dauphin 47, Penn Manor 26
Chambersburg 54, Hershey 19
Gettysburg 45, Waynesboro 18
Cedar Cliff 52, Manheim Central 15
Lampeter-Strasburg 39, Daniel Boone 28
QUARTERFINALS
Dallastown 33, Cumberland Valley 31
Central Dauphin 47, New Oxford 23
Chambersburg 46, Gettysburg 15
Cedar Cliff 59, Lampeter-Strasburg 6
Thursday’s Matches
(at Spring Grove)
SEMIFINALS
(1) Dallastown (17-0) vs. (5) Central Dauphin (16-2), 5
(2) Chambersburg (15-1) vs. (3) Cedar Cliff (14-0), 5
CONSOLATIONS
First Round
Cumberland Valley (12-5) vs. New Oxford (12-6), 5
Gettysburg (15-4) vs. Lampeter-Strasburg (13-2), 5
Second Round
First-round winners vs. semifinals losers, 7