Aiden Hight

Four Franklin County wrestlers — two from Chambersburg and a pair from Shippensburg — will begin the PIAA Championships on Thursday at Giant Center in Hershey.

The preliminary round begins at 4 p.m., followed by the first round and a consolation round. The brackets are back to the 20-wrestler bracket that was limited for last year’s event due to COVID.

Shindledecker, a senior, was the state runner-up last year, losing a close match to Mac Church of Waynesburg Central in the final. Church has moved up to 132 pounds this year and Shindledecker is considered one of the favorites for the gold medal at 126.

In the first round, Shindledecker (21-1) will take on the winner of a prelim-round match between Oliver Fairchild of Easton (31-10) and Todd McGann of Quakertown (30-16). Should he win that one, his quarterfinal opponent on Friday afternoon would be the winner of Maddox Shaw of Thomas Jefferson (37-6) vs. Matthew Ricci of Garnet Valley (37-5).

Trojan sophomore Aiden Hight (30-6) will compete at 189 in his PIAA debut. He will meet Carter Chamberlain of Clearfield (28-8) in the first round. The winner will likely meet one of the favorites at that weight, Sonny Sasso of Nazareth, who is 42-0, in the quarterfinals.

Shippensburg junior Dominic Frontino is making his second appearance at the PIAA tournament; he was 0-2 as a freshman and just missed qualifying last year.

At 152, Frontino (19-1) will tangle with Bethlehem Catholic’s Jake Dailey (15-5) in the opening round, and the winner will likely meet up with Dylan Evans of Chartiers Valley (29-4) in the quarters.

Diesel Koser of Shippensburg, a junior with a 31-9 record, will take on Jake Allred of Conestoga (22-6) in the prelim round, and the winner will face Quinn Collins of Central Bucks East (39-1) in the first round. Koser is making his first appearance at states.