Chambersburg 172-pounder Isaiah Tasker, in grey, lifts Rashaad Pouncy of Central Dauphin off his feet on his way to a 9-1 major decision. The Trojans pulled out a 35-32 win Wednesday night at CASHS Field House (photo by Liam Kirkpatrick).

CHAMBERSBURG — As the final bout of the night was reaching its conclusion, the Chambersburg fans in CASHS Field House raised the level of noise to a high degree.

And when Zethan Sleighter squeezed his opponent tight and the official slapped the mat for a match-winning pin, the decibel level went higher still.

No wonder.

The Trojans had just pulled out an unexpected 35-32 Mid Penn Commonwealth victory over the Central Dauphin Rams and there was quite a lot of frustration being released. The Rams had owned this division matchup, winning every meet since at least the 2008-09 season.

A shocking pin at 139 pounds by Ashton Romberger gave Chambersburg (5-1, 3-1 MPC) a 29-20 lead, which quickly turned into a 32-29 advantage for CD after pins by Aiden Mariano and C.J. Ferree.

Zethan Sleighter

That left it to Sleighter and the Rams’ Benny Bentz at 160 pounds to decide the dual. Bentz had a key win last week when the Rams dusted Cumberland Valley, but this time it was Sleighter’s turn.

“When the (team) score started to even out, I knew it might come down to my match,” Sleighter said. “I was hoping to get the first takedown, but he got it instead. When we down, I figured I had to do a roll and I wound up on my neck. But I was able to roll through and came up on top.”

Bentz got in on a duck-under for a takedown and tripped Sleighter toward his back. When Sleighter rolled through, he had Bentz on his back and while Bentz fought hard to get free, Sleighter clamped him tight, put in a half nelson and finally got the slap.

Sleighter said, “Once I got him on his back, it was life or death — I had to get the pin.”

Trojan coach Matt Mentzer said, “I actually said before the match that we could win if Zethan could win. I knew he was good enough to win, even if (CD) didn’t. He got in a roly-poly situation and he was athletic enough to come out and put his guy on his back.”

The win wouldn’t have been possible if not for many contributions.

No. 1 on that list was Romberger. He and Hitchcock were both District 3 place-winners last year, so it wasn’t a surprise that Romberger won, even though CD moved Hitchcock up a weight to face him. But getting a pin was a show-stopper.

Ashton Romberger

“Mentz (Mentzer) told me they were moving him up to face me,” Romberger said. “I was ready. Lately I haven’t been using my strengths, but tonight my mindset was to be more aggressive.”

And that mindset worked. Big time.

Romberger opened with a nice takedown, then put legs on Hitchcock and threw in a power half. He turned Hitchcock once, then gathered himself and used the half again to record the fall in 1:20.

“I figured I got the takedown, so I’m not letting go of this,” Romberger said. “I was going to fight as hard as I could until I could get it.”

Mentzer said, “They put Hitchcock up to 139 to wrestle Ashton, and we were fine with that. He hit a heck of a shot for the takedown with a super finish. Then he turned him, and he made a super adjustment to get out to the side for the half to finish it off.”

Chambersburg got off to a fine start, winning four of the first five bouts to take an 18-4 lead. Isaiah Tasker won a major decision at 172 and Jaccob Stoner bolted to a 7-1 lead over Cole Ramberger before emerging with a 9-5 win. After a major by CD’s Anthony Neuhard, Frank Barrientos (285) hit a headlock for a pin and Isaac Brambley raced to a 15-0 technical fall in second period.

The Rams (6-4, 1-3 MPC) then flexed their muscles, winning three of the next four — by Francis Perri (major at 114), Thunder Beard (pin at 121) and Lukas Norbury (pin at 133) to get to within 23-20 before the fireworks started.

The Chambersburg win in the that run was a 16-1 tech fall for Zach Sherman at 127.

“We have a good group of hard-working kids that have been together since June,” Mentzer said. “It’s easy to root for them. They’ve figured out how to win close matches and close duals. They knew how to wrestle. And we even had three starters out tonight.

“We had to win every match that we thought we could compete in, and we just about did. Even guys that lost, like Cody (Seabolt) and Etan (Pazkowski), put themselves in position to win and scored a lot of points. I think the kids will remember this night.”

NOTES: The win moved Chambersburg up to No. 7 in the District 3 rankings … CD is now at No. 15 — the top 16 qualify for the team championships … The Trojans had 11 takedowns to 13 for the Rams.

Chambersburg 35, Central Dauphin 32
172 — Isaiah Tasker (Ch) md Rashaad Pouncy, 9-1
189 — Jaccob Stoner (Ch) d Cole Ramberger, 9-5
215 — Anthony Neuhard (CD) md Chris Wilkerson, 15-3
285 — Frank Barrientos (Ch) p Zach Coleman, 2:31
107 — Isaac Brambley (Ch) tf Brayden Powell, 15-0
114 — Francis Perri (CD) md Cody Seabolt, 17-8
121 — Thunder Beard (CD) p Brayan Gonzales, 0:32
127 — Zach Sherman (Ch) tf Elliott Miller, 16-1
133 — Lukas Norbury (CD) p Ethan Pazkowski, 5:17
139 — Ashton Romberger (Ch) p Luke Hitchcock, 1:20
145 — Aiden Mariano (CD) p Gage Blair (Ch), 1:10
152 — C.J. Ferree (CD) p Colton Horst, 0:53
160 — Zethan Sleighter (Ch) p Benny Bentz, 0:57