HS Wrestling: 3 advance through District 11 Class 3A

Blue Mountain's Owen Woll, right, shoots for a takedown during the 152-pound third-place bout at the District 11 Class 3A Wrestling Championships on Saturday at Bethlehem Liberty High School. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)

BETHLEHEM — Owen Woll ended his run through the District 11 Class 3A Wrestling Championships with a bang.

Make that a thud — a thud by Bethlehem Freedom’s Ivan Bonilla, that is.

Locked in a 1-1 bout, the Blue Mountain junior hit a resounding headlock at the edge of the mat for the go-ahead takedown and cranked Bonilla for the fall in 4:14 to take third place at 152 pounds Saturday at the District 11 Class 3A Wrestling Championships at Bethlehem Liberty’s Memorial Gym.

Teammate Bradley Renninger took fifth and Pottsville’s Terrell McFarland placed fourth, both at 189, to extend their seasons.

The top five placewinners in each weight class advance to the Northeast Regional on Feb. 28 and March 1 at Bethlehem Liberty High School. The top five at regionals will move on to the PIAA Wrestling Championships on March 6-8 at the Giant Center in Hershey.

Woll reached the semifinals Friday before dropping a 13-4 major decision to Nazareth’s Cade Campbell in the semifinals. Woll (38-6) rebounded by pinning Pocono Mountain West’s Noah Noguera in 1:26. Woll then flattened Bonilla for the second time in the tournament to earn his bronze

“It was a tough one, 1-1 in the third. I just felt it there. It’s what I know how to do, and it was there, a big opportunity,” Woll said.

In his bronze-medal bout, McFarland (35-6) couldn’t get his offense going in a 4-2 loss to Easton’s Shae Linegar. McFarland also made the semifinals Friday night but fell 12-3 to Nazareth’s Brayden Zuercher in the semifinals. McFarland bounced back by topping Renninger 10-2 to clinch his spot in regionals.

Renninger, meanwhile, had to traverse his way through the consolations to punch his ticket to regionals. He opened the day with a fall in 2:17 over William Allen’s Curtis Cooper, then decisioned Freedom’s Noah MacIlroy. After falling to McFarland, Renninger capped his day and extended his season with an 8-2 decision over Whitehall’s James Hopkins. A pair of takedowns for Renninger (38-6) made the difference.

“It was a long day for me,” Renninger said. “I had to wrestle a lot of kids who are tough, that I didn’t know if I was going to beat, but I dug really deep. I was better when it counted.”