NTL WRESTLING: TOWANDA'S HIGLEY, ROBINSON GET INTO THE MEDALS, VANDERPOOL COMES UP JUST SHORT (2025-03-07)
BY CHRIS MANNINGNorthern Tier Sports ReportHERSHEY — It was a bittersweet day for Towanda wrestlers on Friday, as Sawyer Robinson clinched his second state medal, and Mason Higley earned his first, but Riley Vanderpool’s run for a state medal ended in a controversial call after his blood round match was over at the PIAA, Class AA Wrestling Championships.
“It what’s we came here to do,” Towanda coach Bill Sexton said about his upper weight wrestlers earning podium spots. “It’s been a goal of theirs ever since they entered our program. It’s wonderful to see the two of them accomplish that, and, quite honestly, we should have three of them who have accomplished that.”
Robinson (215) took seventh last year at heavyweight so this will add to his collection, as both he and Higley guaranteed themselves top six finishes.
“It feels pretty good,” he said. “Hopefully, I can build on that. My goal is getting to the third-and-fourth place match.”
As for Higley (285), after coming up short the past two seasons he finally made it on to the podium.
“I’ve been working for this for a really, really long time,” he said. “I came down here with the goal in mind to win a state title. After losing that first match you obviously can’t do that, so you’ve just got to get your head back on right, and you’ve got to come scrap, and wrestle back, and that’s what I did.”
As for Vanderpool (145), he came about as close to getting a medal without actually getting on the podium.
He lost 2-1 to Bishop McDevitt’s Easton Comp in the third round of consolations. After a scoreless first Vanderpool took a 1-0 lead as he escaped with three seconds left on the clock.
Comp took down in the third, with Vanderpool riding him hard most of the way. With about 30 seconds left it looked like Comp may have gotten a reversal around the edge of the mat when he had both of Vanderpool’s legs.
However, no call was made, and the wrestlers wrestled through that, with it appearing that Vanderpool got control again through the end of the match.
The two officials conferred, and then awarded Comp with the winning two points after the bout was done.
“I don’t know how a situation that doesn’t change for 35 seconds can all of a sudden turn into a reversal situation when the clock runs out,” remarked Sexton. “There are two officials out on the mat. The one calling the match did not make the call, he goes to consultation to the guy who is supposed to be watching the clock. All of a sudden the two of them decide we’ll give a reversal on a situation that never changed.”
There was some hard scrambling the last 30 seconds of the match, but the official never signaled Vanderpool lost control until the conference with his assistant.
“They give that situation 35 seconds ahead of that, no problem,” said Sexton, referring to the reversal.
If Vanderpool knew he was down 2-1 with 30 seconds to go he wrestles the rest of that bout differently, instead of protecting a lead he’s going to be more offensive.
“That’s a terrible way for a match to end,” continued Sexton. “At the very least the match should have gone into overtime 1-1, not a reversal with no time left on the clock - but what are you going to do? There’s only two guys that have an opinion on that, and mine is not one of them.”
Vanderpool opened the day with an 8-0 loss to Faith Christian’s Mason Wagner in the quarterfinals.
As for the two medalists, Robinson opened the day falling 16-3 in the quarters to Fort Cherry’s Braedon Welsh.
Welsh did a good job of getting to Robinson’s legs to score points, with Robinson doing his best to hold off the tech fall.
“I wasn’t sprawling enough,” explained Robinson. “Hopefully, I can get my revenge on the guy.”
The tables turned in the blood round match as Robinson scored a 16-0 tech fall in the second period against Franklin’s Gary Kiselka.
He went up 10-0 in the first period with a single leg takedown, then back to back tilts for back points.
After getting an escape in the second he got another takedown and back points to finish off the win.
“In the first couple of minutes I knew I could handle the kid, and I knew I should’ve won,” Robinson said. “I realized that I have to win, I have to move on - it’s all that matters.”
That win gives Robinson confidence going through the rest of the tournament.
“I think it’s a big confidence builder, I think I needed it,” he said.
Robinson ended the day with a 12-4 win over Southern Columbia’s Jude Bremigen, using a pair of second period tilts to go up 8-0.
“That gives me confidence in my tilts, and hopefully I can trust them more,” said Robinson.
Bremigen used an escape, and a third period takedown to cut it to 8-4, but he cut Robinson, with the Knight getting aggressive, getting a double leg takedown to secure the win.
Robinson edged Bremigen 3-2 at districts, so he knew how close this match be.
“After a while you get how they wrestle, and last was pretty close,” remarked Robinson. “I didn’t how it was going to go, and I’m glad how it turned out.”
He’ll face Faith Christian’s Jason Singer in the fifth round of consolations Saturday morning.
Higley needed to win both of his morning matches, and did with a pair of 4-1 decision.
He opened with a 4-1 win over Delone Catholic’s Caleb Tyler, then came back to beat Westmont Hilltop’s Jonah McCoy in the blood round.
Higley used a third period takedown to beat Tyler - going from a single leg to a double leg - then riding him out for the win.
“Just keep scrapping, don’t stop wrestling,” Higley said about his mindset as he looked to break the 1-1 tie. “A lot of times you see guys, they’re winning, and they lose because they stop wrestling, and they get defensive. When that happens you’ve just got to stay in position, you’ve got to wrestle through all positions, no matter the score.”
The second match he got a takedown in the second period after getting an escape for a 4-0 lead. McCoy got an escape to start the third, but struggled to get his offense going after that.
“I wrestled that kid earlier in the season at Ultimate Warrior,” Higley said. “I had to get my head back on straight after seeing one of my brothers losing a blood round on a call that he lost on - I’m emotional about that. I know the amount of time and effort he put in, he’s a great kid, he worked so hard. I had to keep my cool, get back to my game, and just go out there and wrestle.”
Higley turned in a more typical performance, pulling away for an 11-3 win over Brookville’s Gavin Hannah in the fourth round of consolations.
“I’m just working my way back, scoring points, and having fun,” remarked Higley. “I felt free. I put too much pressure on myself those first couple matches. I just went out there, and wrestled relaxed, and believe in my training.”
After a scoreless first Higley used a reversal and two back points to go up 4-0 in the second.
In the third Hannah got a reversal to cut it to 4-2, then cut Higley for the tying takedown.
Higley, though, scored off a Hannah shot for an 8-2 lead. Hannah got an escape, but then Higley got the match sealing takedown for the major.
He’ll face the wrestler who beat him in the opening round, Bishop McCort’s Caleb Rodriguez.
“I just have to believe in myself, believe in my abilities,” said Higley. “I know I’ve out worked a lot of these guys. I know I can out pace a lot of these guys, just having fun and letting it fly.”
Sexton is eager to see how they perform now that the pressure of getting a medal is off.
“It’s a tremendous load off his back,” he said about Higley. “He has worked incredibly hard to get to this position, to be on the medal stand. I thought Mason wrestled a really solid match, he stayed in control of the ties, was never really threatened, and got the immediate escape when he needed to, got the takedown, and just basically dominated the pace of the match, which he pushed, and the opportunities to score, which he was the only one that had them. A great match.”
Since Higley and Robinson wrestled their blood round matches at the same time, Sexton didn’t see much of Robinson, but liked the glimpses he was getting.
“Every time I looked at it Sawyer was adding points,” said Sexton. “The first time I looked he was up 7-0, and then he just kept adding to it. A great way to go out for both of them. Now, you get a little bit of pressure off for both of them, get something to eat, and come back knowing you’re going to be a medalist, and let’s see how far we can go to be a medalist.”
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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING & LANCE LARCOM
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