NTL WRESTLING: TOWANDA'S ROBINSON FOURTH, HIGLEY FIFTH AT PIAA CHAMPIONSHIPS (2025-03-08)

BY CHRIS MANNING
Northern Tier Sports Report
HERSHEY — When it comes to wrestling Towanda’s Mason Higley and Sawyer Robinson have been nearly inseparable. They’ve both essentially been the same weight, they’ve consistently gotten better as the years go by, and they’ve worked out against each other in the mat room, so it makes sense that their careers would end in a similar fashion as both finished on the podium at the PIAA, Class AA Wrestling Championships Saturday.

Robinson took fourth, an improvement on his seventh place finish a year ago, while Higley finished his career on a win to take fifth.

“You only get one chance to finish your career on a win, and he came through with that,” Towanda coach Bill Sexton said about Higley. “He’s worked extremely hard to get to this position, and stand on the podium later on tonight with that medal around his neck. I’m sure it’s going to be very gratifying for him.”

Sexton will always remember Robinson as a one of a kind - long and lanky who seemed to pull wins out of nowhere.

“Things work for him that probably shouldn’t work, or wouldn’t work, for anybody else, but he makes it work, and that’s what makes him exciting, that’s what makes him fun to watch. He’s competed really hard for us for four years now.”

They both went 4-2 over the weekend, with their two losses to the same kid.

Robinson opened the day with a crazy pin over Faith Christian’s Jason Singer in 6:49. In tie-breaker two he was on bottom, and caught Singer for a defensive pin, showcasing his length throughout the match.

“It feels pretty good,” Robinson said about the exciting win. “I was glad I could push through the match, and win it in overtime.”

After a scoreless first both wrestlers got escape points for a 1-1 tie after the third period.

A couple times in sudden victory it looked like Singer was going to get a takedown, but Robinson locked him up to force the stalemate.

“I was locking the body and praying I wouldn’t get taken down,” he remarked. “It was close.”

Singer went down first in tie-breaker two, getting out to go up one. When Robinson went down Singer immediately tried to turn him, but nearly pinned himself as he pulled the bigger Robinson on top of him.

When rolled back on top he was high, and Robinson reached up, and pulled him down over his head to bring his shoulders to the mat.

“I tried a reversal, and I almost caught him on his back,” explained Robinson. “I soon realized he started panicking, and as I went back to my knees I realized he was too high, and I grabbed his head.”

They were near the edge of the mat, and time was short, so when the referee blew the whistle Robinson wasn’t sure if had gotten the pin.

“When I looked up at the clock I realized I pinned him,” he remarked.

In the third place match he fell to Fort Cherry’s Braedon Welsh, 7-3. It was closer than his quarterfinal loss to Welsh, but he still couldn’t keep from getting taken down, as Welsh scored takedowns in the second, and third periods for the win.

Still, Robinson reached his goal of wrestling for bronze.

“It feels pretty good overall,” he said. “I’m glad I did it.”

Higley lost his consolation semifinal to eventual bronze medalist, Bishop McCort’s Caleb Rodriguez, 2-0.

It, too, was closer than the first time around, with Rodriguez riding him out in the second, then getting a reversal in the third for the win.

Higley did bounce back to beat Laurel’s Casey Wilson, 4-0, to take fifth.

He got a first period takedown to go up 3-0, then made it 4-0 with an escape in the third. From there he kept Wilson at bay.

“My plan was to go out there, and build on my lead, stay in position, and just wrestle smart,” said Higley. “A guy like that, he’s obviously bigger than me, so I’m trying not to shoot under him as much. If I don’t need something big, I’m not going to take it.”

Higley came here with hopes of bringing home gold, but did finish his career with a state medal.

“It’s not what I came in here wanting, it’s not what I trained for, but at the end of the day things happen,” he said. “God’s got a plan. I just had to overcome things with the matches that were ahead of me.”

He was glad to finish his career beside Robinson on the podium.

“It’s honestly awesome,” said Higley. “Me and Sawyer have been teammates since were third-fourth grade. We’re really just like brothers, brothers in the room, or out of the room. We get in our fare share of disputes, pushing each other into doors and stuff, but at the end of the day, we have each other’s backs, and we believe in each other. We believe in our entire team. I think having a guy like Sawyer int he room, who wrestles a completely different style of wrestler than anyone in the state, it just gives you that new look, and same with me. I give him different looks, and we just make each other better every day.”

Sexton will certainly miss seeing them out on the mat.

“Both of them have a lot to be proud of,” he said. “Great four year careers, both of them 100 plus match winners; they’ve done wonderful things.”

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PHOTOS BY CHRIS MANNING

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