WILLIAMSPORT - The NTL sent 17 wrestlers to the Northeast Regional Tournament on Friday night at Williamsport High School.
A dozen wrestlers from the league opened with wins to advance to today's semifinals.
Williamson sends three wrestlers into the semifinals, while Wyalusing, Troy and North Penn also have multiple quarterfinal winners with two each.
Troy's Ethan Calkins notched a 9-6 win over Lake-Lehman's John Tomasura at 113, while at 120 Wyalusing's Collin Edsell opened with a 13-0 major decision win over Zeb MacMillan of Lake Lehman.
"It was a good warm up match for tomorrow," Edsell said.
There were some upsets, Blue Ridge's Dalton Hogle pinned Central Columbia's Lewis Williams in 1:43 at 120, and near upsets in the early matches and Edsell didn't want to let that happen to him.
"I just watched a couple others start that way," Edsell said. "It was good, but it's just a start."
At 126, Williamson's Logan Everett earned a pin of Troy Maby of Blue Ridge in 1:19 to advance to the semifinals, while teammate Trevor McWhorter won 6-2 over Zach Edwards of Blue Ridge to move into the semifinals at 132.
Billy Barnes became the third Williamson wrestler to move into the semifinals, pinning Victor Rosa of Lackawanna Trail in 2:55 at 145.
Troy's Nick Stephani was aggressive in his first match, earning a 16-1 technical fall win over Beau Fuller of Western Wayne.
"I hope to keep it up," Stephani said of the strong start. "I hope to keep scoring."
Stephani said the plan was to be on the offensive this weekend.
"That's the big plan," he said. "I had a lot of tilts and takedowns today."
As he heads into the semifinals Stephani knows he is just one win away from his goal of states.
"That feels good, especially as a sophomore," he said.
Also at 152, Towanda's Dayton Wickwire lost a 14-0 major decision to district champion Ryan Preisch of Milton.
At 160, Sayre's Kyle Post earned a 3-0 win over District 2 champion T.J. Cistrunk of Meyers.
"It felt great," Post said of the win. "I did good on my feet today."
It was a little different for Post wrestling someone from District 2.
"I was a little nervous at first," he said. "But, this feels good, just like last week."
Now Post is a win away from states.
"It feels good, but I've got to take it one step at a time."
North Penn's Ben Minnich earned an 11-2 major decision win over Nick O'Brien of Wyoming Area at 170, while Williamson's R.C. Hunter fell 9-6 to Brandon Hedden of Western Wayne.
Canton's Garrett Wesneski reached the semifinals with a pin of Isaiah Ofalt of Elk Lake in 3:24 at 182.
"It feels good, but I've got to come ready to wrestle tomorrow," Wesneski said. "Tomorrow is the big day. Tomorrow, I wrestle Troy Hembury and I have to be ready."
After the win Wesneski is feeling good going into today.
"I feel confident I can wrestle with all these guys," he said. "I just have got to go get it done."
Hembury opened with a pin of Wyalusing's Justin Griffith in 59 seconds.
At 195, Wellsboro's Chad Daugherty started strong pinning Scranton Prep's Mike Weircinski in 3:05, while Canton's Connor Route was pinned by defending state champion Ryan Solomon in 35 seconds. Solomon has pinned everyone he has wrestled this postseason.
Wyalusing's Dylan Otis got one of the fastest pins of the day, defeating Kody Pachamovitch of Lake-Lehman in 54 seconds at 220.
"It feels great," Otis said of the win. "I told my dad win one match on Friday and one on Saturday and then the finals are a whole different tournament because you are already going to states."
A year ago Otis lost his first match and he wasn't going to let that happen again this year.
"I know I didn't want it to be like last year where I got caught in a big move," he said. "It feels awesome, I'm really excited for tomorrow."
North Penn's Kate Kriner opened with an 11-4 win over Lake-Lehman's Dustin Jones at 285, while Wyalusing's Dalton Chilson fell 11-6 to defending state champ Nazar Mironenko of Mifflinburg.
"I feel pretty good," Kriner said. "It's a good win, he was first in District 2."
Getting a win to start the tournament is exactly what Kriner was hoping for.
"It feels good," he said. "Really good actually."
