Chesla settles for silver medal

BY CHRIS MANNING (Sports Writer)

Published: March 14, 2010

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HERSHEY - For Towanda's Travis Chesla it wasn't meant to be.

Chesla came in looking to be Towanda's first PIAA champion but had to settle for second as he lost to Commodore Perry's undefeated Stephen Ceremuga 5-4 at 189 pounds.

Ceremuga struck first, scoring a takedown late in the first to go up 2-0. Chesla was on top to start the second round but couldn't hold Ceremuga who earned an escape to go up 3-0.

Throughout the second Chesla got caught up in ties with Ceremuga, but also missed a chance to score late on a shot.

In the third Chesla got on the board with an escape but Ceremuga added to his lead with a takedown to take a 5-1 lead.

Chesla escaped again to make it 5-2 and scored a takedown with two seconds left to cut it to 5-4 but it was too little, too late.

Getting behind early was what hurt Chesla.

"He got scored on first," Towanda coach Bill Sexton said, "That changed the whole tempo of the match. It's a tough loss. Obviously what you're here for when you get to that stage is you're here to win the tournament. He didn't get it done, the kid scored more points. That's the way it is."

While Chesla was visibly upset after the match, as time goes on the overall achievement will shine through.

"It hurt rights now," Sexton said, "When you look at it you have to take pride in what you've been able to accomplish."

And those are big accomplishments for the senior.

Two state places and 113 wins in three varsity seasons.

"When you get to the state finals and come up short it hurts," Sexton said, "Obviously you have to have a very good career to get to that point and it was."

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