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Top Hat tournament begins at Williamsport

Hunter Good of Williamsport wrestles Ethan Carl of Elizabethtown in their 130-pound first-round match Friday night at the Tom Best Memorial Top Hat Tournament at Williamsport High School. Good won by fall in 1:30.

By MITCH RUPERT

mrupert@sungazette.com

Izek Brooks knows what’s awaiting him this morning in the semifinals of the Tom Best Memorial Top Hat Tourn­ament. It’s not a match he’s favored in, going against Cen­tral Mountain state placewinner Geo Barzona.

The Williamsport sophomore doesn’t particularly care. He looks at this morning’s semifinals as a chance to make a name for himself. He’s coming off a solid freshman season in which he won 22 matches and qualified for the regional tournament. But he’s never had the quality of win against a wrestler like Barzona.

Brooks and Barzona will be two of 20 local wrestlers competing in this morning’s championship semifinals of the season-opening tournament. Cen­tral Mountain leads the team race after Day 1 of the tournament with 79 points. Bald Eagle Area (76), Line Mountain (72.5), Montoursville (63) and Muncy (57.5) round out the Top 5 in the team standings.

Brooks is trying to turn a new corner in his career here in the first weekend of the season. He spent last season, at times, as a nervous wreck in his first year as a varsity wrestler. Friday night in his home gym, he seemed right at home. He needed just 1 minute, 20 seconds to score a fall in the first round at 120 pounds. He scored a second fall in the quarterfinals, that one taking 5:30 off the clock.

In a one-point match in the second period of his quarterfinal match against Line Mountain’s Griffin Smeltz, Brooks had to fight off a strong double-leg takedown attempt that knocked the sophomore to his backside. But he used just brute strength in his left arm, flipping Smeltz on to his back to pick up big points and break the bout open.

“Something like that, it’s just a quick flash,” Brooks said. “I get angry and then it goes away. But I need to fix that because as I go along, I’m not going to be able to do that with good kids. I have to be more technical and not just all strength.”

A year ago, Brooks’ freshman season ended with him going 2-2 at the Class AAA Northwest Regional tournament. His first loss came to eventual region runner-up Adam Stover of State College. He was eliminated with a 7-2 loss to Altoona’s Curtis Dukes, a wrestler he had beaten earlier in the season.

Now he’s working on being more mentally tough. He’s working on finding a way to not get as nervous as he did a year ago. That’ll all help him take that next step to get to the state tournament.

“I’m really not sure why get nervous, but I go on the mat and it’s like the first period and I’d just get really nervous until it would all flush out of me,” Brooks said. “It’s something that still comes, but I’m getting better at dealing with. This year will be different for me. I’ll have a good diet, keep my weight down, and get good grades. That’s all I want.”

Williamsport is tied for eighth after the first day of the tournament, and the Millionaires have three wrestlers in this morning’s semifinals. Alan Cortright advanced to the 113 semis with a pair of wins, and Riley Hilner beat 28-match winner Nate Fritz of Cocalico in the 132 quarterfinals.

All three Williamsport wrestlers will have their hands full this morning. Cortright draws Titusville regional qualifier Hunter Thompson in the 113 semifinals. Hilner faces Bald Eagle Area state qualifier Garrett Rigg.

And then there’s Brooks, who’s happy to have his opportunity to wrestle two-time state sixth-place finisher Barzona. He’s got the toughest matchup of them all, but he knows it’s an opportunity for him.

“He placed at states and I want to make a name for myself,” Brooks said. “I want to be the one to have a good match with him. I want to see where I’m at.”

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