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Shore’s Mason resets, finds a way to win title

Muncy’s Mike Kustanbauter works for the fall against Jersey Shore’s Hunter O’Connor during the 170-pound final of the Central Sectional tournament at Hughesville High School on Saturday.

Max Mason jumped to his feet, raised his arms and marched to his corner where his father, whose Jersey Shore singlet he was wearing, waited with a celebratory high five.

And then everything stopped. Referee Dave Kreider paused for a moment as he rose to his knees and the mat judge approached him. With the deafening roar in the Hughesville High School gym summoned by Mason locking up a cradle on Muncy’s Hunter Poust, Kreider couldn’t hear the buzzer ending the second period sound before slapping the mat for a fall.

Calmly, Kreider looked toward the scoring table and signaled three near-fall points for Mason. The Jersey Shore senior took a deep breath and got his focus back. He was going to need it for another gut-wrenching two minutes which were left in the 220-pound Central Sectional final.

Mason still had a 9-3 lead against Poust, but he knew the third period was where the struggle was going to come. He had approached the final against Poust knowing his gas tank wasn’t the best and it would be a struggle to get through three periods. So he came out with a flurry early in the bout, hoping to build a lead and coast from there.

The plan worked for Mason. He overcame two stalling calls in the third period and taking injury time to vomit to post an 11-6 win and claim his first sectional championship in Jersey Shore’s first year as a Class AA school.

This win was especially gratifying for Mason because it reversed the result in the first meeting this season between Mason and Poust. Some two months ago Mason not only lost to Poust, who has just two losses this year, but he was pinned in the teams’ dual just before Christmas.

“This feels amazing,” Mason said afterward, the sweat still dripping down his face. “This is probably one of my favorite matches ever.”

The win helped re-affirm Mason made the right decision when he moved to 220 pounds early in the season. He wrestled at the season-opening Tom Best Memorial Top Hat tournament at 195 pounds. He finished fifth in the tournament, losing only in the semifinals to Montoursville defending state champion Gavin Hoffman, and to Fort LeBoeuf’s Lane Reinwald, who is ranked 10th in the state at 195.

Mason made the move to 220 pounds after that tournament, though. He didn’t feel like he was strong enough and he certainly didn’t think he had the stamina to wrestle six hard minutes cutting the weight necessary to get to 195 pounds. So he made the move up a weight class, and at times for Jersey Shore, even bumped to heavyweight.

His weight has maintained steadily between 205 and 210 pounds. And even though he may not be as big as other 220-pounders he’ll face in the coming weeks, he feels his strength more than makes up for it.

“I was feeling really small and weak at 195, and my gas tank wasn’t the best because I couldn’t eat at all,” Mason said. “I work better at 220 anyway because I’m stronger and faster than most 220-pounders.”

And after Saturday’s win, Mason is feeling more confident in himself than ever. He executed the gameplan he wanted to perfectly. Well, with the exception of that whole puking thing in the third period.

But he was aggressive early. He scored early with a pair of first-period takedowns to take a 4-1 lead and negate Poust’s strength in the top position. He chose neutral in the second period and after Poust recorded a takedown to make it 4-3, Mason nearly turned a reversal into a fall when he locked up the cradle. Only the clock kept the bout from being over there.

Then it was pure hang-on mode for Mason. He didn’t give up any big points and he didn’t give up any big moves. The final two minutes may not have been pretty, but he didn’t particularly care.

“It’s always intense. Poust is always going after it. He’s not a quitter at all and he always brings it 100 percent the whole match,” Mason said. “I didn’t know I had that in me, to be honest. But now I know and it’s a big confidence booster heading into districts and regionals.”

READY FOR THE

NEXT CHALLENGE

Jacob Blair has passed about every test thrown in front of him this year, including the four times Hughesville’s Luke Gorg has lined up across from him. So after Blair, Muncy’s freshman 106-pounder, won the Central Sectional title on Saturday, he turned his focus forward one week.

He’s been ranked second in the Northeast Region behind Line Mountain’s Matty Coller all season. Now he’s ready to prove he should be No. 1.

“I feel like I’m better than Matty and I want to show him that and really take it to him,” Blair said.

Blair earned the top seed for this weekend’s District 4 Class AA tournament. And a matchup between he and Coller can’t just be expected. Coller is the third seed in the tournament behind Troy’s Sheldon Seymour, who is 25-3 this year.

But Blair feels he’s not only ready to be a district champion, but he’s prepared for it, too. He’s 32-3 and two of those losses have come to state-ranked Class AAA wrestlers, and the other is to Fort LeBoeuf’s Steve McGarvie, who is ranked seventh in Class AA.

But it’s because of those losses Blair feels ready. It’s because of those losses and what he’s learned from them he’s confident heading into the district tournament.

“Those matches showed me a lot of what I needed to work on and I fine-tuned those things so it wouldn’t happen again,” Blair said. “It pushed me to be better.”

WAIT AND SEE

The easiest part of Josh Dauberman’s day Saturday may have come after the Central Sectional tournament was over. As fans filed out of the gym and the Hughesville senior heavyweight talked with some family and friends, Dauberman took one step and effortlessly jumped and grabbed the rim of the basketball hoop.

The rest of his day at sectionals wasn’t really all that stressful, but Dauberman made it look as easy and effortless as grabbing the rim. He won his second consecutive sectional title by winning 9-4 in the semifinals over Montoursville’s Dalton Tubbs, and then scoring a first-period pin against Warrior Run’s Hunter Bohannon in the finals.

“I feel pretty good about it, but there’s always some stuff I need to fix,” Dauberman said. “So we just have to go back to work this week.”

Dauberman is the third seed in a loaded 285-pound weight class this week at districts. Heavyweight may be the deepest and most talented weight class of the 14 which will be contested at Williamsport High School. And when that tournament gets underway, Dauberman may be the biggest wild card.

He’s got just one loss on the year and it came to the No. 1-ranked heavyweight in the state, Danny Scheib of Tri-Valley. He hasn’t lost since since that Dec. 16 match either. He’s one of the six state-ranked heavyweights in the field, and he may be the most dangerous.

Line Mountain’s Garrett Kieffer is a two-time state qualifier. Top-seeded Dawson Otis of Wyalusing is a returning state sixth-place finisher. North Penn-Liberty’s Justin Kriner was a district runner-up as a sophomore last year. And Bohannon has a win in his career over Dauberman.

But nobody has a weapon on their feet quite like Dauberman’s blast double. When set up properly, it’s borderline unstoppable. And when he gets on top, he can be a hammer.

So does Dauberman believe he is one of the best heavyweights — maybe even the best — in the district?

“I could be, but I don’t know,” Dauberman said with a smile. “I think next week is about proving that.

“It’s going to be a great weekend next weekend.”

PUTTING IN THE WORK

Mike Kustanbauter has never been one to spend a lot of time in the offseason training for wrestling. That all changed after his freshman season a year ago. He wasn’t happy with the way that season ended, so he put in the work over the summer.

The Muncy sophomore said the offseason work with the PA-D4 team coached by Indians assistant Patrick Sparks had him hit the ground running when the season began in November. Now the benefits are showing through. Kustanbauter already has 11 more wins than he did a year ago, and now he goes into the district tournament as the Central Sectional 170-pound champion.

“I had never really done much summer wrestling before, but I knew I needed to step it up,” Kustanbauter said. “I knew it would help me. And I didn’t have to go into the room when the season started and try to re-learn what I learned last year. I went in a lot more confident.”

Kustanbauter rolled to the 170-pound title, scoring a fall in all three of his bouts to move to 48-20 in his career. The No. 2 seed needed just 34 seconds for a fall in the quarterfinals, 29 seconds in the semifinals, and 2:44 in the finals.

And that fall in the finals was crucial for Muncy, who was in a dogfight in the team race. The four advancement points and the two bonus points for the fall put the Indians within four points of Warrior Run with a chance to take the lead in the 220 final. And although Muncy had to settle for a second-place finish, the impact of getting the fall in the finals wasn’t lost.

“Coach told me to go out and get the win first, then go for the bonus points,” Kustanbauter said. “But getting those bonus points, I knew it really helped the team.”

LIVE STREAM

NEEDS DONATIONS

The Benton wrestling program will once again be doing a live internet stream of both the District 4 and Northeast Regional tournaments. Donations are being accepted to help cover the cost of the streams. If you would like to donate to the live streams, you can do so by visiting www.bentontigerswrestling.com.

Mitch Rupert covers high school wrestling for the Sun-Gazette. He can be reached at 326-1551, ext. 3129, or by email at . Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/Mitch_Rupert.Muncy's Mike Kustanbauter works for the fall against Jersey Shore's Hunter O'Connor during the 170-pound final of the Central Sectional tournament at Hughesville High School on Saturday.

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