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Stamm leaves Magic Dome much happier

PHOTO BELOW: Milton’s Noah Stamm, left, wrestles Line Mountain’s Caleb Shaffer in the 138-pound final at the District 4 wrestling tournament Saturday at Williamsport High School. Stamm won his first district title with an 8-2 victory.

The last time Noah Stamm left the gym at Williamsport High School, his arm was in an air cast. The injury he sustained was so bad it required surgery.

The Milton junior was feeling just a little bit different when he walked out of the Magic Dome on Saturday night. There was a District 4 gold medal draped around his neck, and his final match in the Class AA tournament was a thing of pure beauty.

Stamm was wide open with his offense in the 138-pound final against Line Mountain’s Caleb Shaffer, and he was just too much to handle, winning 8-2. With his 3-0 performance, he goes into this weekend’s Northeast Regional tournament as the No. 2 seed and a favorite to claim one of the four state qualifying spots available.

What a difference a year makes.

“The goal is to win everything and dominate everyone,” Stamm said. “To come in and win this was a big goal. I’m not done yet, but this is a big one.”

Stamm looked to be on his way to being a state qualifier in last year’s regional tournament after finishing fourth in the district tournament. But in a consolation semifinal against Valley View’s Brett Uhrin — who is the top seed at 138 pounds at regionals — Stamm dislocated his elbow and was forced to default because of the injury. His season ended with 31 victories and one win short of reaching the state tournament.

Stamm is 30-6 this year with three of those losses coming in the season opening Cumberland Valley Tournament, and two more coming in the Beast of the East in December. Since the start of the New Year, Stamm’s lone loss came in the first round of the District 4 Duals tournament to defending state champion Brian Courtney of Athens.

He’s been battle-tested throughout the year and it showed this weekend as he faced two dogfights just to reach the finals. He defeated Canton’s Ethan Landis, 5-1, before battling through Wyalusing’s Luke Yonkin to a 6-0 win in the semifinals.

“(Yonkin) was probably the biggest match,” Stamm said. “I knew if I could beat Yonkin, then I could get the win in the finals.”

Stamm’s finals opponent wasn’t exactly who he had prepared for. He was planning on seeing Benton three-time state placewinner Mike Stuart in the finals. But Stuart was upset Friday night in overtime by Shaffer.

So when Stamm got to the finals, he changed up his gameplan. He decided to open up his offense and go right after Shaffer. He recorded three takedowns as he opened a 6-1 lead over Shaffer before eventually winning, 8-2.

Normally, Stamm likes to work off of his opponent’s offense. He doesn’t mind getting into positions where he has to scramble because he feels comfortable scrambling. But Saturday’s plan to go right at Shaffer, well that felt pretty comfortable, too.

“This match I knew I had nothing to lose. It felt good to take shots instead of just relying on other people’s,” Stamm said. “I think as long as I wrestle offensively and I’m smart about it, it shouldn’t be any problem and I can go against every opponent just as offensively as I did in that match.”

THE HUNTED

A gold medal hung around the neck of Lewisburg’s Andrew Shedleski. It was cool and all, seeing as it was the junior 182-pounder first district title. But he was by no means satisfied with it.

Shedleski reflected on a district tournament in which he knew he could have wrestled so much better and began speaking of the work he still needed to do. He went 3-0, winning his first two bouts with bonus points before beating Towanda’s Joe Koss in the finals, 8-7. But Shedleski knew it wasn’t his best performance.

“I can feel good about this result, but as someone who is always trying to get better, I can never feel perfect about the match,” Shedleski said. “I always find places to improve. With me, there’s a lot, I know. No matter what the results are, there’s always a place to improve.”

At times in the final, Shedleski looked brilliant. He made work from his feet look effortless in the three takedowns he recorded against Koss. Then there were other times when he put himself into bad positions allowing Koss to score.

It’s a vast change for Shedleski, who spent last season battling with Montoursville’s Garrett Hoffman to try and prove he belonged on a state-wide stage. That’s no longer the case anymore. He’s become the hunted one in the bracket, especially after Koss beat Troy returning state fifth-place finisher Zach Zimmerman in the semifinals.

A year ago, Shedleski was chasing Hoffman on his way to his first state tournament. Now he’s the one being chased. He has only one loss which feels like it came ages ago. He’s no longer trying to prove himself, he’s already done that. Now he’s trying to win.

“Last year I was good with just moving on,” Shedleski said. “I feel right now a lot of guys at this weight are trying to prove themselves, and I’m just trying to do what I want to do to accomplish my own goals. I’m not worried about everyone else. I’m just trying to do what I need to do.”

GETTING CLOSER

Montoursville’s Wyatt Lutz didn’t take any consolation prizes from his District 4 113-pound final loss to Southern Columbia’s Jaret Lane on Saturday. There was no moral victory for pushing a tied score deep into the third period.

The bottom line was the Warriors’ junior finished second after losing to the returning state runner-up, 6-1. But he knows he’s getting closer to beating Lane, and he knows he’s doing the right things. All that’s left for him is to break through.

“I’m right there, I know that,” Lutz said. “But I still haven’t beat him yet, and that’s what I’m looking for. It feels like I’m doing everything right, I just need to execute better.”

Lutz tried to create action on his feet Saturday in the final, but Lane showed good defense, almost always keeping Lutz at arm’s length. And even when Lutz did get to a leg twice, Lane never seemed to be in trouble as he kept Lutz from getting a corner to get behind him for a takedown.

“He’s good at that shin whizzer. I need to work on that this week if I want to do anything against him next week,” Lutz said. “He let’s you in, but with Jaret, he’s tough to finish shots on.”

Lutz already had his sights set on next weekend’s regional tournament where Lane will be the top seed with a 41-0 record. Lutz is the third seed and is on the same side of the bracket as Bloomsburg state qualifier Colby Bronzburg and District 2 champion Anthony Kasper of Meyers.

He’ll have work to do before he gets the chance to wrestle Lane again, but that’s where his focus is.

“I’m already looking forward to next week,” Lutz said with a smile. “That’s all I’m thinking about right now, and that’s all I’ll be thinking about this week.”

Mitch Rupert covers high school wrestling for the Sun-Gazette. He can be reached at 326-1551, ext. 3129, or by email at mrupert@sungazette.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/Mitch_Rupert.MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Max Shnyder, 3, son of Muncy Wrestling Assistant Coach Garrett Shnyder and Nicole Smith tries a take-down on Dan Hall of Muncy wrestling during the District IV Class AA Wrestling finals at WAHS Saturday. Max is named in honor of his father's uncle Max Shnyder,  the name sake of the Max Shnyder District IV Wrestling Scholarship.

“http://ogden_images.s3.amazonaws.com/www.sungazette.com/images/2017/02/26232606/27Bennett-337×500.jpg” alt=”27Bennett” width=”337″ height=”500″ class=”alignnone size-medium wp-image-694767″ />PHOTO BELOW: Milton's Noah Stamm, left, wrestles Line Mountain's Caleb Shaffer in the 138-pound final at the District 4 wrestling tournament Saturday at Williamsport High School. Stamm won his first district title with an 8-2 victory.

MARK NANCE/Sun-Gazette Max Shnyder, 3, son of Muncy Wrestling Assistant Coach Garrett Shnyder and Nicole Smith tries a take-down on Dan Hall of Muncy wrestling during the District IV Class AA Wrestling finals at WAHS Saturday. Max is named in honor of his father's uncle Max Shnyder,  the name sake of the Max Shnyder District IV Wrestling Scholarship.

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