FRANK DIMON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville’s Broc Lutz tries to reverse Brookville’s Owen Reinsel during their 126-pound bout at the PIAA Class AA Team Championships at Hershey on Friday.

HERSHEY — Isaac Cory looked toward the Montoursville bench with a look of disappointment on his face. He did everything he could for the Warriors in the final bout of their tournament at the PIAA Class AA Team Wrestling Championships. But a seven-point win just wasn’t enough.

He returned to his teammates and coaches who were very much appreciative of his effort to work for bonus points against Brookville’s Wyatt Griffin at 160 pounds. And his win was impressive. It just wasn’t quite enough.

Montoursville fell a point short of advancing to the third day of the state tournament, losing to Brookville, 32-31, in the second round of consolations at the Giant Center on Friday. The loss followed a morning win over District 4 runner-up Line Mountain, 35-29. And while the finish to the tournament was disappointing for Montoursville, the effort it received during Friday’s wrestling was encouraging a night after seeming sluggish against Burrell.

“I think we’re pretty disappointed, especially in that last match,” Montoursville’s Cameron Wood said. “We definitely had an opportunity to pull it out there and last night as well, and we didn’t wrestle very well. So it’s disappointing.”

“(Friday) was a better day of wrestling,” Montoursville coach Matt Yonkin said. “The attitude and effort was there (Friday). There was a lot of fire in the guys. We stepped up and addressed the things we struggled with (Thursday), and as a result we had some good performances.”

The loss to Brookville was Montoursville’s third consecutive loss to the Blue Devils at the PIAA Team Wrestling Championships, and all three have been by seven points or fewer. The Warriors lost to Brookville in the first round in both 2015 (36-32) and 2016 (32-25) before losing Friday by a point.

Cory took the mat in the final bout with Montoursville trailing 32-28 after Brookville’s Wyatt Kulik earned a fall at 152 pounds in a must-win match for the Blue Devils. After a scoreless first period, Cory used an arm bar tilt for two near-fall points. Cory earned two stalling points and two takedowns in the third period to post an 8-1 win. But it was clear Cory was going for something big and just could never get it against Griffin.

Cory would have needed a technical fall or pin to give Montoursville a win because the Warriors would have lost a tied match on Criteria F, the greater number of forfeits given up. Montoursville forfeited to returning state champion Colby Whitehill at 285 pounds.

Even though the final result was written in that final bout, the final bout was far from the reason Montoursville didn’t advance to the third day of the state tournament for the second time in school history. There were too many missed opportunities for wins and too many missed opportunities for bonus points, and too many missed opportunities to limit Brookville’s bonus points.

Top-ranked Branden Wentzel picked up a major decision against a sub-.500 wrestler at 106 pounds. Broc Lutz dropped a 2-0 decision against fifth-ranked Owen Reinsel, who bumped up from his usual 113 pounds to 126 for the tournament. Brookville’s Brayden Kunselman earned a technical fall with one second left in his 120-pound match.

The smallest of margins in multiple individual bouts ended up making the smallest of margin in the final score. And it was enough to send Brookville on to face Notre Dame-Green Pond in this morning’s consolation quarterfinals.

“All the kids will tell you how much I’m on them about getting points and not giving up points, and it was for moments like this,” Yonkin said. “When you get to this level of competition, one-point matches make a difference and we left a lot of points out there.”

“At the state tournament it’s going to be tough to get bonus points,” Wood said “We figured that out (Thursday) and we figured it out Monday at Boiling Springs. People are going to do whatever they can to get bonus points against you.”

“You can’t really single anything out,” Montoursville’s Dylan Bennett said. “There were a lot of things that didn’t go our way. But we wrestled hard and there’s nothing you can really be ashamed of.”

Wood and Bennett provided two of the biggest wins for the Warriors, even though neither one earned bonus points. Bennett finished off an incredible week of wrestling by beating Brookville’s 24th-ranked Elliot Park, 4-2. Park earlier in the day lost by only a point to third-ranked Tyler Waltman of Southern Columbia. Bennett’s win came on the same day where he was beating fourth-ranked Jacob Feese of Line Mountain, 3-0, before Feese injury defaulted with an ankle injury.

Wood picked up maybe his biggest win of the season, using a third-period reversal to beat fourth-ranked Nathan Taylor, 4-3. After getting that reversal to take a one-point lead, he rode out the final 77 seconds on top to finish off the win.

“It was a big win for me,” Wood said. “That’s one that can give me some confidence between now and the postseason. And I left some points out there, to be honest. I think I can build off that and keep rolling.”

The two matches Friday finished off a stretch of 26 matches in 35 days for Montoursville which has featured 14 separate weigh-ins. The Warriors went 23-3 in those matches, with all three losses coming in the district and state tournaments.

“It definitely was a grind,” Bennett said. “We were weighing in Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for a few weeks and weren’t having much practice time. But it’s all really going to help us come the postseason.”

“It absolutely was a lot to take on, but we didn’t have control over a lot of it,” Yonkin said. “We were making up matches from weather and other team’s having sickness. Looking back on it, it was fun. The grind of it was fun and it’s kind of why we get into this sport. And I think it toughened the kids. Mentally I think we’re really tough.”

Montoursville 35,

Line Mountain 29

152: No. 21 Matty Coller, LM, maj. dec. Jake Dinges, 12-3. 160: No. 17 Isaac Cory, M, maj. dec. Riley Heim, 11-2. 170: No. 3 Cael Crebs, M, pinned Alex Leitzel, 0:22. 182: No. 2 Dylan Bennett, M, inj. def. No. 4 Jacob Feese, 2:41. 195: Cale King, LM, dec. Caleb Moser, 4-0. 220: No. 6 Cameron Wood, M, maj. dec. No. 12 Dominick Bridi, 13-4. 285: Lane Stutzman, M, by forfeit. 106: No. 1 Branden Wentzel, M, pinned Brody Long, 1:13. 113: Cole Johnson, M, dec. No. 19 Aidan Kritzer, 6-1. 120: Lane Schadel, LM, dec. Lucas Sherwood, 7-2. 126: No. 17 Blake Wirt, LM, dec. No. 20 Broc Lutz, 2-0. 132: No. 19 Mason Leshock, LM, pinned James Batkowski, 3:40. 138: No. 21 Ian Coller, LM, maj. dec. Xan Oberheim, 10-2. 145: Bryce Carl, LM, pinned Emery Balint, 0:58.

Takedowns: Line Mountain 13, Montoursville 10.

Records: (24-2); Line Mountain (19-4).

Brookville 32,

Montoursville 31

170: No. 3 Cael Crebs, M, pinned Hayden Kramer, 0:46. 182: No. 2 Dylan Bennett, M, dec. No. 24 Elliot Park, 4-2. 195: Cole LaBenne, B, pinned Caleb Moser, 3:40. 220: No. 6 Cameron Wood, M, dec. No. 4 Nathan Taylor, 4-3. 285: No. 1 Colby Whitehill, B, by forfeit. 106: No. 1 Branden Wentzel, M, maj. dec. Logan Oakes, 16-4. 113: No. 6 Cayden Walter, B, dec. Cole Johnson, 6-2. 120: No. 22 Brayden Kunselman, B, tech. fall Lucas Sherwood, 20-5, 4:59. 126: No. 5 Owen Reinsel, B, dec. No. 20 Broc Lutz, 2-0. 132: James Batkowski, M, pinned Josh Popson, 1:40. 138: Parker Fleming, B, dec. Xan Oberheim, 3-0. 145: Emery Balint, M, pinned Coyha Brown, 1:32. 152: Wyatt Kulik, B, pinned Jake Dinges, 2:17. 160: No. 17 Isaac Cory, M, dec. Wyatt Griffin, 8-1.

Takedowns: Montoursville 12, Brookville 11.

Records: Montoursville (24-3); Brookville (23-3).