FRANK DIMON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville’s Branden Wentzel has his hand raised by official John Edgell after he won the 106-pound championship at the PIAA Class AA wrestling tournament in Hershey on Saturday.

They climbed on to the podium together. Branden Wentzel, as the shortest member of the team, sat on the No. 1 spot with his feet dangling off the ground, and his Montoursville teammates and coaches filled in around him.

Coach Matt Yonkin looked at the PIAA Class AA Wrestling Championships team runner-up trophy he was handed and passed it down the line. Every member of the team — Wentzel, Isaac Cory, Cael Crebs, Dylan Bennett and Cameron Wood — smiled as Yonkin and assistant coaches Bob Vanderwall and Paul Finicle filled in behind them as pictures were snapped.

When the Warriors were in third place following the first day of the tournament Thursday at the Giant Center, it was a nice thought, but nobody expected it was something which would hold up. That is, until it did. Through all four sessions of the tournament Montoursville made its presence known.

Saturday, it did its most damage as Wentzel (106 pounds) and Wood (220) captured state titles, Bennett (182) took a runner-up finish, Crebs (170) won bronze, and Cory (160) finished with a victory to take seventh place. The Warriors won 18 of their 22 matches in the state tournament, finishing with 103 team points, finishing second to Notre Dame-Green Pond’s 114 points. Defending champion Southern Columbia finished third with 98.5 points.

Wentzel and Wood gave Montoursville multiple state champions in a season for the first time in school history. And the five total medalists is also a school record.

“What a day. What a weekend,” Yonkin said. “I have so much pride for the kids and I’m so proud of all their hard work. I’m just excited.”

In all, nine area wrestlers walked away from the Giant Center yesterday with state medals. The Montoursville five were joined by Warrior Run’s Noah Hunt who took eighth at 132, Sullivan County’s Nate Higley who took fourth at 145, and Canton’s Timmy Ward who was sixth at 170 in Class AA. In Class AAA, Central Mountain’s Derek Keen took eighth at 113 pounds.

Montoursville’s presence in the team race was never given serious consideration among the team until it put four wrestlers into Friday’s semifinals with Cory securing a medal in the consolation bracket. By the end of Friday when it had three state finalists for the first time in school history, it was something the team could no longer ignore.

But it was never the goal. Instead, it was a result of each of the five individuals taking care of their own responsibilities.

Wentzel became just the second freshman in school history to win a state title, joining Luke Frey in 2008. Wood went from a .500 wrestler as a freshman to one of the most consistent presences in the lineup the last three years, to state champion. Bennett battled through the disappointment of missing states as a sophomore to reaching the state final. Crebs established himself as one of the best in the state in the top position. And Cory proved he was underestimated by rankers around the state all season.

In the end, that all together equaled a second-place team finish and all five wrestling having hardware dangled from their neck. Montoursville became the first Lycoming County school to finish in the top two in the team standings at the state tournament since Loyalsock won the Class AA team championship in 2004.

“If you would have told me three weeks ago that we’d be in second place with five medals, I would have said no,” Crebs said. “But we came, we showed up, and we performed.”

“I don’t think many people knew what kind of kids we had on our team,” Bennett said. “And coming here to the toughest tournament in the state and having everyone placing and winning matches, I think it puts us out there for sure.”

Wentzel finished off a quietly dominant tournament which saw him carry over the best performance of the season at regionals to the most important tournament of the season. He trusted himself in his best position supremely Saturday, choosing the neutral position in a scoreless match in the second period. He then chose to let up Chestnut Ridge’s Calan Bollman to start the second period and give Bollman a 1-0 lead, confident he could score a takedown.

Wentzel had been close the whole match to finishing on a re-shot of Bollman’s attacks. But as Bollman defended a re-shot in the third period, it allowed Wentzel to get in double underhooks. He then jacked up Bollman for leverage and threw him to his back for a four-point move. It was the only points Wentzel needed as he won, 4-2.

The freshman gave up just seven points in his four state-tournament matches, and all of them were escapes. He finished the season with a 46-7 record, including going 11-1 since finishing fourth at the Central Sectional tournament a month ago.

“It’s crazy, to be honest,” Wentzel said. “I was getting in on some iffy shots at the end where I could have taken him down, and I should have. But I went back on my feet and had to get it done, and I was able to get it done. I’m not the biggest 106-pounder, but if you get that deep, you can really go with it.”

“He was in control,” Yonkin said. “His style is one of aggressiveness, a lot of re-shots, a lot of snaps, a lot of shrugs. With that he creates a lot of opportunity.”

Wood’s weekend was far less flashy, but just as effective. The only senior among Montoursville’s state medalists, was workmanlike. Every movement had a purpose. He was punishing on top when he had to be and opportunistic on his feet.

He led Wilson’s Kolby Flank, 1-0, in the second period when he got in on a single leg and drove Flank to the mat for a critical takedown. From there, Wood was in charge, even when he gave up a reversal later in the second period because he immediately escaped and built the lead back to two points again. Wood won, 4-2, becoming a two-time state placewinner. He was fourth a year ago.

“Last year opened my eyes, especially with some of the kids I knew were graduating,” Wood said. “I said you know, if I can work hard in the offseason and continue to work hard and get better in the practice room, I think I can come out here and win a state title.”

Bennett’s loss in the 182-pound final to Ellwood City’s Austin Walley was the only one of his season. He had won 39 consecutive matches since returning from a broken thumb he suffered during football season.

But he didn’t wrestle as well as he wanted to, especially on the mat, yesterday. Knowing Walley was proficient on his feet, Bennett wanted to take the match to the mat where he feels more comfortable.

But Walley scored the first of his two takedowns less than a minute into the bout. The second one came in the period for a 4-2 lead, but Bennett scored a reversal and rode out the final 1:10 to tie the score, 4-4. Walley chose bottom in the third period and caught Bennett riding too high and reversed him with 1:07 left for the winning margin in a 6-5 victory.

Walley became the first state champion in Ellwood City history.

“I just couldn’t turn him and I could really ride him. It was tough throwing legs in,” Bennett said. “It’s the same kind of feeling I had last year (when I missed states). But hopefully I can use it to motivate me and come back next year and win it.”