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Dragon wrestlers end season at Northwest Regional tourney

ALTOONA – A fantastic season for the Warren wrestling came to an end at the 3A Northwest Region tournament in Altoona on Saturday.

Jake Fankhouser at 120 and Nick DeSimone at 160 came the closest to finishing in the top three and advancing to the state championships, finishing two wins shy.

Fankhouser defeated Justin Schooley of Selingsgrove 3-1 to advance to the consolation Round of 3 and followed that up with a pin of Ryan Smith of Bellefonte. That set up a bout with Andrew Stark of Cathedral Prep, where Fankhouser dropped a 9-0 decision.

DeSimone, meanwhile, beat Conner Giacedoni of Punxsutawney by fall and followed that up with a 9-1 major decision over Thayne Morgan of DuBois. That set put up his third straight match against a District 9 opponent, Carson Hanna of DuBois, where he fell in a tightly contested 9-7 decision.

Three other Dragons – Blake Ristau, Alex Anderson and John Fankhouser remained in the Consolation Round of 2, where Ristau pinned Stone Smith of Punxsutawney, Anderson earned a 6-4 decision over Cheron Payne of Allderdice and Fankhouser fell 7-2 to Adam Stove of State College.

In the Consolation Round of 3, Anderson dropped a 10-0 decision to Jawon Carr of East and Ristau fell 5-0 to Dominic Parker of Shikellamy.

Jake Engstrom, meanwhile, was unable to continue on Saturday due to injury.

Avery Smith, Alex Weston, Owen Balas, Brett Cummings and Liam Stevenson all dropped their opening matches on Saturday to wrap up their season.

While the Dragons didn’t advance anyone to the PIAA championships, they will perhaps be remembered most for sending a record number to the Northwest Regional.

Anderson, John Fankhouser, Smith, Balas and Stevenson all return next season to try and build on an impressive 2016-17 campaign.

Jake Fankhouser, DeSimone, Ristau, Weston, Engstrom and Cummings, meanwhile, will graduate knowing they were part of a record-setting Dragon team.

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