A pair of Youngsville senior co-captains extended their final seasons by at least one week with identical sixth-place finishes in the District 10 Class AA Wrestling Tournament held on Friday and Saturday at Sharon High School.

With their performances, 127-pounder Ian Mancuso and 139-pounder Logan McDonald will find themselves right back at Sharon next weekend for the PIAA Northwest Regional Class AA Tournament. Youngsville’s Aidan Mancuso also competed in the 145-pound bracket, but saw his strong junior season come to an end.

“The boys wrestled extremely well this weekend,” said Youngsville coach Dave Myers. “To get Ian and Logan through to the regional tournament healthy was one of our goals and they accomplished that. They are rounding into good form and are really looking forward to competing next weekend.”

Mancuso (24-14) entered the weekend as the second-seeded wrestler out of Section 1 and opened his competition with a third-period pin of Commodore Perry’s Shane Yeager. In the quarterfinals, he would match up with Maplewood junior Chase Blake. It was a hard-fought bout but ultimately Mancuso moved to within one loss of elimination in a 6-2 setback to the Tigers standout.

Submitted Photo LOGAN MCDONALD

With his season on the line, Mancuso responded with a thrilling 2-1 victory over Mercer’s Carter Wise that moved him to another consolation match with General McLane’s Teige Berger. Again, Mancuso pulled through with a one-point victory that ensured his season would continue at least another week.

After a 9-0 loss to Alex Rueberger of Sharpsville, Mancuso again squared off with Maplewood’s Blake in the fifth-place bout for the weekend. Mancuso cut the previous deficit in half, but still found himself on the losing end of a 4-2 decision, leaving the Youngsville standout in sixth-place.

Like Mancuso, McDonald (26-13) entered the tournament as the second seeded wrestler out of Section 1. Also like Mancuso, McDonald opened his weekend with a pin, beating Reynolds’ Logan Zagorski in just 1:31. From there, McDonald continued his winning ways with a 5-3 decision of Cochranton’s Cash Morell to advance to the championship semifinals.

In the semifinals, McDonald ran into the Section 2 champion Wyatt Lazzar of Commodore Perry. Lazzar, who would eventually go on to win the tournament, showed why he is one of the best in District 10 with a technical fall win in the third period.

The tough matchups continued for McDonald in the consolation bracket where he started with a 1-0 loss to Section 1 champion Nate Stearns of Titusville. That loss put McDonald in the fifth-place match against Slippery Rock’s Zac Turberville where Turberville escaped with a 5-3 decision.

“If they both wrestle to their full potential next weekend we could be looking at podium finishes,” added Myers. “Both have to wrestle flawless, but have really bought into the survive-and-advance mentality.”

Aidan Mancuso (13-18) began the weekend with a hard-fought 5-1 loss to Reynolds senior Tino Gentile before rebounding with a second-period pin of Conneaut’s Mitchell Blood in the consolations. Mancuso’s season came to a close with a 5-0 decision loss to Corry’s Cody Proper.

“Aidan wrestled his butt off and proved to himself and us that he can compete with anyone,” said Myers. “His confidence really improved these last two weeks and he wrestled the best we’ve seen him wrestle. I think he’ll be primed for a solid senior season next year.”