1st Summit Arena at the Cambria County War Memorial played host to the PJW Junior High state championships over the weekend.

The PJW Junior High state championships are considered to be one of the toughest state tournaments in the country because of the concentration of talent in the tournament.

Among the many talented athletes competing was Youngsville’s Ayden Dean. The eighth-grader was making his second trip to a PJW state tournament in as many years and looked to make his mark.

In Dean’s first match, he squared off with Aleric Raihl of Eastern Lebanon County. Raihl scored a quick takedown, but Dean was able to fend off various pinning attempts to head into the second period down 2-0. Dean chose neutral to start the second and Raihl scored on a dump that netted him 5 points. Raihl picked up two more sets of near-fall points to head into the third period up 12-0. Facing a big deficit and his opponent choosing the down position to begin the third period, Dean went for broke and tried to throw his opponent to his back. Raihl slipped out of the attempt and scored a reversal. Raihl scored 3 additional near-fall points as the final buzzer sounded.

Saturday morning, Dean looked to get his tournament back on track. Dean matched up with Jake Guzek of South Park in his consolation bout. Dean and Guzek exchanged shots from their feet in the first period, but neither was able to score. Dean chose bottom to start the second period and scored an escape just 26 seconds into the period. Guzek got in on a deep, low-level single, but Dean was able to fend off the shot for a stalemate. Guzek got in on another low-level single on the restart and Dean began to fight it off once again. This time, however, Guzek scored a rare neutral fall as Dean came up favoring his knee after it was bent in an awkward direction during the scramble. The loss to Guzek concluded Dean’s tournament.

“This tournament is brutal year in and year out. Ayden battled his rear end off in both of his matches. Considering the version of him I inherited last year, he has grown leaps and bounds” said coach Tim Suydan. “He has been diligent in working to improve himself as a wrestler and as a young man. It’s really shown as he’s gone to back-to-back state tournaments and earned his way each time. He’s also served as a role model for some of the Little Eagles wrestlers. I’m very proud of him for putting in so much work to better himself. I’m looking forward to seeing him continue to progress under Coach Myers’ tutelage.”

Four Little Eagles wrestlers will be competing at the Keystone State Championships in Reading on March 15-17. Then, a week later, 10 Little Eagles wrestlers will be in action at the PJW Youth state championships in Pittsburgh on March 23-24.