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RocketsPondel, Snyder aim for sweet trip to Hershey By Ed Topoleski The second turn of the long road to Hershey for the state wrestling tournament begins today when the Northwest Region Class AAA Tournament kicks off at 5:30 p.m. at Altoona High School. Titusville, who initially had no qualifiers in last year�s tourney, will be represented by two junior grapplers � David Pondel (103) and Joe Snyder (145). Pondel, who enters the tournament with a record of 30-9, earned his ticket for this weekend with a second-place finish in the District 10 Tournament. Snyder, who has a record of 25-12, took a much tougher path to this weekend�s event. He lost his first-round bout at the district level before wrestling his way back into the light through the consolation bracket. For Snyder and Pondel, the trick is to stay in the winner�s bracket as long as possible in the double-elimination format. �The neat thing is that with every match you win (at regionals), your chances of moving on get a little bit better,� Titusville head coach Mo Burns said. �But once you get down into that loser�s bracket you don�t have any more trump cards left. It�s losers-go-home.� Pondel will face Hollidaysburg sophomore Ken Moyer in the opening round. Moyer, District 6�s third place winner, has a record of 18-12. If Pondel can get past Moyer, he would be paired with District 9�s undefeated junior (31-0) Matt Kyler (Clearfield High School). Kyler is a two-time Tool City Tournament champion and is ranked No. 1 in the state by Off the Mat. Snyder�s preliminary bout will be against Carrick�s Jerame Smith. Smith, a junior, has a record of 10-9. Should Snyder top Smith, he would get Clearfield�s Kyle Keane in the second round. Keane was the first-place winner at the District 9 Tournament. He sports a record of 31-2. But the records of the two Clearfield wrestlers that Pondel and Snyder would meet in the second round don�t really matter, said Burns. �Down there, you just have to take it one match at a time,� Burns said. �And if you end up with a kid that is supposed to be really good, you just go out there and wrestle the match hard because anything can happen down there.� It�s also an opportunity for the two Rockets to prove what they can do against the top competition in the region. �Neither one of them (Pondel and Snyder) is ranked in the state,� Burns said. �Nobody really knows them. They�re just like big underdogs. So, they have to wrestle to their ability and see what happens. At this point it doesn�t matter if you draw the No. 1 seeded kid in the state or not. The thing is you have to win in order to get to the next round.� And the next round would be: Oh, so sweet! NOTES: Only the top three from each weight class will move on to the PIAA Class AAA championships. ... It has been three years since Titusville has had a wrestler qualify for the state championships. Add a comment |
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