Simcox finishes with win, earns fifth place at states

HERSHEY, PA – Central Mountain’s Luke Simcox bounced back Saturday with a 5-0 victory over Patrick Snoke of Northampton to earn fifth place at 126 pounds at the PIAA AAA championships at the Giant Center. The standout wrestler finished his freshman season with a mark of 25-5 and District 6 and Northcentral Regional championships.

After a scoreless first period, Simcox started period two from the bottom and picked up three points for a 3-0 lead. Snoke chose neutral in period three and Simcox picked up a takedown and rode out his District 11 opponent. Simcox had defeated Snoke in his morning quarterfinal match by a 5-2 score.

Simcox fell in the consolation semifinals by a 6-3 score to Ethan Berginc of Hempfield Area and earlier lost his championship round semifinal match by a 7-2 score to Tyler Kasak. The undefeated Kasak (15-0) went on to win the state title by a score of 3-2 over defending state champion Carter Dibert of Franklin Regional.

Central Mountain wrestling is not done. The Wildcat team is scheduled to host a District 6 AAA team dual semifinal match with Bellefonte Tuesday at 7 p.m. The winner will wrestle State College later in the week in the title match. The district dual champion will then move into the state team dual tournament. The team duals had been postponed until after the PIAA individual tournament because of COVID-19.