At the Altoona High field house on February 18, two Golden Eagle wrestlers battled their way to the regional tournament.  Juniors Jamal Hicks and Derrick Harris both punched their tickets to the next round of the PIAA wrestling post-season.

Hicks won his first match to get to the quarterfinals, where he lost, sending him into the consolation bracket. After that he was on fire, winning the rest of his matches to secure a third place finish and a ticket to the southwest regional tournament. Since Hicks placed third, he will be favored in his first round match up.

“I feel confident every time I step on the mat. I feel I am the best and this allows me to compete with anyone that I face. I am excited to compete this weekend and plan on punching my ticket to Hershey,” said Hicks.

Harris’s road to the southwest region tournament was a little different than Hicks. Harris won his first match, sending him to the quarter finals. In the quarter finals Harris’s opponent illegally slammed him to the mat and was disqualified from the match. This resulted in a quarter final win for Harris.

Unfortunately, Harris had to forfeit the rest of his matches due to an injury but still managed to place 6th and qualify for the regional tournament.

The pair of juniors were the only Tyrone wrestlers to qualify for the regional tournament.

The southwest regional tournament will take place Friday and Saturday at IUP.

To see the complete Regional brackets, click the link below to download a PDF of the tournament bracket:

2017_PIAA_SW_AA Region_Wrestling_Brackets