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Four Bears advance

BETHLEHEM - Of all the Pleasant Valley wrestlers to advance to regionals, Jason Jacobi might have pushed himself into the second weekend of post-season wrestling with the most momentum.

Jacobi took fifth at 126 following a stunning 6-4 decision over Parkland's Andrew Mastrangelo in the consolation finals.The PV junior trailed 4-2 inside of 10 seconds left, when he ankle picked Mastrangelo off the restart and took him to his back for a four-point move that gave him the win at the buzzer."I tried an ankle pick two times in the match earlier and I didn't get it," said Jacobi. "There was seven seconds and I saw him [Mastrangelo] step heavy on that front foot, so I just launched off the whistle and got two back points."Jacobi was one of four Bears to advance to regionals, as Pleasant Valley finished in 10th in the team standings, accumulating 62 points to fend off the likes of Bangor (55) and Stroudsburg (52.5) for spots inside the top-10.Ahmad Curtis (HWT) was the only Bear to reach the finals, picking up two falls en route to the championship match with Bethlehem Catholic's Andrew Dunn.Unfortunately, that's where the road stopped for Curtis, as Dunn pinned the Bears senior in 1:43. It was the fourth fall of the tournament for Dunn, who pinned all of his opponents in 9:05 to take home the pinner award. The Golden Hawks ran away with the team title (259 points), crowned five champions and advanced 12 to regionals.However, Dunn was the most dominant wrestler of the tournament."My goal for the weekend was to pin all of my opponents," Dunn said. "I've wrestled a lot of matches to pin all of my opponents," Dunn said. "I've wrestled a lot of matches at heavyweight and I know how they're going to react. I just use my leverage and try to push the pace and get them on their back."Bears' coach Justin Micklos knows Curtis is the team's best shot at advancing to Hershey and expects him to be in the conversation by weekend's end."Ahmad wrestled a great tournament, but of course Dunn, is an animal," said Micklos. "Ahmad wrestled very well and he just needs to do that in regionals. The sky is the limit for him and a lot of it is going to depend on where he's seeded."The other two Bears to medal included Brody Keefe (170) and Trent Thomas (195).Keefe scored a 1-0 decision over Bethlehem Catholic's Brandon Gallagher to take fifth, while Thomas defeated East Stroudsburg South's Kevin Alpaugh 2-1 for fifth as well.But as far as confidence goes, Jacobi might have the most heading into this weekend."I have a lot of confidence in myself right now," he said. "I just can't wait to get back into the room and hit it hard this week."

don herb/times news Pleasant Valley's Ahmad Curtis (top) wrestles Jahan Worth of Parkland during Friday's AAA quarterfinals. Curtis went on to finish second at 285 pounds.