Bears' Dorn advances to semifinals
BETHLEHEM - If there's one mistake that Pleasant Valley's Trevor Dorn won't make on day two of the District 11 3A wrestling tournament, it's underestimating anyone.
After opening the tournament with a fall in 1:49 over Whitehall's Jesiah Davis, Dorn, the third-seed in the 170-pound bracket, gave up a third period reversal in the quarterfinals to Bangor's Haakon Mathewson to make a 5-3 decision look closer than it was.Still, it was a moment of clarity for Pleasant Valley's top gun in the tournament, as the senior prepares for a rematch with Northampton's Cade Moisey in Saturday's semifinal round at Liberty's Memorial Gymnasium."I didn't go into that match thinking it was going to be as hard as it was," said Dorn. "I underestimated him a little bit. I still won, but I need to do better. It's definitely something that you learn from and I know it won't happen again."Friday's quarterfinals may be the last time Dorn gets to slack this season as Saturday's bout with Moisey will be a shot at redemption after losing to the Northampton senior by a 9-1 major decision in the finals of the Bethlehem Holiday Wrestling Classic in late December.Bears' head coach Justin Micklos knew that an anticipated bout with Moisey was inevitable when the pairings came out midweek. Now, it's Dorn's chance to see what he learned from that defeat nearly two months ago."He ended up getting caught at one point [against Moisey last time] and we're hoping to avoid any mistakes that can be made and we got faith in Trevor to come out and get a big win," Micklos said. "As long as he wrestles tough, he should be right in the match."Moisey appears to be back in full strength after dealing with a late season injury that kept him out of district duals, as he pinned East Stroudsburg South's Hunter Gill and Easton's Ethan DiRenzo both in the first period, giving the K-Kid momentum as he raced off the mat in the quarterfinals exclaiming, "I'm back.""It's going to be a close match and I'm honing everything I've been working on since that last bout," said Dorn. "I never wrestled him before that match [in December] and now I have a feel for how he likes to wrestle."Outside of Dorn, the only Bears still alive in the tournament are senior James Gehr (126) and junior Colby Frey (182).Gehr lost to East Stroudsburg South's Patrick Gould by a 16-1 technical fall in the opener, but came back to beat Pocono Mountain East's Elijah Hernandez by a 10-6 decision in the consolation round. Frey got pinned by Bangor's John Raub in 2:26 in his opening bout before staying alive with a 7-2 decision over Stroudsburg's Aaron Messina.Pleasant Valley only had eight wrestlers compete in the tournament, leaving Dorn as PV's best shot at a run to Hershey."He's a heck of a kid and a great wrestler and we're hoping for the best ending," said Micklos. "It's always tough when you don't have a lot of guys doing well, but having a guy like Trevor boosts the morale for everyone."