CLARION'S CATHCART WINS SECOND STRAIGHT STATE TITLE
HERSHEY – Clarion’s Kyle Cathcart cemented his place in Pennsylvania wrestling history despite being only a junior when he won his second consecutive Class AA Individual State Championship with a 13-6 decision over Maplewood’s Matt Wilcox at 189 pounds Saturday afternoon at the Hershey Park Arena.

Cathcart, who finished the season 38-0, has now won 72 consecutive matches. He was 34-0 last season while winning the Class AA title at 171 pounds. In his three year career, he is 97-4 with three District 9 titles (160, 171 & 189 pounds), two Regional title (171 & 189) and two state titles. With the four wins at the state tournament this week, Cathcart broke his own school mark for single season wins, which he had set last year. His 97 wins are nine more than any other wrestler in Clarion history, while his three district titles are the most won in school history. He also holds the most wins by a wrestler in ninth grade, 10th grade and 11th grade.

Cathcart advanced to the finals with an 18-2 technical fall win at 5:00 over Pequa Valley’s Jared French in the first round, a 5-0 decision over Yough’s Brian Hall in the quarterfinals and a convincing 15-0 technical fall at 4:41 over Panther Valley’s Tegan McKee in the semifinals.

Cathcart’s match with Wilcox was a repeat of his 12-9 decision over Wilcox in the Northeast Region Finals last weekend. This time the match wasn’t as close, as Cathcart got the seven-point win.

JOHNSONBURG'S IORFIDO WINS 140-POUND STATE TITLE
HERSHEY – Johnsonburg’s Francis Iorfido capped off his great season with a 2-1 decision over Heath Lohrman of Wilson to win the Class AA 140-pound State Wrestling Championship at the Hershey Park Arena Saturday afternoon.

Iorfido beat Northeast Bradford’s Matt Freeborn 7-3 in the first round of the state tournament, then knocked off Palmerton’s Trevor Barholomew 3-2 in overtime on the tiebreaker in the quarterfinals before knocking off Littletown’s Chad Litten 6-2 to advance to the championship match.