There are those who believe, rightfully so, that Richie Ashburn never got his due as a player because he patrolled center field for the Phillies in the same era as Yankees center fielder Mickey Mantle and Giants center fielder Willie Mays.
To mix the metaphor, Annville-Cleona's Dylan Killian finds himself playing Ashburn to the Mantle and Mays of Berks County middleweights: Wyomissing's Nick Hodgkins and Schuylkill Valley's Colin Shober.
Shober is the returning PIAA 135-pound champion, Pennsylvania's victory leader in Class AA with 189 wins and committed to wrestle next year for Northwestern University.
Last year, on his way to winning the PIAA 130-pound state championship, Hodgkins defeated Killian for the District Three title.
This year, a week after Shober beat Killian for the District Three Class AA 140-pound championship, he repeated the result, this time for the PIAA Class AA Southeast Region championship.
Both victories were by technical fall.
In districts Shober needed the entire six minutes, gaining the tech — 20-5 — at the final buzzer.
Saturday night, he was way more machine-like, needing just 2:37 for an 18-3 tech.
"I'm upset about the match right now," Killian said. "[He's] one of the top kids in the nation, No. 1 in the state by far. It's hard to wrestle somebody like that. He's pretty much got everything. He's strong, fast and he know just about any situation."
The situation is, over the last four weeks, Shober has beaten Killian three times, factoring in the 23-16 win he posted in the District Three team championships.
"Two times weren't so bad," Killian said. "This time wasn't my best effort. I just go out there and try what I can."
"He's got to get over it," A-C coach Mike Miller said. "He's got a whole state meet coming up."
And should he see Shober again?
"If I wrestle Shober one more time, I will be the happiest man in the Giant Center," Killian said. "That will mean, as a junior, I'm a state finalist. I would be more than honored to wrestle him again next week."
Killian was taken to the limit by Juniata's Seth Beitz in the semifinals before prevailing in overtime, 5-3.
Killian had pinned Beitz in the first period of the sectional final two weekends ago, but needed a third-period escape to force a 3-3 tie and overtime. With time running in the one-minute suden-death period, Killian worked a head-and-arm takedown, gaining control with 11 seconds to go.
"Sectionals, I caught him and ended the match quickly," Killian said. "We were both evenly matched. [Today] I just pulled one out at the end."
While Killian extended his season another week, Pequea Valley's Mitch Ball saw his season come to a close.
The inability to trigger his offense from neutral loomed large in Ball's 3-2 loss to Tri Valley's Bryn Bowman in the consolation finals.
Wrestling for fifth place — and a berth in the state tournament — Ball managed two second-period escapes, sandwiched around a Bowman single-leg takedown.
When Bowman escaped with a minute to go Ball's situation became dire. In a scramble off his shot, Ball found himself in position to get the go-ahead takedown off a merkel with 11 seconds left.
But the wrestlers were at the outer circle and were ruled out of bounds before Ball could gain control. Bowman then stalled out the last seconds to claim the victory.
Beginning the day, Ball whipped New Hope's Tommy Villareale in the wrestleback quarterfinals, posting a 16-0 technical fall in three minutes, but ran into trouble in the consi semis against John Blank of Notre Dame (Green Pond).
Trailing 2-1 in the second period, Blank, the District 11 champion, blocked a single-leg shot by Ball and in the ensuing flurry was on the cusp of gaining control.
Taking a stab at a reverse cradle, Ball got a leg and went for Blank's head. Just as Ball was having second thoughts, Blank slapped a cradle on Ball, rolled him to his back and pinned him in 1:54.
Yohe was eliminated in the morning's consolation quarterfinals, majored by Ty Herzog of Northern Lehigh, 18-7. Up 4-2 after a period, Herzog outscored Yohe 8-3 in the second and was never headed.
dbyrne@lnpnews.com
