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Mumper, Champ Qualify for District Tourney

BY ARA GRIGORIAN

Donegal placed two wrestlers in the District Three Class-AAA championships based on the results from the District Three Class 3A Section Two Tournament, Saturday February 19 at Hempfield.

Ruben Mumper claimed third in the 145-pound weight class while Owen Champ finished fourth in the 215 class.

As a team, the Indians compiled 65 points and finished in a two-way tie for 10th place with Lampeter-Strasburg. The host Black Knights finished atop the team standings with 214 points while Central Dauphin (198) finished second.

“He had a great performance,” said head coach Nick Evans of Mumper. “He punched his ticket to districts as a sophomore, which was a nice surprise.”

Mumper blanked Jayden Engle of Hershey 7-0 in the first round. He then eked out a close 6-5 decision over Central Dauphin’s Arthur Ruud before a fall to eventual champ Reagan Lefevre of Hempfield sent the Donegal sophomore to the consolation brackets where he faced Ben Williams of Solanco.

Mumper’s 6-2 decision vaulted him to the third-place match where he again faced Ruud.

“Sometimes it can go either way - especially in a one-day tournament,” Evans said, referring to how the rematch might have gone. “He won by a point and had the same opponent again.

“He wrestled with great confidence and won by an even bigger margin,” Evans added. “The fact that he separated against that opponent showed his confidence was growing.”

Both Ruud and Williams were seeded higher than Mumper, who won the thirdplace match by a 9-1 major decision over Ruud.

Also of note, Mumper came in as the fifth seed and he finished third.

“He stayed composed and peaked at the right time,” added Evans.

Champ was able to bear down and notch a pin in his first match of the day as he decked Ryan Hottenstein of Elizabethtown 4:22 into the bout. In the semifinals, however, Champ came up just short. He lost 6-4 to Tyler Quinter of Milton Hershey.

In the consis, he edged J.J. Plaza of Hempfield by a slim 1-0 score but was pinned in the third-place match, losing to Michael O’Hara of Manheim Township.

“Owen’s work ethic of wearing down an opponent is a great example for the other kids,” Evans remarked. “He leads by example.

“We’re very happy for him,” continued the coach. “He’s a very coachable kid and sets high goals for himself. It speaks volumes of his work ethic. I knew Owen was going to give all of his effort. Seeing him succeed is awesome.”

Donegal’s Nicholai Brontzman suffered a close 1-0 loss in the semifinals of the 285pound weight class. That particular match was a classic showdown between two of Lancaster-Lebanon League’s finest heavyweights - Brontzman, who brought in a 28-6 record to the championships, and Hempfield junior Caleb Mussmon (26-5). Mussmon, who would go on to face Township’s Tyrese Washington in the finale and would claim the 285-pound title with a 4-2 victory, stopped Brontzman with a 1-0 win.

Brontzman was coming off a pin against Palmyra senior Jonathan Eisenhooth - a pin in only 55 seconds.

The Donegal junior did not rebound quickly enough from the 1-0 loss. He suffered an early second-period fall in the consolation sems, facing Jon Frederick of McCaskey. He bounced back to pin Brad Candy of Elizabethtown 3:33 into the fifth-place match.

“Finishing in fifth place, he is an alternate for districts they take the top four wrestlers,” Evans explained. “It was heart-wrenching. Brontzman had lofty goals all year.

“Going into his senior year, we’ll see what happens,” Evans added. “He has off-season wrestling lined up. I’m excited to see what happens.”

Taking sixth place in the 132-pound class was Landon Keller.

“He had a nice close of the season - a good effort,” Evans said. “Keller had been battling injuries.”

Keller claimed a 6-1 decision over Milton Hershey sophomore Sebastian Weader in the opening round but suffered a late first-period fall at the hands of Solanco star Jared Fulton, who entered the tournament with a 25-5 record. Fulton went on to take second place in the weight class.

Keller bounced back with a 10-2 major decision over Josh Foltz of Palmyra in his first consolation match.

Being on the short end of a 5-3 decision with Warwick’s Zachary Zimmerman relegated the Donegal wrestler to the fifth-sixth place match where he lost by a fall to Township’s Anthony Cummons.

Also of note, Mark Overlander wrestled at 120 and earned two victories against two defeats.

Overlander pinned Meki Walker of Milton Hershey 3:41 into his first bout. He lost by a fall to eventual fourth-place finisher Dallas Schorr of Central Dauphin.

In the consolations he took down Sullivan Weader of Hershy at the 3:37 mark.

Overlander’s day ended with a 10-4 loss to Elizabethtown junior Austin Reitmeyer.

Also going 2-2 on the day was Ian Brown at 152. The Donegal senior needed only 41 seconds to record a pin against Township freshman Kaden Kemp. The next opponent was Aiden Robinson. The formidable foe from Elizabethtown came in with a 304 mark and pinned Brown while on his way to eventually finishing third.

Brown went on to major Manheim Central’s A.J. Hondru 12-1 before losing to Solanco’s Wade Adams in the second round of the consolations.

“I was happy to get two district qualifiers this year,” Evans added. “I’m excited about next year with this year’s sophomores and juniors who’ll be returning and a nice youth group coming up from junior high.”

Photo by Bob Diller

Donegal’s Ruben Mumper handles Hershey’s Jayden Engle for a 7-0 win in a 145-pound quarterfinal bout in the District Three AAA Sectionals at Hempfield on February 19.