The Norristown Area High School Eagles will still be heading to state, despite a loss to the Owen J. Roberts Wildcats in District 1 wrestling Saturday night. The Wildcats used a balanced line-up to defeat the Eagles 35-29 in the district AAA championship at host Upper Dublin High School. With the victory, the Wildcats earned a bye in the first round of the state tournament, which they qualified for Friday night with a 47-10 victory over Marple Newtown High in the district semi-finals.

With most of their wrestlers sporting bleached blonde hair, a post-season tradition, OJR jumped out to an early lead and held on to defeat the talented Eagles.

"It's awesome, and it's the result of a lot of hard work," said Owen J. Roberts head coach Steve DeRafelo. "Nobody went out there and wrestled without heart, and everybody battled. That's what we have to do to beat a great team like that."

120-pounder Colby Frank got things started things off on the right foot for the Wildcats, pinning Norristown's Kelvin Howard in the first match. 126-pounder Dom Petrucelli followed up with a 17-7 major decision and Demetri Deorsaneo with a 20-4 major decision at 132 to push the lead to 14-0.

Norristown's Michael Springer would get his team on the board with a tough 3-0 win at 138, but the Wildcats responded with a major decision at 145 and 15 second pin by Kyle Stronk at 152 to take a commanding 26-3 lead six matches in.

However, the Eagles would win three of the next four matches to pull to 26-20. Norristown 195-pounder Shane Springer capped the run by pinning OJR's Nick Deangelo in 51 seconds, setting the PIAA record with 128 career pins and triggering applause throughout the gymnasium.

With the match getting tight, the Wildcats' James Warta would earn the most crucial victory of the night with a 3-2 decision over Jesse Prante to stretch the lead to 29-20. With only three matches remaining, one of which was a Norristown forfeit at 103, the victory sealed the championship for Owen J. Roberts.

"Warta's been getting it done for us every week, wrestling tough in big matches," said DeRafelo. "I'm just glad he got it done one more time."

Now that the Wildcats are positioned nicely in the PIAA tournament, it might not be the last time this year DeRafelo will have to call on one of his wrestlers to lace up the shoes extra tight.

• 106: Ashton White (OJR) win by FFT
• 113: Zach Fuentes (NT) wbd. 5-0 over Derek Gulotta (OJR)
• 120: Colby Frank (OJR) pinned Kelvin Howard (NT), 2:24
• 126: Dom Petrucelli (OJR) wbmd. 17-7 over Chris Raimondo (NT)
• 132: Demetri Deorsaneo (OJR) wbmd. 20-4 over Nick Saldano (NT)
• 138: Michael Springer (NT) wbd. 3-0 over Adam Moser (OJR)
• 145: Andrew Kinney (OJR) tech. fall over Joe Rowland (NT) 17-2
• 152: Kyle Stronk (OJ) pinned Darren May (NT), :15
• 160: Brett Harner (NT) tech. fall over Mike Lenge (OJR)
• 170: Tyler Letrinko (NT) wbd. 3-1 over Gordon Bolig (OJR)
• 182: Juan Carbajal (NT) wbd. 6-4 over Tyler Rogers (OJR)
• 195: Shane Springer (NT) pinned Nick Deangelo (OJR), :51
• 220: James Warta (OJR) wbd. 3-2 over Jesse Prante (NT)
• HWT: Rasheed Lusaine (NT) pinned Brad Trego (OJR), 3:41