HERSHEY - When the District 3 brackets came out, some said Hamburg wasn't worthy of a No. 2 seed. Then the Hawks won twice to reach the Class AA final.
When Hamburg faced West Branch in the preliminary round of the PIAA Class AA Team Wrestling Championships, some said the Hawks weren't worthy of being in states. Then they swept the final four bouts to edge the Warriors by one point.
When Hamburg stepped onto the Giant Center floor Thursday afternoon for a round-of-16 encounter against District 7 champion and perennial state power Burrell, some said the Hawks didn't stand a chance.
Nobody's saying that anymore.
Not after Hamburg won eight bouts to beat the Buccaneers 35-33.
"There are definitely people out there who think we don't belong," Hamburg coach Derek Sola said. "I think this totally legitimized what we've been doing.
"We looked at it and said, 'You know what? We can go with them. We can beat this team,' '' he added. "It kind of surprised us because it's Burrell. They're here every year just about and they're tough. ⦠We wrestled hard and got the win.''
With the win, District 3 runner-up Hamburg (20-3) advances to today's quarterfinals against District 9 champion Brookville (20-2), which dismissed District 2 champ Western Wayne 54-12. Meet time is noon at the Giant Center.
Starting at 120 pounds, Hamburg could open with the same four wrestlers who fueled the comeback Tuesday against West Branch.
Sean Stanish (32-5) led off with a technical fall, turning Jason Roberts three times in a 15-0 victory in 5:43.
Kerry Mega (23-7) followed with two takedowns in a 9-2 decision over Anthony Marra at 126.
Then came a key bout at 132, with Off the Mat's 14th-ranked John Andrejcik of Burrell taking on No. 16 Chris Kummerer (32-3). Andrejcik took Kummerer to his back for a quick 5-0 lead, but the Hamburg senior rallied with two third-period tilts to turn a 5-3 deficit into a 7-5 win.
"It's an unbelievable experience,'' Kummerer said of the state duals. "I was getting a little scared, but I came back, did what I was good at with the tilts, and got the points back that I needed.
"It goes over all expectations, the coaches' expectations, our (wrestlers') expectations,'' he added. "This is just an unbelievable feeling for all of us. It's nice to prove ourselves here."
At 138, Nick Oswald (26-10) headlocked Damon Greenwald for a fall in 2:27 that extended Hamburg's lead to 17-0.
"It definitely got us off to a big start," Sola said of starting at 120. "I think a lot of people in the stands were probably thinking, 'What's going on down there? Seventeen-nothing? Is that score right?' ''
It was, and Hamburg needed every point because Burrell (12-4) has some studs through the middle and a beast at heavyweight.
The Bucs answered the Hawks' four-bout run with one of their own. Three pins and a decision put Burrell ahead 21-17.
At 182, Hamburg senior Cody Miller (33-1) armbarred Alex Moses for a fall in 1:27, and at 195, state qualifier Austin Bashore (29-3) received a forfeit.
Burrell had a wrestler at 195 but decided to bump Robert Scherer to 220 against Logan Lackey (16-9). The move backfired when Lackey scored two first-period takedowns in a 5-2 decision that gave the Hawks a 32-21 lead with three bouts to go.
The next one, at 285, went to Burrell's Al Beattie, who Sola complimented as "an animal,'' by fall to cut the deficit to five.
With 113 a weak weight for Hamburg, the dual came down to a pair of freshmen at 106 - the Hawks' Romeo Eaddy and the Bucs' Dean Edwards.
"We knew we were going to be giving up some points, so we had to win eight (bouts) to beat them," Sola said.
Scoreless after the first period, Eaddy headlocked Edwards early in the second for a 5-1 lead. Later in the second period, Eaddy used another upper-body throw for a takedown and three more back points as chants of "Ro-me-o! Ro-me-o!'' rose from the Hamburg crowd.
Eaddy (15-17) added another takedown to start the third for a 13-3 lead. He dangerously kept going for upper-body moves and got caught, Edwards turning him with tight armbars and nearly pinning him. After some anxious moments, Eaddy wiggled out of trouble and hung on for a dual-clinching, 13-9 decision.
"It felt really great. It did get out of control," Eaddy said of his first headlock. "It's great. It gives us confidence we can go really far in this tournament.
"I don't like to get pinned,'' he added. "When I'm on my back, I try so hard to get off my back because I don't want to give up six points for the team. When you're fighting off your back, it shows you're not a quitter."