HERSHEY – The scoring recap of Nick Delp’s 6-3 victory over Dillon Keane shows that nothing happened in the second period.

Don’t believe it.

No. 9 Delp rode out No. 10 Keane for the entire two minutes, rarely allowing the Bradford senior to get back to his base, let alone scoring an escape or a reversal in their first-round match in the PIAA 3A tournament on Thursday.

“Riding him in the second period was big for me,” said Kiska Area’s Delp, who handed Keane his first loss of the season. “I definitely think I took something away for him a little bit. He felt maybe a little demoralized.”

 

Sleepy Start

Keane, the Northwest 3A champion at 170 pounds, scored a takedown off a high-C 31 seconds into the first period, but it didn’t worry Delp.

“I’m used to getting taken down first,” Delp said. “I always sleep in the first couple seconds. Getting taken down early doesn’t really affect me. I just focus on getting out and getting right back to it, try to score as many points as I can.”

Delp woke up after the takedown, scoring an escape almost immediately. Then, he locked up a low-leg cradle off a scramble that he create from a Keane shot. The takedown gave Delp a 3-2 lead after one.

The dominant performance on top followed.

“Riding on top for as long as I do, it just seems like they get a little worn down,” Delp said. “It slows them down on their feet a little bit more.”

Trailing 3-2 entering the third, Keane opted to cut Delp and go for a match-tying takedown, but the Kiski wrestler junior was ready for his leg attack and scored off another scramble for the 6-4 victory.

 

Wearing Them Down

“Riding on top for as long as I do, it just seems like they get a little worn down,” Delp said. “It slows them down on their feet a little bit more.”

Delp improved to 42-6 with the victory. He said his victory was a “a little bit” of an upset.

“He won his region, so he’s obviously pretty tough, if he’s undefeated coming into the state tournament. It’s pretty awesome to knock him off, especially 6-3. That’s not too bad.”

Delp will face Stroudsburg sophomore Lenny Pinto, the Northeast champ and fifth-ranked wrestler, in Saturday morning’s quarterfinal round.

“Last year I lost in the round coming up, so beating an undefeated guy like that was pretty big. I’m just going to try to refocus for tomorrow,” Delp said.