The Spartans were one of the top seeds at the District 4 Class AA Duals tournament earlier this season and reached the finals and qualified for the state tournament.

Individually, Hughesville kept it going on Saturday at the Central Sectional.

Hughesville had six wrestlers reach the finals at sectionals and all qualified for next week’s District 4 championships at Williamsport’s Magic Dome.

“I think that it speaks to the culture we’re trying to build right now,” Hughesville senior Keagan Smith said. “It speaks to how much we’re working for each other and working in the practice room. We’re bettering each other each and every day.”

Mason Mordan of Hughesville gets ready for his match at 160 pounds against Hayden Harvey of Montoursville at the PIAA District 4 AA Central Sectional at Hughesville High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Smith was Hughesville’s lone sectional champion on Saturday and won a title at 152 pounds.

Smith battled Benton’s Dylan Brokenshire and outworked him through all three periods. Smith accumulated seven points en route to a 7-1 win and never let Brokenshire threaten offensively to get points. Smith did well defensively in the bout to secure the Spartans’ only sectional gold medal.

“Just trying to capitalize on his mistakes. I have a pretty tight defense most of the time, so I figured that’s where most of my points would be scored,” Smith said.

Smith was familiar with how Brokenshire wrestled even though the two didn’t compete this year prior to Saturday.

“I feel like watching in the regular season, I kind of knew what his bread and butter was and I was trying to stay out of that and use my own strengths,” Smith said.

Blaize Vogel of Montoursville takes a shot on Chase Shaner of Hughesville during their match at 133 pounds at the PIAA District 4 AA Central Sectional at Hughesville High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Hughesville’s six district qualifiers helped the Spartans finish third in the team title race. Hughesville trailed only rival Montgomery (second, 205.5 points) and champion Montoursville (231.5 points).

At 133, Hughesville’s Chase Shaner ran into Blaize Vogel of Montoursville. Shaner had a bye and earned a 17-1, 2:13 tech fall over Daniel Sleiman of Benton in the semifinals to reach the final. But Vogel would earn a 7-1 decision victory to give Shaner silver.

Kile Hartman fell at 145 to Montgomery’s Max Furman in a matchup of two 30-win wrestlers. Furman earned the win, 10-7 SV, rallying from a 7-3 deficit at the end of the second period to force overtime.

After posting a dominant 15-0, 2:46 tech fall in the 160 semifinals over Montgomery’s Raiden Felix, Hughesville’s Mason Mordan (37 wins) came up just shy against Hayden Harvey in a great match. The two were tied 3-3 after three periods and Harvey would secure the win in the overtime period to win via ultimate tie breaker, 5-3.

Wyatt Gavitt had a quarterfinal bye and would major decision Central Columbia’s Hunter Dietterick and reached the final opposite of Montoursville’s Gage Wentzel, a 40-win wrestler. Wentzel would cruise in the match via tech fall, 18-0, 3:32, not allowing Gavitt to build any offense.

Keagan Smith takes down Dylan Brokenshire of Benton during their match at 152 pounds at the PIAA District 4 AA Central Sectional at Hughesville High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Hughesville’s last first-place match was at 215 where Luke Stutzman wrestled Muncy standout Austin Johnson. Stutzman got to the final thanks to pinning South Williamsport’s Jayden Hamm in the semifinals in 2:26. The Spartan wasn’t able to do much against Johnson as the returning state runner-up secured a fall in just 56 seconds to tie his brother Scott for the program’s second most wins at 146.

Gage Wentzel of Montoursville takes down Wyatt Gavitt of Hughesville during their match at 172 pounds at the PIAA District 4 AA Central Sectional at Hughesville High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Blaize Vogel of Montoursville and Chase Shaner of Hughesville grapple during their match at 133 pounds at the PIAA District 4 AA Central Sectional at Hughesville High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Austin Johnson of Muncy wins his match against Luke Stutzman of Hughesville during their match at 215 pounds at the PIAA District 4 AA Central Sectional at Hughesville High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette

Hayden Harvey of Montoursville and Mason Mordan of Hughesville grapple at 160 pounds at the PIAA District 4 AA Central Sectional at Hughesville High School. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette