February 19, 2012 7:00 a.m. UNION CITY — With five teams that qualified for the District 10 Class AA team duals, you would expect the Section 1 AA tournament to come down to the wire. And it did, if the wire were the championship semifinals.

Fort LeBoeuf sent 10 grapplers to the finals and pretty much wrapped up the team title after the morning session, finishing with a whopping total of 240.5 points. Chasing the Bison was Saegertown, which finished 100.5 points back with 140. The other team dual squads placed fourth (Cambridge Springs, 93.5 points), fifth (Harbor Creek, 90) and sixth (Union City, 70.5). Seneca slipped in for third with 95.5 points.

But the day belonged to LeBoeuf.

Of the 10 grapplers that made the final, nine won. Two more LeBoeuf wrestlers made the consy finals and won as well. And with no 195-pounder, the Bison advanced all but one grappler. The overall total record for matches wrestled by the 13 Bison matmen: 35-5.

And the only loss in the final session came in the first championship match.

Saegertown freshman Tyler Vath was masterful in his showdown with LeBoeuf’s Tyler Kuzma. Vath controlled the match from the beginning, and was never threatened. A first-period takedown was all he really needed, although he added a few more points for a 4-0 decision.

“Tyler (Vath) wrestled a great match,” said Saegertown head coach Jim Mulligan. “A lot of people who don’t know wrestling might look at it and ask, ‘Why did he only win 4-0?’ But it was a great match.

“Was it his best? No. But Kuzma had a great gameplan to keep it close. Still, to get a win like that with the pressure (Vath) has on him, it’s impressive.”

The pressure will only mount for one of Saegertown’s bright young stars.

The win put Vath at 33-2 on the season. The freshman single-season win mark at Saegertown is 34, which Vath could surpass next week in Sharon at the District 10 tournament. The freshman also has an outside shot at catching Pat Bradshaw for the single-season wins mark of 41. Bradshaw set the mark as a junior in 2004 and tied it as a senior in 2005, the year he won the state title at 189 pounds.

“With what (Vath) has already done, people have high expectations,” said Mulligan.

The only other local grappler to claim a gold medal was also from Saegertown.

Branden Stafford captured the crown at 285 pounds, beating Cambridge Springs’ Justin East 2-0. The only points came in the third period. Stafford elected to start the period from the down position and reversed East midway through.

“That was a good win for Branden,” said Mulligan. “He wants to go to regionals. He wants to go to states. He still needs to get better at finishing. But he is a beast on top.”

The Panthers will send seven other grapplers to Sharon.

Brendan Byham (132), Matt Humes and (138) Josh Tomiczek (195) all placed second at the section meet.

Byham had one of the few matches that was really never in doubt. Ft. LeBouef’s Brad Malinowski took an early lead and never let up on his way to an 11-0 major decision.

Humes just ran out of time against LeBoeuf’s Riley Smith. Down 7-5, Humes escaped to make it 7-6 late in the third period. He took several shots, but could not lock up the takedown.

Tomiczek just ran into a wrestler on a mission in North East’s Alex Svetz. The Grapepicker led just 3-2 after one period, but turned it up in the second and third to capture a 9-4 decision.

Also moving on for Saegertown are Garrett Zuver (third, 120), Justin Mitchell (fourth, 126), Lance Neuscheler (third, 145) and Jerod Young (third, 182). Young, a senior, is a first-year grappler for the Panthers.

Cambridge Springs and Union City also take a nice haul to Sharon with six wrestlers advancing.

The Blue Devils had two in the finals, but came up short on each account. Besides East’s loss to Stafford at 285, Quentin Stafford dropped the 182-pound final in what may have been the match of the night.

The Blue Devil battled back and forth with Seneca’s Trevor Beiter. For a while. It looked like Beiter was going to run away with it. The Bobcat got the first takedown, but Stafford countered with a reversal. Beiter reversed back and got three back points before the period ended to take a 7-2 lead.

Beiter then took down to start the second, and reversed Stafford for a 9-2 lead. The Cambridge faithful saw it slipping away. But Stafford was just getting warmed up. He gained a reversal and then exposed Beiter’s back twice — once for three points and another for two — to tie the score at nine heading into the final period.

There, Stafford took down, reversed the Bobcat again and got two near-fall points to take a 13-9 lead. Beiter didn’t plan on giving up either. He quickly reversed Stafford and got two back points. Tied 13-13, they headed to overtime. Beiter finally put the match away with a takedown 23 seconds into the first OT.

Also advancing for the Blue Devils are Devin Mitchell (fourth, 120), Dylan Reynolds (third, 160), Weston Stafford (third, 170) and Shawn Reynolds (fourth, 195).

For the Bears, Tim Vargo paved the way with a runner-up finish at 170 pounds. The Bears also advanced Patrick Burns (fourth, 106), Tyler Lindsley (third, 132), Jarred Brooks (fourth, 152), Josh Reinke (fourth, 160) and Jeff Burger (fourth, 285).

“It was a good tournament for us,” said Union City head coach Ed Margie. “At this point, you want to advance as many kids as you can. I think getting six to districts was about what I expected, although I think we could have had a few more with a little luck.”