UPDATED The Semifinal 2/23/2012

Note: I updated this a few hours after I published it. I realized that I had a glaring omission from the Stars and studs category: Cambria Heights.

Back by popular demand - or at least by Joe Strittmatter's Twitter request (@strittmatterj) - it's The Semifinal.
It's been a busy week for me outside of the wrestling arena, but I should be able to concentrate on "the world's oldest and greatest sport" for the next three days. I'll have a preview of Pitt-Johnstown at the regional tournament for The Tribune-Democrat on Friday. I'll also be at the District 5 tournament in Windber on Friday and Saturday and probably will be in contact with people at the District 6 AAA tournament in order to get updates on Westmont and Johnstown. I'm hoping to post blog previews on both high school tournaments today.

COURTESY OF TKO PHOTOS
Central Cambria's Tony Risaliti won
the Outstanding Wrestler Award at
the District 6 Class AA tournament.

First Period

COURTESY OF TKO PHOTOS
Richland's John Rizzo pinned all four
of his opponents on his way to the
220-pound championship.

COURTESY OF TKO PHOTOS
Penn Cambria's Nick Szala won the
title at 138 pounds, considered to be
the toughest weight.

Stars and studs: There are no shortage of candidates here. Seven wrestlers from The Tribune-Democrat's coverage area won District 6 Class AA titles on Saturday night in Altoona, but I'm going to concentrate on the three that I thought had the most impressive tournaments. Central Cambria's Tony Risaliti won the Outstanding Wrestler Award after beating Forest Hills' Cody Law - his friend and on-mat nemesis. Risaliti had lost to Law twice earlier, which helped the Forest Hills wrestler rocket to the top spot in the Pennsylvania Wrestling Rankings. Risaliti did what he needed to do to slow down Law's always-on-the-attack style in the 7-4 victory. Of course, he might get to do it another time or two this season. ... Richland's John Rizzo could have just as easily have been named OW in Altoona. Saying that the two-time state champion was dominant on his way to his fourth District 6 title - this one at 220 pounds - would be a huge understatement. None of Rizzo's opponents made it out of the first period. See video of his eight-second pin here. In fact, he needed just 3 1/2 minutes to record four pins. ... Penn Cambria's Nick Szala also was in the mix for the OW award after he won what most considered to be the toughest weight. What might have hurt Szala in the voting was the fact that he didn't get a chance to knock of top-seeded Ty Dively of Claysburg-Kimmel, who entered the tournament with a 29-0 record. Instead, Bellwood-Antis' Trevor Helsley did that in the semifinals, beating Dively 6-2. Meanwhile, Szala beat Blairsville's Noah Tarr 7-3. Szala then beat Helsley 4-2 in the championship on a somewhat controversial reversal at the end of the second period. Even after the tournament, all four are in the top 10 of this week's edition of Off the Mat Rankings. Dively is fourth, Szala is fifth, Tarr is eighth and Helsley is 10th, which shows just how competitive the weight class was. ... Cambria Heights coach Mike Eckenrode deserves a nod here for the job that he and his staff have done. The Highlanders nearly pulled off what would have been a huge upset, finishing just five points behind Mount Union in the team race. Cambria Heights had a tournament-best five finalists: Ryan Dupas (113), Joe Davis (120), Brad Thomas (126), Dom Inzana (170) and Jake Beach (195). Even though none of them was able to win a title, it was still a tremendous showing by Cambria Heights.

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Upset-minded: Portage's Chase Fox was one of the big stories of the tournament on Friday. The 10th seed at 132 pounds, Fox beat No. 7 Luke Nanna of Juniata in his first match, then upset second-seeded J.P. Hayles of West Branch in the quarterfinals. I have to admit I'm a little partial to this upset, as I told my wife to make sure she got photos of Fox-Hayle because I had a feeling there might be a surprise in store for us. But I had no idea what was coming from Fox on Saturday. He lost three straight - getting pinned by Southern Huntingdon's Brennon Shields and Forest Hills' Kenny Corle before being majored by Richland's Nick Naglic - and finished in sixth place.

Second Period

On deck: Now that the postseason is officially in full swing, the early part of the week was quiet. But we'll make up for it with a jam-packed weekend. As I said earlier, the District 5 Class AA, District 6 Class AAA and NCAA Division II Super Region I tournaments will all be contested this weekend.
Friday
College
UPJ at Super Region I
Session I, 4 p.m.
High School
District 5 Class AA Tournament
At Windber
Preliminary Round, 2 p.m.
Quarterfinals, approximately 3:30 p.m.
District 6 Class AAA Tournament
At Altoona
Preliminary Round, 5:30 p.m.
Quarterfinals, 7 p.m.
Second-Round Consolations, 9:30 p.m. (Note: There are no First-Round Consolations).

Saturday
College
UPJ at Super Region I
Session II, 11 a.m.
Session III, 2:30 p.m.
High School
District 5 Class AA Tournament
At Windber
Semifinals, 10 a.m.
Consolation Finals, 6 p.m.
Finals, approximately 7 p.m.
District 6 Class AAA Tournament
Quarterfinals and Third-Round Consolations, 5:30 p.m.
Consolation Semifinals, 1:45 p.m.
Consolation Finals, 5:30 p.m.
Finals, 7 p.m.

Third Period

Keeping up with everything that's going on this weekend could be very difficult. Trust me, I know, as I'll probably be trying to write about all three tournaments for The Tribune-Democrat. I haven't decided  yet if I'll be doing a live chat from District 5 or not. I know that people enjoy them, but they've very time-consuming, and if I have to cover all three, it might be too much. If I do end up holding a chat, I'll be sure to post it on here and on The Tribune-Democrat's website. At the very least, I'll post updated results here on a regular basis.
If anyone knows of a D6 AAA chat being held, please let me know. The more I can keep up with what's happening in Altoona, the more likely it will be that I can chat from Windber. I wouldn't hold my breath, however, as the people at Altoona don't make it easy. They won't allow media to access the school's wireless network. Thankfully, Windber is much more media friendly.
It looks like UNC Pembroke's website will have everything to keep you informed about the Super Region I tournament, including a live chat.