Three days after winning its first WPIAL Class 2A wrestling title, Derry added another first Tuesday.
With their come-from-behind, 44-26 win against Penns Valley, the Trojans earned their first win in the PIAA tournament.
They were 0-5 in state tournaments entering Tuesday night.
Derry (14-0) earned a trip to Johnstown, where it will face No. 1-ranked Faith Christian Academy.
The Trojans won eight of the 13 bouts and got pins from freshman Patrick Bulgar (114 pounds), freshman Michael McNeal (145), senior Ewan Olson (160) and junior Brady Brown (189). Evan Kelly received a forfeit at 172.
After Bulger opened with a second-period pin of Blake Brumbaug, the District 6 runner-up, which is located east of State College, rolled off four consecutive wins to grab a 23-6 lead.
Evan Lisowski (121) and Tripp Wilson (139) picked up wins, Erik Carlile (133) won by forfeit and Connor Myers (127) won by technical fall.
“We knew we would be in for a battle,” Derry coach Troy Dolan Jr. said, “and we knew that was the strength of their team.”
With sophomore Dylan Bateman sidelined with an illness, Dolan decided to bump his lineup.
“We knew we were getting a forfeit at 172, so we bumped up to get Mason (Horwat) a match. That allowed us to bump up Brady (Brown).”
The McNeal twins (Michael at 145 and William at 152) stopped Penns Valley’s early momentum with a pin and a major decision to trim the lead to 23-16.
Olson then trimmed the lead to 23-22 with a win, and Kelly’s forfeit win put the Trojans in the lead for good at 28-23.
Penns Valley was missing three starters, including sophomore Max Dinges.
“We have some kids banged up, and we felt it was more important for them to heal and get ready for the individual tournament,” Penns Valley Joel Brinker said. “We knew what Derry was all about. We met them a couple times. They are very good.”
The Rams just did not have enough wrestlers to compete against the Trojans.
Derry then put the match away with a technical win by Horwat and a pin by Brown.
Mason Keesecker ended that match with a technical win at 107.
“I thought we wrestled well coming off our win on Saturday,” Dolan said. “They know what is ahead of them.
“We were ready for them. We still have a lot work to do. We are excited about competing this weekend.”