County wrestlers make most of limited opportunities in this week’s leaders

There were just seven duals this week for Centre County’s teams with the Christmas break approaching.

State College, Philipsburg-Osceola and Bald Eagle Area each had two this week. However, Penns Valley and Bellefonte wrestlers still made the most of their opportunities they had with St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy not hitting the mats since last weekend.

All teams will get a break now until they compete in holiday tournaments starting on Friday.

The Eagles and Little Lions head east with BEA going to Allentown for the Tony Iasiello Christmas City Tournament, and State College traveling to Reading for the Governor Mifflin Holiday Invitational. The Wolves head west for the illustrious Powerade Tournament at Canon-McMillan High School near Pittsburgh. The Red Raiders and Mounties get a chance to square off against each other again at the Conestoga Valley Holiday Tournament in Lancaster.

Here’s a look at how things played out in this week’s stat leaders:

Falls

State College’s Cole Urbas was able to close the gap between him and the leader, Penns Valley’s Abraham Allebach.

The Little Lions senior (11 pins) had two falls in his two matches this week as Allebach (12) had a pin in his lone match. The duo are the lone county wrestlers to have 10-plus falls so far this season.

Urbas pinned Harrisburg’s Tymek Evans in 1:04 on Tuesday and followed that with a pin of Mifflin County’s Isaac Matthews in 1:24 on Thursday. Allebach dispatched his Tyrone foe in Aric Reader in 47 seconds on Tuesday.

The rest of the top five added a pin to keep their spots, but the Little Lions’ Jude Swisher and the Rams’ Carter Felker were able to add a fall to break away from a logjam of wrestlers who have five falls this season.

Swisher and Felker are tied for seventh. Swisher topped Harrisburg’s Wanyae Robinson in 27 seconds as Felker took care of Tyrone’s Brandon Nevling-Ray in 3:04.

Bellefonte’s Cole Stewart and Penns Valley’s Andrew Sharer joined the handful of wrestlers with five this year this week.

Fastest Fall

There weren’t too many changes this week but some new faces sprinkled into the top 10.

There is also a new mark to get into the top 10 at 27 seconds. There are four wrestlers that have had a win that quickly.

Penns Valley’s Dillon Covalt and St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s Zach Rosenberger have had theirs for quite some time. Swisher and Covalt’s teammate Clayton Royer joined them this week. Swisher’s victory was previously mentioned as Royer beat Tyrone’s Brandon Ixtepan on Tuesday.

The other new face was Philipsburg-Osceola’s Austin Foster. Foster topped DuBois’ Braxton Adams in 24 seconds on Tuesday for the eighth-fastest time. Foster’s teammate Matt Shimmel just missed the top 10 with a 29-second fall of DuBois’ Evan Way.

The top seven didn’t change but it could with all the tournament wrestling next weekend.

Wins

With Urbas collecting the two wins this week, he jumped up to a tie for third with 12 victories this year. He is tied with Penns Valley’s Baylor Shunk, who added a technical fall win.

Shunk’s teammates Allebach (14), Royer (13) and Malachi DuVall (13) hold down the top spots. Another Rams wrestler in Covalt is tied with the Little Lions’ Owen Woolcott with 11 wins for sixth.

Those seven wrestlers are the only county athletes to have 10-plus wins. However, there are six wrestlers one win away from eclipsing that mark.

They include Bald Eagle Area’s Dylan Bisel, who had two wins this week; Penns Valley’s Zach Royer, the Wolves’ Caleb Dowling and Tyler Stoltzfus, and State College’s Clayton Leidy and Swisher, who had two wins this week.

Technical falls & major decisions

Woolcott and Shunk hold down the top two spots in technical falls with Woolcott leading the way with six. Coincidentally, they both train at David Taylor’s M2 Training Center, which as Penn State fans know, it’s all about scoring points with Taylor.

Woolcott’s most recent came on Tuesday over Harrisburg’s Francisco Escudero. The Little Lion got the 18-2 decision at the final buzzer in his match.

Shunk earned his fourth technical fall on Tuesday also. His came in 4:56 over Tyrone’s Mason Walls 20-4.

Bellefonte’s Ethan Richner broke away from the 12 wrestlers who each had one technical fall win this year. Richner is tied with Dowling and State College’s Evan Courts for third. Richner beat P-O’s Shimmel 16-0 in 4:39 on Thursday.

The Mounties’ Hunter Weitoish kept it at 12 wrestlers with one technical fall with his 15-0 win over the Red Raiders’ Kenneth Simpson in 5:20.

Courts earned his first major decision win of the year to be the lone change in this category. Courts topped Mifflin County’s Kyler Everly 10-2 on Thursday.

Follow Nate Cobler on Twitter for season long updates on Centre County wrestling

Wins

Falls

Fastest Fall

Technical Falls

Major Decisions

This story was originally published December 23, 2018 at 11:24 AM.