Brock Port’s pin helps Lock Haven wrestling roll over Bloomsburg in historic night
Centre County talent was on display Thursday night at Thomas Fieldhouse as Lock Haven wrestling beat local rival Bloomsburg 26-12 in what served as the program’s first Mid-American Conference Eastern Division dual. The Bald Eagles joined the MAC along with six other Eastern Wrestling League programs in March.
Former Bellefonte wrestler Brock Port, a sophomore, earned a first-period pin against the Huskies, while senior Corey Hazel, of Penns Valley, wrestled in one of the most exciting matches of the evening. Bald Eagle Area grad Dallis Dillon also made history by wrestling in the first-ever live competition for LHU’s women’s program, which launched in May.
The men’s dual began at 197, culminating with the featured match of the evening between Hazel, who’s ranked No. 13 in the country at 184 pounds by FloWrestling, and Bloomsburg’s No. 15 Trevor Allard. The final bout certainly delivered on the hype, serving up a 10-8, second-sudden victory win for Allard.
After a scoreless first period, Allard took the first lead of the bout with a quick escape to start the second. Hazel matched Allard with an escape of his own to start the third. The action began heating up as Hazel scored a takedown at the edge of the mat, Allard got a reversal, and Hazel reversed him right back to take a 5-3 lead. Hazel added another takedown, but An escape and a last-second takedown for Allard sent the match into sudden victory at 7-7.
After a scoreless 30-second sudden victory period, Hazel took the lead in the first tiebreaker period with a quick escape. He rode Allard out in the second for what he — and the crowd — thought was the victory. But, a locked hands call at the end forced the second sudden-victory period, which Allard finished with a takedown.
“I thought he wrestled great,” head coach Scott Moore said after the match. “He completely outwrestled his opponent, scored a lot of takedowns, wrestled his positions, and it ultimately came down to judgment on the mat with 10 seconds left. Rather than just moving and initiating attack, he kind of gave up a takedown right at the end.”
Overall, Moore said he was pleased with what he saw from his team Thursday night, despite “a few mistakes.”
The Bald Eagles took one of the toss-up matches between the two teams right off the bat, with a 2-0 decision for sophomore Parker McClellan over Kyle Murphy. The Bald Eagles then lost two straight bouts with heavyweight Trey Hartsock dropping an 8-1 decision to Jarrett Walters after getting caught on his back, and a 7-4 decision for Bloomsburg’s Christian Gannone over Lock Haven’s Matt Maloney at 125 pounds.
Down 6-3, Lock Haven was able to take the lead and never looked back with bonus-point performances by seniors D.J. Fehlman at 133 pounds and Kyle Shoop at 141. Fehlman strung together five takedowns for the 12-3 major decision and his 100th collegiate win. Shoop did what he does best — turn people from the top position — and rolled to a 16-0 technical fall with a takedown and four sets of near-fall points.
“We have some young guys in the lineup, but ultimately we have some seniors that stepped up and scored points,” Moore said, “starting with DJ Fehlman and Kyle Shoop, getting the motor rolling for our team, putting points on the board and getting the momentum going. So, it wasn’t our greatest performance, but I think we wrestled well. We scored a lot of points, and our guys are starting to get comfortable wrestling in the dual meet setting with the one-hour weigh in.”
Port kept that momentum rolling in the next bout, as an early takedown put the sophomore in position to turn Bloomsburg’s Gavin Hale for the pin in 2 minutes and 25 seconds. ‘
For Moore, it was Port’s ability to score quick and score first that led him to success Thursday night.
“When he scores the first takedown of the match and starts working from the top position, you can tell when he’s confident, he’s going to get back points and in this situation got a pin from a tilt,” Moore said. “Brock’s a great kid, he’s working hard, and I think he’s getting over that little bit of anxiety as far as performance anxiety, and he’s starting to put up points and contribute to the program.”
Lock Haven also added a decision from senior Alex Klucker (157) and a tech fall from senior Jared Siegrist (174) for the win.
Beyond the final digits on the scoreboard, Lock Haven earned another win Thursday night when it gave its fans a taste of what’s being built with its women’s wrestling program. While Dillon said the result of the exhibition match against East Stroudsburg’s Josselinne Campos — two losses — wasn’t what she was hoping for, she was grateful for the experience, and hopes the fans were excited by the program’s potential.
“We can’t go anywhere but up from here,” she said. “We’re going to continue to grow and grow, hopefully have a bigger team next year, and a more skilled team. It’s just as emotional, it’s just as raw and you get the same thing out of it as you do with the men. We can’t go anywhere but up we can only get better from here and the team can only get better.”
Lock Haven 26, Bloomsburg 12
(Thursday at Lock Haven)
197: Parker McClellan (LHU) dec. Kyle Murphy (BLOOM) 2-0
285: Jarrett Walters (BLOOM) dec. Trey Hartsock (LHU) 8-1
125: Christian Gannone (BLOOM) dec. Matt Maloney (LHU) 7-4
133: DJ Fehlman (LHU) major dec. Josh Mason (BLOOM) 13-3
141: #18 Kyle Shoop (LHU) tech fall Marlon Argeuta-Diaz (BLOOM) 16-0 (2:48)
149: Brock Port (LHU) pinned Gavin Hale (BLOOM) 2:25
157: #18 Alex Klucker (LHU) dec. Alex Carida (BLOOM) 5-2
165: Nate Newberry (BLOOM) dec. Austin Bell (LHU) 4-1
174: Jared Siegrist (LHU) tech fall Anthony Vetrano (BLOOM) 20-4 (7:00)
184: #15 Trevor Allard (BLOOM) dec. #13 Corey Hazel (LHU) 10-8 SV2
This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 9:37 AM.
