P-O wrestling’s Brandon Anderson helps swing momentum in win over Bellefonte
One of Philipsburg-Osceola coach Brad Pataky’s many mantras is for his wrestlers to wrestle the full six minutes of each match.
It took all but six seconds of those six minutes for Mountie 197-pounder Brandon Anderson to beat Bellefonte’s Max Mondy 5-4 in Wednesday night’s featured bout between the two rivals. And Anderson’s win was pivotal in P-O’s 42-30 win over the Red Raiders.
Because even though the Mounties registered six falls, which accounted for the difference in the final score, it was Anderson’s takedown with six seconds left that swung the momentum in P-O’s favor, as it won him the bout and tied the match at 15-15.
The two had met earlier this season with Anderson winning 1-0 at the Conestoga Valley Tournament. But Wednesday night it was Mondy who held a 2-1 edge heading into the third period. Mondy escaped to start the third, but Anderson took him down to tie the score. Mondy escaped again for a 4-3 lead and, when they went off the mat late in the period, Anderson’s mission was clear: He needed the takedown.
He got it.
“Coach is always talking to us about wrestling six minutes. He doesn’t like us to look at the clock,” Anderson said. “But when I was walking back to the center of the mat there were 20-some seconds left, and I knew it was time to go.
“I had wrestled him before and it came down to the wire. I knew going into the third period that I had to get two takedowns. I was just trying to get to his legs and finish my shot. It was nice to get a tough win, especially with the postseason coming up.”
Pataky agreed with his 197-pounder.
“This will carry over into the postseason,” he said. “They met before, and this time Brandon scored more than one point. Now he knows he can score more points. We talk about wrestling six minutes, and he has been doing that consistently. And, when you do that, it builds confidence.
“I don’t know if this was our best match of the year, but it’s a win we’ve been waiting for. We’ve been in a lot of close meets where we’ve fallen short. Tonight, we were able to overcome some situations.”
The meet got started with a flurry of bonus points as Bellefonte’s Kenneth Simpson pinned Cole Hoover in 1:02 at 145, and Ethan Richner followed with a 15-0 tech fall over Tristan Beauseigneur at 152.
The Mounties answered with Matt Shimmel’s fall over Jadon Lucas in 3:32 and Ian Klinger’s pin of Andrew Howe in 1:24 to make it 12-11.
The teams traded wins in the next two weights as Bellefonte’s Ethan Rossman majored Kyle Taylor, 10-1, to put Bellefonte up 15-12 before Anderson’s comeback win over Mondy knotted the score at 15-15.Bellefonte’s Andrew Davidson edged P-O’s Tyler Anderson, 3-1, at 215, the difference being a third-period escape and takedown by Davidson to spoil Anderson’s varsity debut.
The Mounties answered with a run of four straight wins as Jordan Smith pinned Daniel Orndorf in 55 seconds at heavyweight, Nick Bryan pinned Aaron Little in 1:39 at 106, and Aaron Foster decked Alex Bossert in 4:52 to make it 36-18.
Bellefonte got wins from Ryan Smith, who pinned Gabe Dunkelberger in 4:56, and Cole Stewart flattened Noah Twoey in 2:34 to make it 36-30. But the Mounties clinched the win with Hunter Weitosh’s fall in 3:01 over Zach Taylor.
“It was a sloppy match,” Raiders coach Mike Maney said. “We gave up too many bonus points. In the meets we’ve lost, we gave up too many bonus points. It wasn’t our best effort. But give credit to P-O; they took advantage of their opportunities and got bonus points.”
This story was originally published January 31, 2018 at 11:23 PM with the headline "P-O wrestling’s Brandon Anderson helps swing momentum in win over Bellefonte."