Here’s how Penns Valley wrestling powered past Bald Eagle Area to keep unbeaten season alive

On a night where the Bald Eagle Area and Penns Valley communities came together to raise funds for Paige Musser Gray, a member of the Penns Valley area who is fighting cancer, both schools quickly split and began rooting for their respective teams at the blow of the referee’s whistle.

The Rams’ wrestling fans had much to cheer about Thursday evening with Penns Valley coming out on top 41-28 to remain unbeaten on the season at 9-0.

“It was an awesome night all away around,” Penns Valley coach Joel Brinker said. “It was a good high school match. We are thrilled. the guys are thrilled. This is a group that has put a lot in from top to bottom.”

The Rams made the win possible from top to bottom, but the middle is where the wins counted the most with the dual beginning at 126 pounds.

Brinker and Eagles coach Ron Guenot each felt 145, 170 and 182 pounds were toss-up matches with Brinker adding in 152 and 160 pounds.

Penns Valley won four of those five, with half of those victories coming with bonus points.

“Yeah, 170, [Abraham] Allebach is tough,” Guenot said about the Rams’ wrestler. “We knew we were up against a tough opponent and he got the fall there. 182 was one of those toss-ups with [Andrew] Sharer and [Dylan] Bisel. They won it. They won a lot of the toss-up matches, and that’s what it takes. They wrestled well, and we didn’t.”

Freshman Cole Felker topped Eagles junior in Drew Koleno 5-2 at 145 to tie the match at 9-9 for the Rams. Sophomore Dristen Wolfe followed Felker with a pin of Kaden Bittinger just before the first-period buzzer to hand Penns Valley a 15-9 lead.

BEA’s Richard Taylor was able to pull his squad to within two with a 14-6 major decision over Zach Royer. Allebach responded for the Rams with a fall in 1:05 over Brady Proctor.

In a matchup of two studs, Sharer recorded seven third-period points to rally for an 11-7 win over Bisel. Sharer went in for a fireman’s carry with 1:16 left in the match but didn’t get it. Instead, he just dumped Bisel to the mat and held him there for three near-fall points.

Sharer’s win gave Penns Valley a 24-13 lead.

“We knew our hammers would come through, so to speak,” Brinker said. “Zach got majored but Taylor is a quality opponent. Hammer (Allebach) goes out and does what he does. He’s Mr. Electric, and goes out and gets a stick. Bisel we know is tough at ’82 and for Sharer to battle back there and finish his match with a win.

“He needed that. He hasn’t wrestled a six-minute match. I don’t think his matches have been more than 30 seconds the whole year. As soon as he came off the mat, I said to him, ‘The gas tank looked pretty good.’ You see it in practice, but you want to see against a quality opponent. We have a lot of respect for Bisel, so that was good to see.”

Guenot added of the middle bouts: “I think probably at ’45, that was a toss-up match. We needed to win that one to stick in the dual meet, and we didn’t win it. It tipped the scales in their direction. We were hoping to get bonus points at certain areas, and we didn’t get them. It’s an attribute to their team. They fought.”

Guenot’s Eagles kept fighting too.

David Close used a third-period takedown to top Carter Felker at 195 pounds. Chandler Burns pinned Caelob Packer in 3:12 to pull BEA to 24-22. However, back-to-back forfeits at 285 and 106, doomed the Eagles.

The second-to-last match involved BEA’s Cooper Gilham pinning Justin Darlington in 1:01 at 113 pounds. Then, Penn State commit Baylor Shunk earned a 17-2 technical fall over Garrett Giedroc in 5:23 to cap off the night.

“I just want to see them compete and go hard for six minutes,” Brinker said of his squad. “I walk out of here feeling everybody gave it their all, both sides. It’s good to see they are off to a very strong start to the new year.”

The beginning of the match started well for the Eagles, as they won two of the first three matches and held a 9-6 lead. Drake Holderman scored five third-period points to top Nate Long. After Alex Holt was pinned by Clayton Royer at 132, Holt’s teammate Noah Foltz received a forfeit as one of Penns Valley’s wrestlers didn’t make weight for the match.

Guenot’s squad is off to a slow start at 2-2 compared to last year. The squad didn’t suffer its first loss until the District 6 Class 3A duals at the end of the year. It doesn’t help that they lost injured Gage McClenahan and a pair of wrestlers in Seth Koleno and Garrett Rigg, who are each wrestling on the college level now.

“It’s different. Obviously, every year is different, but when you lose your three studs, it’s going to change the outlook of your team,” Guenot said. “But, that’s no excuse. We are still trying to work hard and get better every day. We are young. We have high standards and that’s not acceptable.

“We got to wrestle with more heart in certain areas and more fight. We didn’t see that. We got a lot of work to do, and that starts tomorrow. Hats off to Penns Valley; they wrestled well.”

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Penns Valley 41, Bald Eagle Area 28

Thursday at Spring Mills

126: Drake Holderman, BEA, dec. Nate Long, 5-2

132: Clayton Royer, PV, pinned Alex Holt, 1:14

138: Noah Foltz, BEA, won by forfeit

145: Cole Felker, PV, dec. Drew Koleno, 5-2

152: Dristen Wolfe, PV, pinned Kaden Bittinger, 1:59

160: Richard Taylor, BEA, major dec. Zach Royer, 14-6

170: Abraham Allebach, PV, pinned Brady Proctor, 1:05

182: Andrew Sharer, PV, dec. Dylan Bisel, 11-7

195: David Close, BEA, dec. Carter Felker, 3-1

220: Chandler Burns, BEA, pinned Caleob Packer, 3:12

285: Dillon Covalt, PV, won by forfeit

106: Hadden Yearick, PV, won by forfeit

113: Cooper Gilham, BEA, pinned Justin Darlington, 1:01

120: Baylor Shunk, PV, tech. fall Garrett Giedroc, 17-2 (5:23)

Records: Bald Eagle Area 2-2 (1-1 Mountain League), Penns Valley 9-0 (3-0 Mountain League)