Bellefonte, BEA wrestling both show heart in Red Raiders’ victory
Ask anyone that’s been around the sport of wrestling a simple question: What does the sport instill in its athletes? And the majority of responses will probably be hard work, humility and heart.
Although Bellefonte won big Tuesday night, 49-18, over county-rival Bald Eagle Area, heart was certainly on display.
“Both sides fought,” Red Raiders coach Mike Maney said. “No kid lost a match tonight because they gave up or quit.”
Bellefonte (15-2) raced out to a 26-0 lead after opening the night with five straight victories — thanks to pins from Cole Stewart (145) and Logan Simpson (152), a technical fall from Ethan Richner (160), a decision by Andrew Howe (170) and a forfeit victory for Tyler Benner (182).
But the Eagles never gave up.
“I think that is life,” BEA coach Ron Guenot said. “You get in certain situations, where it’s easy to give up. Wrestling teaches to keep going, and don’t give up and quit. There is a lot of life lessons in this sport that it teaches you.”
The first lesson of the match may have actually come with Howe. The Bellefonte wrestler trailed early 1-0 then tied it up 2-2 heading into the third period. He never gave up, listened to his coaches and kept working until he got an escape with 1:34 left in the match. From there, he fought off several good Proctor shots and hung on for a 3-2 win.
“The sport is all about the hard work,” Howe said. “You just got to keep putting the work in and get to where you need to be. It means a lot to win tonight. Especially, to come out and wrestle these guys tonight.”
The Eagles (7-6) already trailed 26-0 when Dylan Bisel hit the mat at 195 pounds. Bisel said that he’s faced a lot of adversity during his career, and the sport has taught him how to overcome that.
His adversity Tuesday was PIAA qualifier Kyle Myers. Bisel said he knew what he was up against, but it didn’t stop him from wrestling his match.
“I knew I just had to go out there and wrestle hard,” Bisel said. “Use my stuff and have confidence in my training, which is a big thing in the Bald Eagle Area wrestling room. You just go out there, have fun and let it fly.”
Bisel let it fly immediately by hitting a solid double leg takedown on Myers, which was then waived off by the official, much to the dismay of the BEA fans. Bisel wasn’t deterred. Nearly 15 seconds later, the Eagles’ senior hit another double leg, thudding Myers off the mat.
In the second period, Bisel dominated by scoring seven points, thanks to two sets of near-fall points and another takedown. He didn’t stop in the third period either. After being taken down by Myers and turned for near-fall points, Bisel escaped and got a shoestring takedown at the buzzer for a 12-6 win.
“It means everything,” Bisel said of the win. “It helps to keep me working hard, modest and makes me want to get in the room the next day to strive for another win like that.”
The teams split the next four matches. Bellefonte got a pin from Ethan Rossman at 220 pounds and a forfeit win for Aidan O’Shea at 106 pounds.
BEA got a pair of bonus-point victories from David Close and Cooper Gilham at 285 and 113 pounds, respectively. Close used six takedowns for a 13-5 major decision. Gilham matched sets of near-fall points to his four takedowns in a 21-2 technical fall in 5:47.
The Red Raiders’ lead was 38-12 after Gilham’s match. The dual was locked up, but that didn’t matter to the Eagles’ Garrett Giedroc and Bellefonte’s Lane Aikey at 120 pounds.
The duo had to go through ride-out periods until a winner was decided. Giedroc recorded the lone takedown of the match in the second period, with two Aikey escapes leading to the tie. Giedroc had choice in the first ride out period and escaped with 23 seconds left.
The Eagles’ senior need to just ride out Aikey for a win. He did so with constant mat returns, and even hung onto the leg of a fleeing Aikey to secure a 3-2 win.
“We were looking forward to that good match for the fans with Bisel and Myers,” Guenot said. “It was a good match at 120 with Aikey and Giedroc. It made it an exciting dual meet.”
The Red Raiders won the next two bouts with some bonus points of their own before the dual closed with another win for BEA. However, the wins came late in the bouts.
The Red Raiders’ Alex Coppolo pinned Alex Holt with 16 seconds remaining at 126 pounds. Ryan Smith earned a 15-0 technical fall over Drake Holderman in 5:52 for Bellefonte.
By the end of the match, fans of both programs couldn’t have been happier from the heart shown by both teams — but Bellefonte’s coach was especially proud of his wrestlers.
“Looking back through the years under Coach (Dick) Rhoades, that was one of the biggest things that I was a part of,” Maney said, referring to heart. “It wasn’t the best technician or maybe the strongest guy that won the matches. It was just the guys that had the most heart and found a way to win.
“It’s not always going to be pretty. Bald Eagle has prided themselves on that for years and that’s one of the things I tried to instill when I got to Bellefonte.”
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Bellefonte 49, Bald Eagle Area 18
Tuesday at Bellefonte
145: Cole Stewart, Bel., pinned Drew Koleno, :43
152: Logan Simpson, Bel., pinned Kaden Bittinger, 1:25
160: Ethan Richner, Bel., tech. fall Richard Taylor, 17-0 (5:18)
170: Andrew Howe, Bel., dec. Brady Proctor, 3-2
182: Tyler Benner, Bel. won by forfeit
195: Dylan Bisel, BEA, dec. Kyle Myers, 12-6
220: Ethan Rossman, Bel., pinned Chandler Burns, 1:07
285: David Close, BEA, major dec. Max Barrier, 13-5
106: Aidan O’Shea, Bel., won by forfeit
113: Cooper Gilham, BEA, tech. fall Aaron Little, 21-2 (5:47)
120: Garrett Giedroc, BEA, dec. Lane Aikey, 3-2 (ride outs)
126: Alex Coppolo, Bel., pinned Alex Holt, 5:44
132: Ryan Smith, Bel., tech. fall Drake Holderman, 15-0 (5:52)
138: Noah Foltz, BEA, dec. Dylan Dann, 6-3
Records: Bald Eagle Area 7-6, Bellefonte 15-2
This story was originally published January 22, 2019 at 10:55 PM.