SJCA’s Amonn Ohl reclaims pin lead, BEA duo adds fastest fall times on wrestling leaderboards

With only a handful of duals this week, it came as no surprise that those teams in tournaments this weekend had the most movement with their wrestlers.

County teams combined to go 3-5 in dual action this week with one loss coming in an all-county matchup of Bellefonte topping Bald Eagle Area. Philipsburg-Oscela and Penns Valley collected the other two victories.

The Eagles, Mounties and St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy squared off during the Ultimate Warrior Tournament on Friday and Saturday. The Rams traveled to Grove City for the Fred Bell Tournament.

Let’s jump into this week’s leaders.

Wins

Three county athletes surpassed the 30-win mark this past week, and they were all Wolves. Kolby Franklin, Caleb Dowling and Tyler Stoltzfus all earned those big wins.

Franklin has 32 on the year to lead the county. He came up one shy of No. 33 by falling in the 195-pound Ultimate Warrior finals on Saturday. Dowling (145 pounds) and Stoltzfus (160) each have 31 wins and also made the finals of their weight classes with only Dowling being victorious.

Franklin’s 30th win was a pin of Lake Lehman’s Thomas Nalbone in 3:39. Dowling’s was a 16-0 technical fall over Towanda’s Preston Rogers. Stoltzfus’ victory was also a shutout but only 4-0 over Bradford’s Colby Keane.

Penns Valley’s Clayton Royer and St. Joseph’s Keegan Rothrock are tied for fourth on the board with 27 wins apiece. Royer collected five victories to finish fourth in the Fred Bell at 132 pounds.

Four wrestlers from three different schools are one behind Royer and Rothrock with 26 wins: Royer’s teammates Baylor Shunk and Abraham Allebach; Rothrock’s teammate Amonn Ohl and State College’s Cole Urbas.

Allebach and Ohl each collected nothing but pins for their victories. Ohl won a 120-pound title at the Ultimate Warrior, as Allebach fell in the 170-pound Fred Bell finals. Urbas added two wins this week, but one came over a fellow Division I commit. He topped Cedar Cliff’s Donovon Ball, who committed to Penn State, on Monday by a 15-2 major decision.

There were eight new wrestlers to get to No. 20 or more this week. They were Penns Valley’s Dillon Covalt (24 wins), Carter Felker (20); St. Joseph’s Zack Witmer (22), Bellefonte’s Alex Coppolo (21), BEA’s David Close (21) and Dylan Bisel (20); P-O’s Hunter Weitoish (20) and the Little Lions’ Jude Swisher (20).

Five other wrestlers got their 10th or more win this week. They included the Eagles’ Brady Proctor (11), Alex Holt (10) and Noah Foltz (10); Bellefonte’s Logan Simpson (11) and the Mounties’ Tristan Beauseigneur (11).

Falls

He’s baaaack.

Ohl is once again at the top of this leaderboard, but he’s got company in Allebach. The two are each up to 22 falls on the year.

Fittingly, that is the exact way they made it to the finals of the respective tournaments they were in. Allebach, though, was able to outpace Ohl this week with a 5-4 pin advantage. They each had four in their tourney runs, but Allebach added a fifth in the Rams’ dual against Huntingdon on Tuesday.

It’s a bummer these two won’t face off in the District 6 Class 2A tournament because it would probably be pretty entertaining.

They only have a two-pin advantage over Urbas, who is the only other county wrestler to have 20-plus falls at 20. Urbas stuck Central Dauphin’s Marques Holton in 1:35 on Saturday.

Rothrock and Stoltzfus are tied for fourth this week with 16 falls a piece. Rothrock added three in the Ultimate Warrior to Stoltzfus’ two.

There were just three wrestlers that were able to get their 10th fall this week. They were Felker (13 falls for year), Bellefonte’s Alex Coppolo (10) and State College’s Clayton Leidy (10).

Major decisions

There was plenty of movement in this category this week, but it was toward the bottom. At the top, it’s a two-way tie between teammates in Dowling and Franklin.

They each added a major decision victory this week to get to six on the season. Franklin’s win was bigger of the two. The freshman took on Bentworth’s John Vargo, who finished fifth in the state last year, in the 195-pound semifinals.

Franklin dominated the senior in Vargo, even throwing a slick lateral drop that drew the oohs and ahhs from the crowd. When it was over, Franklin walked away with a 15-5 win over the state placewinner.

Dowling began his run toward a tourney title with a 14-4 win over Mifflin County’s Trey Shoemaker.

Royer added his fourth major decision of the year to climb into a tie for third with BEA’s Garrett Giedroc and the Red Raiders’ Ethan Rossman. Royer beat Cranberry’s Mitchell Rossey 12-4 in the consolation quarterfinals.

Weitoish added two major decisions this week after not having any all year. He outscored his two opponents 21-2 in those wins. He is tied with nine other wrestlers that have at least two such victories. Those joining that logjam this week were Close, Penns Valley’s Malachi DuVall, Weitoish’s teammates Chase Chapman and Gabe Dunkelberger; and Stoltzfus.

There were seven wrestlers to claim their first major decision this week. They were Urbas and teammate Owen Barr; Beauseigneur and teammate Parker Moore; Felker, Bellefonte’s Ryan Smith and BEA’s Drake Holderman.

Technical falls and fastest falls

There is a new leader at the top of the technical falls leaderboard. OK, well two.

Shunk and Dowling each added two such victories to leap over longtime leader Owen Woolcott of State College. Shunk and Dowling have nine on the year to Woolcott’s eight.

Shunk’s wins propelled him to the 120-pound semifinals of the Fred Bell Tournament. He outscored his opponents 47-12 in 7:02 of wrestling action.

Dowling’s victories put him into the 145-pound finals. In the semifinals, the junior didn’t allow a single point in a 16-0 win over Towanda’s Preston Rogers.

Richner collected his seventh technical fall with a 17-0 defeat of BEA’s Richard Taylor on Tuesday. Royer, who wasn’t on the list a week ago, added two tech falls this week. He beat Huntingdon’s Morgan McDivitt 19-2 on Tuesday and topped Saegertown’s Dawson Bartholomew 17-0 Friday in the first round.

P-O’s Dunkelberger was the only new addition this week with his first technical fall of the year.

There were just two new times added to the fastest falls list. They each came from BEA wrestlers.

145-pounder Drew Koleno stuck United’s Ian McCarthy in the second round of consolations. Koleno tied Penns Valley’s Andrew Sharer for the fourth-fastest time.

Bisel beat Hickory’s Caleb Benton in 17 seconds in the second round. Bisel tied Ohl for the eighth-fastest time.

In order to get into the top 10, wrestlers will now have to finish a match quicker than 18 seconds.

Follow Nate Cobler on Twitter all season long for high school wrestling updates and more

Wins

Falls

Fastest Falls

Technical Falls

Major Decisions

This story was originally published January 27, 2019 at 7:03 PM.