Here are Centre County’s high school wrestling leaders through Feb. 2

There are just seven regular season duals left for Centre County’s wrestling programs, which means the postseason is here.

On Saturday, State College claimed its first District 6 Class 3A team dual title since 2003. The Little Lions will now compete in the PIAA dual championships starting on Thursday.

State College and Philipsburg-Osceola had the most action with three duals, thanks to two for each from the district championships. They’re wrestlers had the most opportunities to make movement in this week’s leaders.

Let’s take a look at the leaderboards

Wins

For the most part, the top five stayed the same. St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s Caleb Dowling and Tyler Stoltzfus remained No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.

The seniors each had pins for their victory this week during Senior Night on Thursday against Juniata Valley. Dowling now has 32 wins on the year with Stoltzfus having 31.

There is a quartet of wrestlers tied with 27 wins on the season in third. Bald Eagle Area’s Gage McClenahan, Bellefonte’s Alex Coppolo and Jude Swisher, and the Little Lions’ Hayden Cunningham are those wrestlers.

As McClenahan, Coppolo and Swisher added just one win this week, Cunningham had two. The State College freshman picked up a forfeit win against Hollidaysburg on Wednesday. On Saturday during the District 6 Class 3A semifinals, Cunningham pinned Central Mountain’s Clayton Foster in 3:47.

Behind that quartet is six wrestlers all with 26 wins in the Eagles’ Coen Bainey and Cooper Gilham, the Red Raiders’ Ethan Richner, the Wolves’ Keegan Rothrock and the Little Lions’ Lance Urbas and Owen Woolcott. Richner was the lone wrestlier in this group not to add a win as he suffered a knee injury in Bellefonte’s District 6 Class 3A semifinals loss to Mifflin County on Saturday.

Woolcott added the most wins of this group this week with three. The junior began with a pin against Hollidaysburg on Wednesday. He was then perfect on Saturday with a pin against Central Mountain and a decision against the Huskies in the championship match.

In all, Centre County has 17 wrestlers that have 25-plus wins on the season with one for each school except the Mounties. However, P-O does have three wrestlers in Hunter Weitoish, Parker Moore and Chase Chapman that are part of a 23-wrestler contingent with 20-plus victories.

Here’s who collected win No. 20 this week:

Philipsburg-Osceola: Chapman (21 wins) added two victories this week. His 20th win came against Forest Hills’ Garet Connor, 12-4, during the District 6 Class 2A quarterfinals on Tuesday.

State College: Clayton Leidy (22) was a perfect 3-0 for the Little Lions this week. It didn’t take Leidy long to collect that 20th win. He pinned Hollidaysburg’s Nicklas Eppihimer in 2:41 on Wednesday.

Pins

Penns Valley’s Malachi DuVall still remains at the top with 20 falls. He wasn’t able to add one this week as his lone win was a forfeit against Southern Huntingdon on Tuesday.

Richner still remains second with 19 after the injury forced him not to be able to wrestle on Saturday.

Behind the duo, McClenahan, Stoltzfus and Swisher stayed the same as each wrestler added another fall this week. McClenahan now has 18, Stoltzfus is up to 17 and Swiser has 16.

McClenahan’s victory was the fastest of the trio with a 41-seconds pin of Westmont Hilltop’s Madox Muto on Tuesday in the District 6 Class 2A quarterfinals. Stoltzfus celebrated Senior Night on Wednesday with a pin of Juniata Valley’s Zane Shaffer in 50 seconds. Swisher stuck Mifflin County’s Lucas Sheetz in 2:26 during the District 6 Class 3A semifinals.

Rothrock and Cunningham each added a fall this week to get to 15 on the season. Rothrock, who was another senior honored by St. Joseph’s on Wednesday, he pinned the Green Hornets’ Austin Dick in 27 seconds. Cunningham’s fall of Foster sent State College to the District 6 Class 3A title match.

Woolcott climbed onto the leaderboard by collecting two pins this week and getting to 14 on the season. He is tied with Bellefonte’s Aidan O’Shea and Coppolo, who added just one this week. Woolcott stuck Hollidaysburg’s Garidan Bridenbaugh in 2:17 on Wednesday. He then topped Central Mountain’s Zach Miller in 2:55 of the District 6 Class 3A semifinals.

Here is who earned their 10th pin of the season this week:

Bald Eagle Area: Cooper Gilham (10 pins) had to work for his 10th fall. Gilham worked and worked until he was able to turn Westmont Hilltop’s Luke Benner to his back for a fall in 5:30 on Tuesday.

Philipsburg-Osecola: Chapman (11) and Moore (11) are tied with Weitoish for the Mounties’ team lead. Chapman and Moore each added two falls this week but No. 10 came in the same dual against Ligoiner Valley in the second round of the District 6 Class 2A team dual championships. Chapman stuck Khorter Drury in 1:00 as Moore topped Killian McWhorter in 1:20.

Major decisions

The leader in Chapman remained the same. He did add another major decision this week to get to six on the year.

Chapman topped Forest Hills’ Garet Connor 12-4 in the District 6 Class 2A quarterfinals. Chapman has a comfortable two-major decision lead over a trio of wrestlers in Urbas, Coppolo and teammate Gabe Dunkelberger.

Several of Chapman’s other teammates in Chase Klinger and Weitoish were the only other county wrestler to make any moves on the leaderboard. They each earned their second major decision of the year.

Klinger had an 8-0 shutout of Ligonier Valley’s Ben Balthaser in the second round of the District 6 Class 2A team dual championships. Weitoish took care of Forest Hills’ Michael Vasbinder, 11-2, in the quarterfinals.

Technical falls & Fastest falls

There were no new times added this week to the fastest falls category. Amonn Ohl still has the fastest mark with a 5-seconds fall.

In the technical falls category, Moore was the lone county wrestler to secure one this week. He topped Clearfield’s Matt Bailor, 17-1, in 3:01 during the Mounties’ regular season dual on Thursday.

Wins

Falls

Fastest Fall

Technical Falls

Major Decisions

This story was originally published February 2, 2020 at 11:39 AM.

Nate Cobler

Centre Daily Times

814-231-4609

Nate Cobler is a part-time reporter covering all things wrestling, either Penn State or Centre County’s high schools, for the Centre Daily Times. He’ll also cover other sports too. When he isn’t writing about sports, he is working for a local mortgage broker, Providence Mortgage Group.