Centre County wrestlers collect 6 district titles in Class 2A as 22 move onto regionals
Saturday’s District 6 Class 2A wrestling championships were a whirlwind for all four of Centre County’s teams.
Bald Eagle Area, Penns Valley, Philipsburg-Osceola and St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy combined to account for a half-dozen district champs while sending 22 wrestlers to the PIAA Southwest Regional tournament. The Eagles and Mounties have the most going with six apiece, by having six wrestlers finish in the top six at districts.
The Rams and Wolves each have five apiece heading into Indiana, Pennsylvania, next weekend.
Glendale took the team title at the Fieldhouse with 174.5 points, but all four Centre County schools ended in the top 10. BEA finished second with 164.5 points, and Penns Valley finished fifth with 150.5 points. (Huntingdon and Forest Hills were third and fourth, respectively, to round out the top five.)
P-O was seventh with 145 points. St. Joseph’s, the defending team champs, finished eighth with 136 points.
Here’s a closer look at how each of Centre County’s teams finished:
Bald Eagle Area
Champions: Coen Bainey (106 pounds)
Other finishers: Cooper Gilham (2nd, 120), Gage McClenahan (2nd, 145), Drew Koleno (6th, 152), Noah Foltz (6th, 160), Brady Proctor (8th, 182) and David Close (3rd, 220)
Eliminated: Grace Stem (1-2, 126), Zander Ballock (3-2, 138) and Chandler Burns (2-2, 195)
Team finish: 2nd, 164.5 points
Recap: Bainey has been stellar all season long for the Eagles. He continued that into the District 6 Class 2A championships.
The freshman did more sweating in his warmup than he did in his finals match with Central’s Jaxon Matthews, which ended in quick fashion.
“He’s focused and knows what he needs to do. He works hard and puts the time in on the mat,” BEA coach Ron Guenot said. “He’s a great kid and student. I’m proud of what he’s doing, and looking forward to seeing what he can do next weekend.”
Bainey took Matthews down roughly three seconds in the bout. From there, he put in double legs and clinched onto both of Matthews’ arms. Bainey stretched Matthews out and pinned him in 19 seconds.
The win moved Bainey to within eight wins of Quentin Wright’s school freshman record of 39.
“It feels amazing. It’s an awesome experience as a freshman to come out here and win a District 6 title,” Bainey said. “It’s been a great ride. I hope it just continues down the road for regionals and states.”
The Eagles had Gilham and McClenahan in the finals, too, but they just came up short.
Gilham trailed 2-1 to begin the third period against Huntingdon’s Roland Mills. Gilham tried to hit a switch to get a reversal and the lead. However, he was never able to get that reversal and fell 2-1.
McClenahan ran into a buzzsaw in Forest Hills’ Erik Gibson, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. Gibson’s quickness allowed him to tally two takedowns on McClenahan, which doesn’t happen often. The sophomore Gibson topped the senior 5-2.
“It was a good day. Certain situations, we could’ve done better,” Guenot said. “Overall, satisfied with the performance. Kids wrestled hard and gave it everything they had. We can’t complain about the result.”
In the end, BEA will have six regional wrestlers, which is two more than last season. Only Gilham and Close were in this position last season, while the other two who advanced last year graduated.
McClenahan missed last year while recovering from a football injury, but has been on that stage before, reaching the PIAA tournament in 2018.
Next weekend will be a whole new atmosphere for Bainey, Koleno and Foltz. According to Guenot, the message is still going to be the same for all six wrestlers.
“It’s the same thing we told them last week,” he said. “Believe in your training and what you’ve done this season. You deserve to be there. I think things will take care of themselves when we get there. Everybody starts out the tournament in the same situation.”
Penns Valley
Champions: Andrew Sharer (182)
Other finishers: Chase Fleshman (6th, 106), Justin Darlington (8th, 113), Nate Long (5th, 126), Clayton Royer (2nd, 138), Malachi DuVall (2nd, 152) and Cole Felker (7th, 160)
Eliminated: Micah Fetterolf (3-2, 145), Dristen Wolfe (1-2, 170) and Rylee Brungart (1-2, 220)
Team finish: 5th, 150.5 points
Recap: Sharer’s day went a lot like his career: He held on, refused to quit — and celebrated in the end.
The senior has gone through two shoulder surgeries and a torn ACL in his high school career, before winning the district title at 182 pounds Saturday. This weekend’s district tournament was only his second after those injuries kept him out of the others.
“I didn’t even know if I was going to wrestle this year, but I knew I had to,” Sharer said. “It’s been a lot of hard work and a long road. I’m really proud to be where I am now.”
In the district title match, Sharer took on Huntingdon’s Myles Baney, who was the No. 1 seed, and went to work early. He secured two first-period takedowns. His pace was too much for Baney, whom he recorded an impressive fall against.
“Andrew is just a great story. The kid has had three surgeries,” Rams coach and newly inducted District 6 Hall of Famer Joel Brinker said. “For him to be where he is at now, to get a district title, he contemplated in the offseason if he wanted to go through this again or not. It was pretty special to see him get this as a senior.”
Sharer had choice for the second period and chose netural. He collected his third takedown and pinned Baney in 3:03.
Sharer jumped to his feet and pointed toward his coaches and the Penns Valley fans after the win.
“My mindset was, regardless of the result, I knew I did everything I could to prepare for this moment,” Sharer said. “I didn’t cut any corners from rehab to every aspect to my lifestyle. I was pointing to my coaches, family and everyone that has supported me through this long journey. It’s been hard, but I have a lot of good people in my life, so I’m very blessed.”
Royer and DuVall also made the finals for Penns Valley. They each faced a St. Joseph’s wrestler and came out on the losing end. However, Brinker knows his two wrestlers gained confidence in their tightly contested matches.
Those three will be joined by Fleshman and Long, who are on the opposite end of the wrestling spectrum compared to the finalists. Long came back to the sport for the first time since sixth grade last season. Meanwhile, Fleshman contemplated on even coming out for the sport this year.
Yet, here they are, heading to their first regional tournaments.
Fleshman had to wrestle his way back through the consolations to get to this point. He strung together two wins to reach the consolation semifinals, which locked up his regional berth. Long used a gritty 6-5 win over BEA’s Grace Stem to make the consolation quarterfinals, where he pinned his opponent to make the semifinals and the regional tournament.
“You saw it in the beginning of the year and throughout the year, there was a little drive coming,” Brinker said of Fleshman. “It was a willingness to get better. He’s done it. They are working hard in practice. It’s funny, because today Nate said, ‘I’m going to regionals.’ I said, ‘Isn’t it funny what you can do when you make your mind up to do something?’”
Philipsburg-Osceola
Champions: None
Other finishers: Nick Coudriet (7th, 113), Nick Bryan (6th, 120), Gabe Dunkelberger (8th, 132), Chase Chapman (3rd, 138), Austin Foster (6th, 145), Hunter Weitoish (2nd, 160), Parker Moore (3rd, 195), Tyler Anderson (6th, 220) and Chase Klinger (7th, 285)
Eliminated: Scott Frantz (1-2, 126), Alex Dunkelberger (3-2, 152) and Dom Shaw (0-2, 170)
Team finish: 7th, 145 points
Recap: P-O’s coaching staff and wrestlers had matching shirts that shared a similar sentiment. The coaches’ shirts said, “Why not us?” The wrestlers’ shirts said “Why not ...” followed by their first names.
They all seemed to wrestle by the motto by pushing six into the regional tournament.
“We got a chance to get six guys through, maybe not the ones we thought,” Mounties coach Brad Pataky said. “But that’s still a blessing to see other guys make it through. The belief and trust in the process. Why can’t I make the round of 6? Why can’t I move on? Why can’t I get the upset?
“Trying to get the guys to understand that the mindset in wrestling is huge. When you couple the belief with your hard work and understand that you paid the price, why shouldn’t you be given the opportunity to perform at your highest potential?”
P-O was set up to have a nice run with four semifinalists in Chapman, Weitoish, Moore and Anderson. However, it just didn’t come to fruition.
Weitoish was the lone Mounties’ wrestler to make the finals. In that match, the junior was rolling on his opponent in St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s Keegan Rothrock.
Weitoish led 5-2 after the second period. He earned a reversal to start the third, and looked in great shape to come away with the title. But, things took a turn with little time left and he ended up losing 9-7 in sudden victory.
“Hunter wrestled his heart. It was one of those situations where you wrestle 5 minutes and 45 seconds, only to give up that five-point move,” Pataky said. “We’ve talked to the kids about wrestling from whistle to whistle. As heartbreaking as it is, it’s a good lesson to learn right now, especially going into next weekend.”
Among the ups and downs of the day, Chapman was able to secure his 100th career victory. It may not have came in the spot that the senior would’ve liked, but he still got that milestone.
It came in the consolation semifinals, where Chapman racked up a 17-4 major decision over Claysburg-Kimmel’s Cade Keithley. For Pataky, he feels it is a motivational piece for his other wrestlers too.
“It’s a huge milestone in any wrestler’s career when you can get those 100 wins,” he said. “The fact that he didn’t accomplish his district goals, he still wrestled his heart out and gave everything he had. The 100-win mark is just a milestone on top of the larger perspective. We are trying to get our kids to understand there is a bigger picture to things. Seeing Chase do that, everyone on the team understands it’s possible.”
St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy
Champions: Zack Witmer (138), Caleb Dowling (152), Keegan Rothrock (160) and Tyler Stoltzfus (170)
Other finishers: Amonn Ohl (2nd, 132)
Eliminated: None
Team finish: 8th, 136 points
Recap: St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s seniors couldn’t have asked for much more at districts.
The Wolves had three seniors that saw their district careers end with titles, and had four wrestlers in all with gold.
“For a coach, it is really fulfilling,” St. Joseph’s coach Pat Flynn said.“For these guys, this is just Step 1 on the way to a state title. When you win a district title, it’s awesome. It puts you in a better position for the regional tournament. Hopefully, the higher you climb that podium in the regional tournament, you get a better seed at the state tournament. I’m happy for them. This is great.”
Rothrock was one of those seniors for the Wolves. Last year, he came up short in a 6-4 loss in the finals. It didn’t look good this year either as he trailed 7-2 early in the third period against Weitoish.
“I saw 7-2 in the third period, I still thought I was going to win,” Rothrock said. “I just had to stay focused. I joke around that I have big moves. I pull them out when I need them, so I was glad I had that there.”
With about 10 seconds left, Rothrock hit a cement mixer on Weitoish and nearly pinned him but time ran out. Rothrock scored five points to tie the bout at the buzzer.
In the sudden victory period, Rothrock’s gas tank had a little bit more in it than Weitoish’s. The senior picked up a takedown with 27 seconds remaining for the 9-7 win.
“It felt pretty sweet when I got up and I felt that he was on his back,” Rothrock said of hitting the cement mixer. “I was just praying that I had enough time for five swipes. Once I got up, I knew I was in shape and wasn’t tired for overtime.”
Dowling and Stoltzfus did what they do best and that is win. Dowling topped his former teammate in DuVall, 8-3, with three perfectly timed double-leg takedowns.
Stoltzfus took Richland’s John Sabol down several times and threw his legs in and cranked on his head. The final time, Stoltzfus cranked Sabol to his back in the second period for a fall in 3:43.
Witmer used a takedown and reversal to top Royer 4-1. It was Witmer’s second consecutive district crown.
“The guys did well. The semifinals they were a little flat in the beginning, but they turned it up a notch,” Flynn said. “In the finals, Zack went out and wrestled well. Caleb did what Caleb does in wrestling an old teammate. Keegan had a barn burner. Tyler did what Tyler does, take people down and put legs in. All in all, I think we did well.”
Ohl also made the finals for St. Joseph’s, but Flynn held him out against Glendale’s Brock McMillen. Ohl has been dealing with a high ankle sprain since the Ultimate Warrior Tournament at the end of January.
With all of the success the Wolves have, one has to wonder how they do not get complacent. For Flynn, the answer is simple.
“They are all self-motivated guys. The competition in the room keeps them honest,” he said. “It makes it so we have to make sure we are crossing our t’s and dotting our i’s. In the practice room, Caleb, Keegan and Tyler are beating each other. They are competitive kids. Our lightweights, Zack, Mike and Amonn, it’s the same thing. We only got six guys; they kind of get bored with each other, but they are so competitive that they are always ready to go.”
District 6 Class 2A Championships
Saturday at Altoona
Team key: Bald Eagle Area (BEA), Bellwood-Antis (BA), Bishop McCort (BM), Blairsville (B), Cambria Heights (CH), Central Cambria (CC), Central (C), Claysburg-Kimmel (CK), Forest Hills (FH), Glendale (G), Huntingdon (H), Juniata Valley (JV), Ligonier Valley (LV), Marion Center (MC), Moshannon Valley (MV), Mount Union (MU), Penn Cambria (PC), Penns Valley (PV), Philipsburg-Osceola (P-O), Richland (R), St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy (SJ), Southern Huntingdon (SH), Tyrone (T), United (U), West Branch (WB), Westmont Hilltop (WH)
Team scores: 1. Glendale 175.5, 2. Bald Eagle Area 164.5, 3. Huntingdon 158.5, 4. Forest Hills 155.5, 5. Penns Valley 150.5, 6. Westmont Hilltop 149, 7. Philipsburg-Osecola 145, 8. St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy 136, 9. Tyrone 111, 10. Marion Center 106.5.
Finals
106: Coen Bainey, BEA, pinned Jaxon Matthews, C, :19; 113: Easton Toth, FH, dec. Hunter Walk, T, 4-0; 120: Roland Mills, H, dec. Cooper Gilham, BEA, 2-1; 126: Jackson Arrington, FH, dec. Suds Dubler, G, 5-1; 132: Brock McMillen, G, def. Amonn Ohl, SJ, forfeit; 138: Zack Witmer, SJ, dec. Clayton Royer, PV, 5-1; 145: Erik Gibson, FH, dec. Gage McClenahan, BEA, 5-2; 152: Caleb Dowling, SJ, dec. Malachi DuVall, PV, 8-3; 160: Keegan Rothrock, SJ, dec. Hunter Weitoish, P-O, 9-7 (SV); 170: Tyler Stoltzfus, SJ, pinned John Sabol, R, 3:43; 182: Andrew Sharer, PV, pinned Myles Baney, H, 3:03; 195: Tanner Dluhos, WH, pinned Seth Dudurich, G, 4:43; 220: Cory Johnston, G, dec. Jake Ryan, MU, 5-4; 285: Marvin Beatty, MC, pinned Evan Pellegrine, BA, 2:25.
Third-Place Match
138: Chase Chapman, P-O, dec. Allen Mangus, R, 5-1; 195: Parker Moore, P-O, dec. Zack Peck, H, 15-8; 220: David Close, BEA, pinned Gabriel Kennedy-Citeroni, B, 4:05.
Fifth-Place Match
106: Josh Harbert, LV, dec. Chase Fleshman, PV, 4-2; 120: Tanner Kushner, WH, major dec. Nick Bryan, P-O, 12-0; 126: Nate Long, PV, pinned Caden Reamer, H, 3:24; 145: Tristan Rutter, G, tech. fall Austin Foster, P-O, 16-0 (4:14); 152: Hudson Holbay, WH, pinned Drew Koleno, BEA, 2:24; 160: Alex Taylor, BA, pinned Noah Foltz, BEA, 2:09; 220: Austin Wagner, PC, dec. Tyler Anderson, P-O, 2-1
Seventh-Place Match
113: Nick Coudriet, P-O, pinned Justin Darlington, PV, 1:28; 132: Cole Claycomb, CK, dec. Gabe Dunkelberger, P-O, 5-2; 160: Cole Felker, PV, major dec. Briar Deline, H, 11-2; 182: Ethan Kubat, CC, dec. Proctor, BEA, 7-0; 285: Chase Klinger, P-O, pinned Wyatt Holsinger, C, 2:24.
Semifinals
106: Bainey, BEA, tech. fall Korry Walls, T, 16-0 (5:22); 120: Gilham, BEA, pinned Ashton Sipes, T, 4:57; 132: Ohl, SJ, dec. Noah Teeter, FH, 4-2; 138: Witmer, SJ, major dec. Allen Mangus, R, 16-3; Royer, PV, pinned Chapman, P-O, 5:23; 145: McClenahan, BEA, dec. Cooper Warshel, R, 5-2; 152: Dowling, SJ, major dec. Ryan Weyandt, FH, 14-6; DuVall, PV, major dec. Hudson Holbay, WH, 12-4; 160: Rothrock, SJ, inj. def. Kobe Harr, CK, 4:13; Weitoish, P-O, dec. Ethan Marcozzi, BM, 4-3 (SV); 170: Stoltzfus, SJ, pinned Alex Weaver, T, 1:33; 182: Sharer, PV, dec. Ian Eckenrode, CH, 14-11; 195: Seth Dudurich, G, dec. Moore, P-O, 11-9; 220: Jake Ryan, MU, pinned Anderson, P-O, 2:58; Cory Johnston, G, dec. Close, BEA, 5-0.
Consolation Semifinals
106: Walls, T, dec. Fleshman, PV, 6-2; 120: Sipes, T, major dec. Bryan, P-O, 10-1; 126: Gavin Stewart, MC, major dec. Long, PV, 17-3; 138: Chapman, P-O, major dec. Cade Keithley, CK, 17-4; 145: Noah Korenoski, WH, major dec. Foster, P-O, 9-0; 152: Weyandt, FH, pinned Koleno, 2:24; 160: Harr, CK, dec. Foltz, BEA, 4-3; 195: Moore, P-O, pinned Dominic Caracciolo, BA, 4:59; 220: Close, BEA, pinned Austin Wagner, PC, 2:16; Gabriel Kennedy-Citeroni, B, dec. Anderson, P-O, 2-0.
Consolation Quarterfinals
106: Fleshman, PV, dec. Jude Martyak, FH, 6-4 (SV); 113: Liam Cornetto, MC, dec. Darlington, PV, 7-1; Bryce Beatty, MU, pinned Coudriet, P-O, 4:57; 120: Bryan, P-O, major dec. Caden Chilcote, MU, 12-2; 126: Long, PV, pinned Daniel Lazer, CC, 1:38; 132: Roy Dunn, WH, dec. G. Dunkelberger, P-O, 3-0; 145: Foster, P-O, dec. Jalen Kovac, CH, 6-1; 152: Koleno, BEA, dec. William Herring, WB, 7-1; 160: Foltz, BEA, pinned Briar Deline, H, 4:47; 182: Zack Lash, T, pinned Proctor, BEA, 3:48; 285: Max Clevenger, U, dec. Klinger, P-O, 3-2.
Consolation Fourth Round
106: Fleshman, PV, dec. Peirson Price, MU, 12-5; 113: Darlington, PV, dec. Jeffre Pifer, BEA, 4-2 (SV); Coudriet, P-O, dec. Ethan Zukus, R, 6-1; 120: Bryan, P-O, dec. Tony DiPaola, FH, 7-5; 126: Long, PV, dec. Grace Stem, BEA, 6-5; Daniel Lazer, CC, pinned Scott Frantz, P-O, 3;36; 132: G. Dunkelberger, P-O, major dec. Morgan McDivitt, H, 18-5; 138: Zane Blackburn, WH, dec. Zander Ballock, BEA, 6-4 (SV); 145: Jalen Kovac, CH, dec. Micah Fetterolf, PV, 13-6; Foster, P-O, pinned Nathan Little, PC, :44; 152: Koleno, BEA, dec. Alex Dunkelberger, P-O, 12-6; 160: Felker, PV, dec. Kyrie Miller, LV, 8-2; Foltz, BEA, pinned Lane Kocher, C, :27; 170: Jake Davis, JV, dec. Dom Shaw, P-O, 6-3; Isaac Watson, JV, pinned Dristen Wolfe, PV, 4:09; 182: Proctor, BEA, dec. Kole Lichtenfels, BM, 7-3; 195: Clayton Arnold, MU, dec. Chandler Burns, BEA, 9-2; 220: Gunner Singleton, H, pinned Rylee Brungart, PV, 2:48; 285: Klinger, P-O, pinned Nathan Beers, MV, 1:26.
This story was originally published February 16, 2020 at 12:11 AM.
