12 Centre County wrestlers secure spots in PIAA Championships by reaching Southwest Regional semifinals
Centre County had a total of 23 wrestlers who entered the PIAA Class 2A Southwest Regional tournament on Friday at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania.
After the first day was over, 12 of those wrestlers secured their spots for the PIAA Championships in two weeks after reaching the semifinals of their weight classes. There are also seven others still alive looking for a spot in the final tournament of the season.
St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy has the most semifinalists for the county with all five of its wrestlers in the semis. Bald Eagle Area has three semifinalists. Penns Valley and Philipsburg-Osceola each have two apiece.
With all those semifinalists, St. Joseph’s sits second in the team points race with 47.5 points. The leader is Chestnut Ridge, which has six semifinalists and 10 of its 11 wrestlers still alive.
The Eagles are in third with 40 points. Forest Hills and Glendale round out the top five in that order.
“We don’t really look at it as a team,” Wolves coach Pat Flynn said. “If everyone does their job, the team score will take care of itself. Chestnut Ridge has a lot of good dudes. Glendale, last week, has a lot of good dudes. We’ll let the team thing play out however it plays out. If we do our jobs, we can be in the top two, three or four.”
The Mounties are tied for ninth with 25.5 points. The Rams are tied for 11th with 24 points.
Here’s how each team sits after Day 1:
St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy
Semifinalists: Amonn Ohl (132), Zack Witmer (138), Caleb Dowling (152), Keegan Rothrock (160), Tyler Stoltzfus (170)
Eliminated: None
Team score: 2nd, 47.5 points
Recap: At this point in the season, it’s difficult for any wrestler to be 100 percent healthy.
Ohl has been dealing with a high-ankle sprain that was suffered during the Ultimate Warrior Tournament at the end of January. This type of injury isn’t something that can just get better overnight.
Last week, Ohl gutted his way to the District 6 finals. On Friday, it seemed like the injury was bothering him again.
Tied 6-6 with just over one minute left in his opening match with McGuffey’s Nate Yagle, Ohl hit a leg cradle for three near-fall points. Those three points were all he needed for a 9-6 win.
“He’s a tough kid. He don’t like to lose,” Flynn said. “He’s been training all his life. He wants to win a state title. We’ve got some discussions to do tonight, see what our game plan is for tomorrow and go from there.”
Ohl then punched his ticket to states with a pin of Burgettstown’s Anthony Lancos.
It’s always nice to get at least one state qualifier, but to have five is just remarkable. Flynn believes his five just do everything right.
“They are all special. They work hard, train right and diet right,” he said. “They do a lot of different things that separate themselves from everybody else. I’m super proud of them.”
Dowling and Stoltzfus cruised to the semifinals with bonus points.
Dowling had a 17-1 technical fall in the first period of his first match. In the quarterfinals, he pinned his opponent in 14 seconds.
Stoltzfus had two pins and wrestled just over three minutes in two matches.
Witmer and Rothrock had a little bit of work to do.
“Keegan wasn’t wrestling smart in the beginning,” Flynn said of the quarterfinals match. “He became vulnerable there for a minute. He buckled it down and did a nice job. Zack was getting pushed around at the end a little bit.”
Witmer raced out to a 6-0 lead on Beth-Center’s Todd Fisher after two periods in the quarterfinals. Fisher scored two takedowns in the third period for the eventual 7-4 final in Witmer’s favor.
Rothrock came out and got thrown on his back by Carlynton’s Oleg Melnyk. He trailed 4-0, but got a reversal to make it 4-2 after one period. Melnyk seemed like he wanted to get in Rothrock’s head, but it cost him a point. In the end, like Flynn said, Rothrock stayed focused and won 6-4.
Even with the success of his wrestlers, Flynn knows there are still things to work on.
“For everybody, we always need to improve our hand fighting a little better,” he said. “We got to work on our leg and foot work. Every college coach says there is something to work on. We got some things to talk about as a team. Hopefully, we can improve on them and win some titles this weekend.”
Bald Eagle Area
Semifinalists: Coen Bainey (106 pounds), Cooper Gilham (120) and Gage McClenahan (145)
Others alive: Drew Koleno (152), Noah Foltz (160) and David Close (220)
Eliminated: None
Team score: 3rd, 40 points
Recap: McClenahan had no problems reaching the semifinals with two pins.
However, his day had a pretty special start to it.
The senior stuck Hopewell’s Alex Obeldobel in 2:09, which marked the 100th career win. It is a pretty astounding feat after missing his whole junior year.
“It meant a lot after everything that happened and still being able to do it,” McClenahan said. “There is a lot of really good wrestlers that haven’t achieved that.”
BEA coach Ron Guenot knows how special it was for McClenahan to get, but also knows this wasn’t everything to him.
“It was exciting. It was a goal that he had set. He accomplished that goal,” Guenot said. “He knows there is more work to do now. It’s good that he got it. Now, we can move on and focus on the next match tomorrow.”
With McClenahan’s second pin in the quarterfinals, it put him to 22 on the season. He needs just one more to tie his brother in a fun family rivalry.
“I actually had that on my mind. I just want to have bragging rights over him,” McClenahan said with a laugh.
Bainey bonused his way to the semifinals like McClenahan. The freshman had two pins and wrestled a total of three minutes in his two matches.
He now sits with 33 wins, which is six shy of the freshman mark for the Eagles.
Gilham was his usual steady self. He opened his day with a fall in 3:56. In the quarterfinals, he was methodical to earn a 6-0 shut out of Central Valley’s Ambrose Boni.
“It’s the work they’ve put in the room, that’s where it all starts,” Guenot said of his semifinalists. “They are doing everything right and working hard everyday on and off the mat. It shows and showed all year long.”
In the end, Guenot said that the first day was a solid one.
BEA brought six wrestlers to Indiana and all six remain alive for Day 2.
“We wanted to come in here today and advance everybody to tomorrow. We did that,” Guenot said. “Everybody has a chance to move into a situation where (they) are going to Hershey. The guys in the consys need to win two. We will take it one at a time.”
Penns Valley
Semifinalists: Clayton Royer (138) and Malachi DuVall (152)
Others alive: Andrew Sharer (182)
Eliminated: Chase Fleshman (0-2, 106) and Nate Long (0-2, 126)
Team score: Tied 11th, 24 points
Recap: From tearing his meniscus to injuring both of his shoulders, Royer has been through a lot in his high school career.
Friday marked the third time the senior has competed in the regional tournament. It also became the first time he punched his ticket to the PIAA Championships.
“I’m satisfied, but the trip is not over yet,” he said. “Like I’ve said before, it’s my goal to get one of those (PIAA) medals around my neck. This is just one part.”
Royer opened with a 16-3 major decision over Southmoreland’s Nick Yeskey. In the quarterfinals, he earned a pin in 1:29 over Carlynton’s Eddie Huehn on the edge of the mat.
However, Royer didn’t know it at first.
“I’m going to be honest, I thought we were out of bounds and the ref was telling us to go back in,” he said with a laugh. “I looked over to Coach Joel (Brinker) and Coach (Mike) Wise, and they were standing up. I was like, ‘I just pinned him and couldn’t believe it.’ I looked over at my dad. He jumped 10 feet into the air. I think he was more emotional than I was.”
Royer won’t be alone in Hershey, either. DuVall had two pins to reach the semifinals, which gives him 26 pins on the season.
He made the semis by pinning Berlin-Brothersvalley’s Clayton Lee in 54 seconds.
Sharer, who is coming off winning his first District 6 title, opened with a pin of Burgettstown’s Turner Lehman. In the quarterfinals, he was caught out of position and pinned by Quaker Valley’s Patrick Cutchember.
The Rams had Chase Fleshman and Nate Long experiencing their first regional tournament like Sharer. However, the young wrestlers just didn’t have the same early success. The each dropped their two bouts and had their seasons ended.
“Fleshman and Long had very good years for us, getting here is a honor,” Penns Valley coach Joel Brinker said. “I said, ‘Lots of kids that have wrestled their whole life, never got in this tournament.’ They know what they’ve got to do moving forward. We just have to regroup and rebound here with Sharer. He’ll be fine.”
Philipsburg-Osecola
Semifinalists: Hunter Weitoish (160) and Parker Moore (195)
Others alive: Nick Bryan (120), Chase Chapman (138) and Austin Foster (145)
Eliminated: Tyler Anderson (0-2, 220) and Chase Klinger (0-2, 285)
Team score: Tied 9th, 25.5 points
Recap: According to Weitoish, Moore and himself have had a friendly competition since they were in fifth or sixth grade.
Weitoish didn’t go any further into detail about the competition, but to be able to secure a state berth with Moore was “special.”
For Moore, this is something he’s been trying to achieve ever since elementary school.
“I’ve always been that close. I’ve always lost the match to go,” the sophomore said. “Now, to get past that obstacle, is huge for me.”
Weitoish had an easier path to get there than Moore. The junior collected a fall in 2:55 over Highlands’ Brock White to start the day.
In the quarterfinals, Weitoish raced out to a 5-0 lead after two periods. He turned it on in the third for 10 more points and the technical fall in 5:31 over Meyersdale’s Austin Broadwater.
“I was worried about my second match a little bit,” Weitoish said, “because I never seen the kid or heard of him before. I knew that I’ve put matches together (in the past), so I knew I could beat him.”
Moore opened his day with a pin as well, but should some determination and a bigger gas tank in the quarterfinals.
Trailing 4-0 midway through the second period, Moore earned an escape from a much taller Garrett Boone of McGuffey. He hit a well-timed fireman’s carry to get within one to start the third period.
Boone seemed rather sluggish and called for an injury time to catch his breath with an inhaler. Moore was frustrated, but was unfazed. After collecting a stall point and an escape after injury time was out on Boone, Moore again hit that fireman’s carry and won 7-4.
“I feel like I kind of broke him toward the end of the match, so that’s always fun,” Moore said.
PIAA Southwest Regional
Friday at Indiana University of Pennsylvania
Team key: Avonworth (A), Bald Eagle Area (BEA), Bedford (B), Bellwood-Antis (BA), Bentworth (BW), Berlin Brothersvalley (BB), Beth-Center (B-C), Bishop McCort (BM), Blairsville (BV), Burgettstown (BT), Burrell (BL), Cambria Heights (CH), Carlynton (CT), Central (C), Central Cambria (CC), Central Valley (CV), Chartiers-Houston (C-H), Chestnut Ridge (CR), Claysburg-Kimmel (CK), Derry (D), Elizabeth Forward (EF), Ellwood City (EC), Everett (E), Forest Hills (FH), Fort Cherry (FC), Frazier (F), Freedom Area (FA), Glendale (G), Highlands (HL), Hopewell (HW), Huntingdon (H), Jefferson Morgan (JM), Keystone Oaks (KO), Laurel (L), Ligonier Valley (LV), Marion Center (MC), McGuffey (MG), Meyersdale (M), Mount Pleasant (MP), Mount Union (MU), North Star (NS), Northern Bedford (NB), Penn Cambria (PC), Penns Valley (PV), Philipsburg-Osecola (P-O), Quaker Valley (QV), Richland (R), Somerset (S), South Allegheny (SA), South Park (SP), South Side Beaver (SSB), Southmoreland (SM), St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy (SJ), Summit Academy (SY), Tussey Mountain (TM), Tyrone (T), United (U), Valley (V), Washington (W), West Branch (WB), Westmont Hilltop (WH), Yough (Y).
Team scores: 1. Chestnut Ridge 65, 2. St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy 47.5, 3. Bald Eagle Area 40, 4. Forest Hills 38, 5. Glendale 33.5, 6. Burrell 31, 7. Huntingdon 30.5, 8. Burgettstown 30, T9. Bedford 25.5, T9. Philipsburg-Osceola 25.5, T11. Penns Valley 24
Quarterfinals
106: Coen Bainey, BEA, pinned Landon Dunsmore, H, 2:08; 120: Cooper Gilham, BEA, dec. Ambrose Boni, CV, 6-0; 132: Amonn Ohl, SJ, pinned Anthony Lancos, BT, 1:34; 138: Kaden Cassidy, B, pinned Chase Chapman, P-O, 1:25; Clayton Royer, PV, pinned Eddie Huehn, CT, 1:29; Zack Witmer, SJ, dec. Todd Fisher, B-C, 7-3; 145: Gage McClenahan, BEA, pinned Gryphon Callihan, CR, 3:03; 152: Caleb Dowling, SJ, pinned Austin McBeth, SM, :14; Malachi DuVall, PV, pinned Clayton Lee, BB, :54; 160: Hunter Weitoish, P-O, tech. fall Austin Broadwater, M, 15-0 (5:31); Keegan Rothrock, SJ, dec. Oleg Melnyk, CT, 6-4; 170: Tyler Stoltzfus, SJ, pinned D.J. Slovick, BT, 1:36; 182: Patrick Cutchember, QV, pinned Andrew Sharer, PV, 4:07; 195: Parker Moore, P-O, dec. Garrett Boone, MG, 7-4; 220: Duane Knisely, CR, major dec. David Close, BEA, 8-0.
Consolation First Round
106: Niko Ferra, BL, dec. Chase Fleshman, PV, 7-3; 120: Nick Bryan, P-O, pinned Ian Crouch, C, 3:20; 126: Conner Polacek, WH, major dec. Nate Long, PV, 11-1; 145: Austin Foster, P-O, dec. Trevor Pettit, B-C, 5-3 (SV); 152: Drew Koleno, BEA, tech. fall Garrett Ammon, SP, 17-0 (3:00); 160: Noah Foltz, BEA, pinned Peyton Pauline, SP, 1:24; 220: Jeremiah Saunders, HL, dec. Tyler Anderson, P-O, 10-6; 285: J.D. Black, R, pinned Chase Klinger, P-O, 1:53.
First Round
106: Calan Bollman, CR, tech. fall Fleshman, PV, 17-0 (5:08); Bainey, BEA, pinned Shane Momyer, Y, :42; 120: Ryan Michaels, EF, pinned Bryan, P-O, 2:39; Gilham, BEA, pinned Jessie Orbin, C-H, 3:56; 126: Ross Dull, CR, tech. fall Long, PV, 18-1 (3:54); 132: Ohl, SJ, dec. Nate Yagle, MG, 9-6; 138: Chapman, P-O, dec. Noah Gnibus, MP, 1-0; Royer, PV, major dec. Nick Yeskey, SM, 16-3; Witmer, SJ, tech. fall Logan Bechtold, BL, 15-0 (2:59); 145: McClenahan, BEA, pinned Alex Obeldobel, HW, 1:09; Tristan Pugh, BB, pinned Foster, P-O, 2:42; 152: Dowling, SJ, tech. fall Jacob Moore, L, 17-2 (2:20); DuVall, PV, pinned Joe Boughton, A, 4:39; A.J. Corrado, BL, pinned Koleno, BEA, 3:39; 160: Thayne Lawrence, F, pinned Foltz, BEA, 3:13; Weitoish, P-O, pinned Brock White, HL, 2:55; Rothrock, SJ, tech. fall Noah Linderman, BL, 16-0 (3:00); 170: Stoltzfus, SJ, pinned Shquincy Smart-Johnson, SA, 1:39; 182: Sharer, PV, pinned Turner Lehman, BT; 195: Moore, P-O, pinned Garret Suica, BT, 1:42; 220: Close, BEA, tech. fall Saunders, HL, 17-2 (6:00); Knisely, CR, major dec. Anderson, P-O, 13-0; 285: Jalen Stephens, M, pinned Klinger, P-O, :37.
This story was originally published February 21, 2020 at 11:05 PM.
