Centre County wrestlers collect 4 PIAA Southwest Regional titles as 15 advance to Hershey
Centre County had 15 wrestlers finish in the top six of their respective weight classes Saturday at the PIAA Southwest Regional tournament at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania to continue on to states.
For four of those state qualifiers, the trip to Hershey for the PIAA Championships is even sweeter after claiming a regional title.
St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy claimed two of those titles in Caleb Dowling (152 pounds) and Tyler Stoltzfus (170). Bald Eagle Area’s Gage McClenahan got some revenge for the 145-pound title. The biggest surprise of the four champs was Philipsburg-Osceola’s Parker Moore, who earned the 195-pound crown.
In the team race, all four of Centre County’s programs finished in the top 10.
The Wolves finished second with 105 points. They were 36 points behind team champions in Chestnut Ridge. The Eagles finished in fifth with 88 points. Forest Hills and Glendale finished third and fourth, respectively, to round out the top five.
Penns Valley finished eighth with 55.5 points. The Mounties collected 52.5 points to finish ninth.
Here’s how each team finished the Southwest Regional tournament:
St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy
Champions: Caleb Dowling (152) and Tyler Stoltzfus (170)
Other finishers: Amonn Ohl (5th, 132), Zack Witmer (2nd, 138) and Keegan Rothrock (2nd, 160)
Eliminated: None
Team finish: 2nd, 105 points
Recap: When asked how he felt his guys wrestled on the second day of the tournament, Wolves coach Pat Flynn said he and his staff gave their team’s performance — two champs out of four finalists — an A minus.
But the champs, Dowling and Stoltzfus, were much harder on themselves.
Yes, both won titles, but they weren’t very thrilled with their performances. In fact, their performance assessments almost mirrored each other.
“I’m not happy. I want to go out and wrestle my best every single match,” Dowling said. “I know that’s not going to happen. ... I’m not going to be happy about it. I’m upset with how I wrestled.”
Added Stoltzfus : “Honestly, I was kind of disappointed. I thought I wrestled really poor. I wanted to go out there and score points. I just finished slow and was sloppy. Honestly, I took the kid for granted, so good on him. I wrestled horrible.”
Dowling had no problems reaching the finals with a 17-1 technical fall in 5:02. However, he had a hard time getting his offense going against Burrell’s A.J. Corrado in the finals.
Dowling’s points were a penalty point from Corrado for hands to the face in the first period. His match-winning point was an escape in the second period of a 2-1 victory.
It was the third regional title for Dowling, who is going to wrestle at West Virginia next year. It isn’t the end goal, though.
“It feels good. The final goal is to be a state champ,” the senior said. “It’s obviously nothing that I’m real crazy happy about, but it’s a milestone in my career. Even though I haven’t won a state title yet, that’s my main goal and I’m focused on it. A three-time regional champ is still pretty good. It’s an opportunity that not too many kids have.”
Stoltzfus, like Dowling, had no problems reaching the finals as he pinned his semifinals’ opponent in 1:05. In the finals, however, he needed a sudden-victory period to pull off the 6-4 win.
Stoltzfus trailed 4-1 after one period, then used a reversal to make it 4-3. His usual best spot, which is his top game, earned him a stall point from Freedom’s Trent Schultheis to force sudden victory. Nine seconds into the overtime period, Stoltzfus hit an easy takedown for the win.
“It’s an eye-opener. It’s easy to become complacent and (not) get any better,” the senior said. “I just need to keep improving. There is short time, so it is hard to improve at this point. I have a lot of room to improve, but its hard to keep improving in such a short amount of time. I need to keep improving and wrestle better, if I ultimately want to become a state champion.”
Witmer and Rothrock ran into buzzsaws in their finals matchups.
Witmer took on Bedford’s Kaden Cassidy, who is now 32-0 on the season. The pair have a history of wrestling against each other, but Cassidy was dominant on Saturday night.
Cassidy recorded two takedowns and had a solid ride. He picked up a stall point on Witmer and an escape for a 6-0 shutout win.
Rothrock took on two-time defending PIAA champion in Frazier’s Thayne Lawrence. Lawrence led 5-0 after two periods of wrestling.
Lawrence stayed strong into the third period, eventually pinning Rothrock in 5:32.
“We got work to do. Zack went out a little timid,” Flynn said. “Keegan went out really well. We got to work on bottom and be meaner on top.”
Philipsburg-Osecola
Champions: Parker Moore (195)
Other finishers: Chase Chapman (6th, 138) and Hunter Weitoish (3rd, 160)
Eliminated: Nick Bryan (1-2, 120) and Austin Foster (1-2, 145)
Team finish: 9th, 52.5 points
Recap: Moore has had quite the ride this season so far. It is far from being over, too.
He’s isn’t the most well-known wrestler compared to the others who won regional titles on Saturday. But ask coach Brad Pataky about his junior and he could talk for days about him.
“Parker Moore is a kid that a lot of people are going to remember his name the next two years,” Pataky said. “He’s a type of wrestler that has the potential to become a college wrestler if he wants to. The biggest thing is Parker Moore has finally found that confidence that he’s never seen in himself. He’s never had that belief in himself like he does now. It’s a reassuring feeling that you are the best in your weight class, so it’s a proud moment for Parker.”
Moore came into the regional tournament with a 29-6 record. He was just happy to be there, but to win it, was like a dream come true.
He finished third in the District 6 Championships a week ago. So what was the difference this week?
“Last week, I wasn’t feeling great. It’s not like I was sick,” Moore said. “I just didn’t wrestle to my potential. I really focused on working on my feet this week in practice. I think it paid off.”
Moore isn’t the flashiest of wrestlers, but he just gets the job done when it matters the most. And that’s what he did to beat District 6 champion Tanner Dluhos, of Westmont Hilltop, 7-1 in the finals Saturday night.
Dluhos had a 1-0 lead entering the third period, and Moore felt he had Dluhos right where he wanted him.
“I’ve always relied on my conditioning. I feel like if the match is close in the third period, I’ve got them,” Moore said.
Moore was in the bottom position to start and continually worked on escaping from Dluhos. With 49 seconds remaining, Moore got a technical point from Dluhos for interlocked hands. All Moore needed was an escape and solid defense to win.
Moore wasn’t thinking about a one-point win. Dluhos gave him an escape because he thought he could take Moore down for the winning blow. But Dluhos’ plan backfired.
The pair got into a scramble with 30 seconds left that saw Moore come out on top and collect three near-fall points. Moore rode Dluhos out for the final seconds for the win.
As the time was clicking off the clock, an emotional Pataky was in the corner smacking his hands on the mat in excitement for his first regional champ.
“When you’ve seen a kid go from a losing record to becoming a regional champ,” Pataky said, “the in-between moments that you’ve seen him put in the work and you see it pay off, it is really a defining moment in any wrestlers’ career. He really capitalized on the moments he needed to capitalize.
“He focused on his effort. He was down and easily could’ve said, ‘I’m a sure second, but he didn’t.’ He’s always been the underdog. It’s exciting to see a kid that puts the time and effort in, and come out with achieving his goals.”
Chapman and Weitoish also put in the time to make sure Moore didn’t go alone to Hershey.
Weitoish, who secured his spot on Friday night, rebounded from a semifinals loss to finish third.
Chapman earned his way to his second straight PIAA Championships by winning his first two consolation matches. His tournament ended with back-to-back losses, but he was still through.
“It shows a lot about their character. You can easily lose a match and be like, ‘I’m out,’” Pataky said. “Neither one of those guys, regardless of their losses, didn’t dwell on them. They had a short memory. Chase in his bloodround match, he was down with five seconds left, but he wrestled his entire match. Hunter is starting to find that same confidence as Parker. He can be a dominant wrestler if he focuses on that. I’m just very proud of all three of them.”
Bald Eagle Area
Champions: Gage McClenahan (145)
Other finishers: Coen Bainey (2nd, 106), Cooper Gilham (4th, 120), Drew Koleno (8th, 152) and David Close (4th, 220)
Eliminated: Noah Foltz (1-2, 160)
Team score: 5th, 88 points
Recap: After four years of being together as a staff, Coach Ron Guenot said the goal for his program was to have at least four state qualifiers this year. Well, they’ve achieved their goal, with one being a regional champ.
“I thought we had a great tournament. We are taking four through,” Guenot said. “It’s the most we’ve gotten to states, so that’s a good feeling. We’re happy with the performance.”
McClenahan will be back in the PIAA Championships for the first time since 2018, where he finished second. In that year, he had the exact same finishes he had this year, second in districts and first at regionals.
What is even more unique, McClenahan traveled he same path. In 2018, he lost to Mifflin County’s Trey Kibe in the District 6 Class 3A finals. A week later, he beat Kibe in the PIAA Northwest Regionals.
Fast forward to this year. McClenahan suffered a 5-2 loss to Forest Hills’ Erik Gibson last week in the district finals. Saturday, McClenahan faced Gibson again. This time McClenahan came away with the 5-4 victory.
McClenahan scored the first points of the match with a quick takedown.
“It was really important. It was a confidence booster,” the senior said of the early points. “I’ve only been taken down once before last week. He took me down twice, so that kind of hurt. I just had to get after it right away.”
Gibson finished the first period on top 3-2 after collecting an escape and taking down McClenahan. In the second period, McClenahan attempted to escape numerous times, but was unable to. However, he did pick up a penalty point on an interlocked hands call on Gibson.
Gibson got an escape six seconds into the third period and the pair circled around looking for their chance to pounce. McClenahan’s chance came with four seconds remaining, when he got a takedown for the victory.
“I knew I was there last week. I just had to get a feel,” McClenahan said of the win. “He definitely took it to me last week. This week at practice I was working on the little things and just getting right.”
Guenot added: “What a match. It was a good match for wrestling. Gage just kept working all week long at practice. He kept his nose to the grindstone. He closed the gap and it was a different outcome this time.”
Bainey was also a finalist for the Eagles, but he just couldn’t get his top game working on a much longer Calan Bollman of Chestnut Ridge.
Bollman led 4-2 after two periods as Bainey was in a spot he wasn’t used to, too much this season. In the end, Bollman recorded a second takedown on Bainey in the third period, but time was too little for Bainey to come back from in a 6-4 defeat.
Gilham and Close worked their ways back to fourth-place finishes. Guenot knows that everyone of his state qualifiers has some work to do in the upcoming week as prep for the state tournament.
“A couple of situations, we were rode in the second period, it puts you behind the eight-ball,” he said. “We need to work on finding ways to get off the bottom and fine tuning some things on our feet.”
Penns Valley
Champions: None
Other finishers: Clayton Royer (3rd, 138), Malachi DuVall (3rd, 152) and Andrew Sharer (4th, 182)
Eliminated: None
Team finish: 8th, 55.5 points
Recap: The Rams began the day with three wrestlers and still has all three heading to Hershey.
As Royer said Friday, the “three amigos” are ready to go down to Chocolate Town and “kick some butt.”
“They had tough opponents. There is no shame in the guys they lost to,” Penns Valley coach Joel Brinker said. “To get third out of the Southwest region, which is probably arguably the toughest region in the state in double A, is pretty impressive. Third and fourth place sets you up pretty good for states. We are very happy with all three of their efforts today.”
Sharer, who got kicked to the consolations on Friday night, had some work to do to lock up his PIAA berth and join his “amigos.”
He went to work right away by earning a fall in 4:15 to reach the consolation quarterfinals. He ran up a 12-4 major decision on Westmont Hilltop’s Mason Muto to lock up his spot. From there, it was all about finishing as high as possible.
Well, Sharer slapped another loss on Huntingdon’s Myles Baney, who he beat for the district crown. This one was a 7-5 defeat and was almost a pin like that district final a week ago.
“Last night, he was definitely fighting with demons in his head, because it was definitely not what he wanted,” Brinker said. “He came back with a winner’s attitude today and battled three matches in a row. He got himself into position to go for third and fourth. He is right there with the best guys. It’s a credit to him. I’m proud he picked it up and finished the tournament strong.”
Royer and DuVall each started the day in the semifinals. They ultimately dropped those matches to fall into the consolation semifinals.
They each rebounded nicely by collecting bonus-point wins. Royer had a 15-0 technical fall in 1:59. DuVall had a fall in 4:05.
Royer gutted out a 1-0 win over Freedom’s Kenny Duschek to finish third. DuVall used an 8-0 major decision over Burgettstown’s Shane Kempber for his finale.
“They are just Steady Eddies. You know what you are going to get every match,” Brinker said. “It’s just a few little technical things that they walked into in their matches. Again, third place here is an awesome accomplishment in itself. We are looking forward to Hershey.”
PIAA Southwest Regional
Saturday 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 141, 2. St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy 105, 3. Forest Hills 92.5, 4. Glendale 88.5, 5. Bald Eagle Area 88, 6. Burrell 72, 7. Burgettstown 59, 8. Penns Valley 55.5, 9. Philipsburg-Osceola 52.5, 10. Bedford 51.5.
Finals
106: Calan Bollman, CR, dec. Coen Bainey, BEA, 6-4; 113: Joey Fischer, SP, dec. Kai Burkett, CR, 1-0; 120: Ryan Michaels, EF, pinned Roland Mills, H, 3:58; 126: Jackson Arrington, FH, dec. Ty Cymmerman, D, 8-1; 132: Brock McMillen, G, dec. Ian Oswalt, BL, 3-1 (SV); 138: Kaden Cassidy, B, dec. Zack Witmer, SJ, 6-0; 145: Gage McClenahan, BEA, dec. Erik Gibson, FH, 5-4; 152: Caleb Dowling, SJ, dec. A.J. Corrado, BL, 2-1; 160: Thayne Lawrence, F, pinned Keegan Rothrock, SJ, 5:32; 170: Tyler Stoltzfus, SJ, dec. Trent Schultheis, FA, 6-4 (SV); 182: Austin Walley, EC, dec. Patrick Cutchember, QV, 7-1; 195: Parker Moore, P-O, dec. Tanner Dluhos, WH, 7-1; 220: Duane Knisely, CR, dec. Cory Johnston, G, 3-1 (SV); 285: Jalen Stephens, M, pinned Mitch Miles, L, 4:30.
Third-Place Match
120: Nathan Holderbaum, CR, dec. Cooper Gilham, BEA, 6-2; 138: Clayton Royer, PV, dec. Kenny Duschek, FA, 1-0; 152: Malachi DuVall, PV, major dec. Shane Kemper, BT, 8-0; 160: Hunter Weitoish, P-O, dec. Alex Taylor, BA, 5-0; 182: Ricky Feroce, BL, dec. Andrew Sharer, PV, 6-2; 220: Jake Ryan, MU, pinned David Close, BEA, 1:54.
Fifth-Place Match
132: Amonn Ohl, SJ, dec. Kaleb Miller, CR, 5-2; 138: Ian Sherlock, NB, pinned Chase Chapman, P-O, 4:45
Seventh-Place Match
152: Hudson Holbay, WH, pinned Drew Koleno, BEA, 2:31
Semifinals
106: Bainey, BEA, pinned Chase Brandebura, CT, 3:28; 120: Ryan Michaels, EF, dec. Gilham, BEA, 6-0; 132: Oswalt, BL, dec. Ohl, SJ, 6-2; 138: Cassidy, B, pinned Royer, PV, 2:27; Witmer, SJ, dec. Duschek, FA, 3-1 (SV); 145: McClenahan, BEA, dec. Cooper Warshel, R, 3-2; 152: Dowling, SJ, tech. fall Kemper, BT, 17-1 (5:02); Corrado, BL, dec. DuVall, PV, 3-2; 160: Thayne Lawrence, F, tech. fall Weitoish, P-O, 17-0 (4:32); Rothrock, SJ, dec. Alex Taylor, BA, 7-2; 170: Stoltzfus, SJ, pinned Colby Imler, NB, 1:05; 195: Moore, P-O, dec. Ashton Dull, B, 3-1.
Consolation Semifinals
120: Gilham, BEA, dec. Nick Salerno, BL, 1-0; 132: Nate Yagle, MG, def. Ohl, SJ; 138: Kenny Duschek, FA, dec. Chapman, P-O, 1-0; 152: DuVall, PV, pinned Luke Moore, CR, 4:05; 160: Weitoish, P-O, dec. Ethan Barr, MG, 2-0; 182: Sharer, PV, dec. Myles Baney, H, 7-5; 220: Close, BEA, major dec. Jonathan Wolfe, JM, 9-1
Consolation Quarterfinals
138: Chapman, P-O, dec. Eddie Huehn, CT, 4-3; 152: Moore, CR, dec. Drew Koleno, BEA, 7-1; 182: Sharer, PV, major dec. Mason Muto, WH, 12-4; 220: Close, BEA, pinned Donovan Cutchember, QV, 2:47.
Consolation Second Round
120: Salerno, BL, major dec. Nick Bryan, P-O, 11-0; 138: Chapman, P-O, dec. Allen Mangus, R, 8-2; 145: Tristan Rutter, G, dec. Austin Foster, P-O, 2-1; 152: Koleno, BEA, dec. Austin McBeth, SM, 7-3; 160: Oleg Melnyk, CT, pinned Noah Foltz, BEA, 4:41; 182: Sharer, PV, pinned Anthony Govern, SM, 4:15; 220: Close, BEA, dec. Austin Wagner, PC, 5-2.
This story was originally published February 23, 2020 at 12:07 AM.
