18 Centre County wrestlers aim to take next step to PIAA Championships in Northwest Regional
There are 18 Centre County wrestlers just one step away from making the PIAA Championships in Hershey next week.
Bellefonte and State College have nine apiece, but the stakes are even higher this week for the Class 3A athletes.
In order to make the PIAA Championships inside the Giant Center, the Red Raiders and Little Lions have to finish in the top three of their weight classes. A week ago, they just had to finish in the top four of District 6, so that leaves little room for error.
Here’s a breakdown for each squad heading into the PIAA Northwest Regional Championships:
Bellefonte
Regional qualifiers: Aidan O’Shea (113 pounds), Lane Aikey (120), Jude Swisher (126), Alex Coppolo (132), Ethan Richner (160), Stephen Ivicic (170), Ethan Rossman (182), Tyler Benner (195) and Max Barrier (220).
Outlook: The PIAA Northwest Regional may be one of the toughest to get out of for Class 3A wrestlers, because it contains five districts — 4, 6, 8, 9 and 10 — more than any other region.
“I told them on Monday that I’ve been to a lot of tournaments,” Red Raiders coach Mike Maney said. “The craziest as far as upsets and momentum is the NCAA Tournament and then the regional tournament. There are highs and lows at the regional tournament and sometimes at the regionals it’s not always the best guy that wins, but the guy that is able to maintain his focus.
“You may have suffered a tough loss in the semis. You need to put the pieces back together, win that next match and a tough third- and fourth-place match. You got to mentally focus on one match at a time because upsets happen. Our approach is one match (at) a time. Wrestle your best, cool down, come back and do it all over.”
Maney has a little bit of everything in his nine regional qualifiers. He’s got a couple of first-timers, a couple of champions and a couple of returnees.
O’Shea is one of those first-timers for Bellefonte. He was at the regional tournament last year but as a spectator.
It wasn’t a fun trip for the sophomore, but it was an eye-opening one.
“It was hard because I got fifth — one spot shy of qualifying,” O’Shea said. “It was rough to go and watch, but I’m definitely happy that I did because I learned a lot. It’s pretty similar to districts, but it’s a lot more intense. I’m really excited to go out and prove what I have.”
O’Shea isn’t the biggest kid on the mat. He seemed excited about being 117 pounds as of Wednesday, compared to being light for 106 pounds a year ago.
The added weight and extra work he has put in have propelled him to where he is this year. O’Shea is 31-7 and the runner-up out of District 6. Last year, he was 13-19 and again fell just shy of qualifying for regionals.
This year, he says he’s focused and ready to take the next step — qualifying for the PIAA Championships.
“I just got to stay focused. I’ve found, myself, if I lose a match, I might not wrestle my best the next match,” he said. “I need to make sure I get a good warmup and believe in my technique. Even if I’m down starting the match, I can get back into it with my technique.”
He’s been slowly working on his mindset even to the point where he said he was at a seven on a scale of 1-10 about getting over mental barriers. O’Shea said he felt nervous going into the District 6 tournament because he was unsure how he’d do at 113 pounds since he wrestled 106 all year long.
It’s safe to say he doesn’t have to worry anymore about not belonging at 113 pounds.
Aikey does have to worry a little bit when he is wrestling.
It’s not because he’s not talented. He’s the defending regional 120-pound champion.
He’s just not 100 percent healthy.
“I’ve been battling with an ankle injury this year, so I was out for most of the season,” he said. “I’ve been trying to overcome that and get past all that adversity.”
Aikey said that the injury is always on his mind because if he’s not careful, his season could be over at any time. He’s been going through physical therapy to keep it at bay until the season is over, when he will be put into a boot to fully recover.
Injury aside, Aikey comes in as the No. 1 seed of the regional tournament and in prime position to repeat as a champ. With that No. 1 seed, a different type of mindset can come about if a wrestler isn’t focused.
Aikey said that his trip to the PIAA Championships last year kind of helped keep him humbled.
“Honestly, I thought I had a shot to place. I went in there maybe a little too cocky,” he said.
Going into the regional tournament, Aikey said he’s “just going there to wrestle and have fun.”
Rossman said feels his second regional tournament is different from last season.
Yes, he’s a year older and more experienced. Yes, he comes in as a district champion rather than a runner-up. However, Rossman pointed toward other reasons why he’s more confident this year.
“I stayed at the same weight, but I got bigger,” the junior said. “I feel better that way because I’m bigger than kids. My toughness, I really pounded that a lot, being able to out work people and break people.”
He can’t wait to get the regional tournament underway because he didn’t achieve the goal he had set last year, even though he made the PIAA Championships.
He even has some added motivation going into this tournament to push him toward that goal of a regional title. He was asked if he felt his 19-4 technical fall in the district finals was the best he’s wrestled this year.
His response: Nope. It was more a teaching moment for himself.
“It’ll help me because I’ll look at it and see how I felt during that match,” Rossman said. “I’ll say to myself, ‘You can’t be doing that again, not now. The competition is going to be a lot harder and only get harder. Those mistakes — you might not be able to come back from those.’”
State College
Regional qualifiers: Hayden Cunningham (106), Eric Weaver (120), Carter Weaverling (126), Owen Woolcott (132), Clayton Leidy (138), Kyle Martin (145), Lance Urbas (170), Ty Price (195) and Harrison Schoen (285).
Outlook: Assistant coach Bud Price addressed the Little Lions after practice on Tuesday and told them they needed to wrestle braver.
He said he felt they wrestled harder and braver in the district team duals than they did in last week’s District 6 tournament.
If they wrestle like they did in the district team duals, State College’s wrestlers will have an opportunity to surprise coach Ryan Cummins even more than they already have this year.
“I knew we could do it, but I was pleasantly surprised when the kids buckled down and achieved what they did,” Cummins said. “To get guys to believe where they are and not settle for less, has been something we’ve struggled with over the last few years. To see them realizing their ability and capitalizing, it means the world. The kids are definitely doing what they need to do and believing more.”
One of those guys believing more is Schoen.
A year ago, the junior wasn’t anywhere close to the position he is in this season.
Schoen started out last season on fire winning seven of his first 10 matches, but finished with a 15-19 record. He went into the District 6 Class 3A Championship as the No. 6 seed. He dropped his first two matches to see his season end.
He admitted that it was a frustrating season and had some mental things that he had to work on from losing to guys that he shouldn’t have.
“He’s a good kid and works hard. He plays football, so often he gets in here late for the start of the season,” Cummins said. “He’s playing catch up. He came in tough this year and continues to get better. Last year, he dropped off a little bit, but this year he’s really been consistent and even better here at the end of the season. I’m hoping he can continue that here.”
Fast forward to this year, when Schoen came into this season on a six-match losing streak. He dropped his first two bouts, but it didn’t deter him.
Schoen stayed tough all season long. At one point, he had a nine-match winning streak.
He has a 20-14 record. But, he was able to finish as the runner-up in the District 6 tournament rather than being bounced early. In that finals match, he suffered a 1-0 loss to Mifflin County’s Blaine Davis, who pinned Schoen earlier this season and then beat him 5-2 in the district duals.
It goes to show how much growth Schoen has made on just that one opponent. Now, he’s on his way to his first regional tournament.
“I’m kind of nervous, but excited at the same time for making my first regional,” Schoen said. “It’s a tough tournament and will be good competition. I’m feeling good and ready. I have all the training I need and the people behind me to support me in this. They push me harder in practice and everything that I do.”
Cunningham is also making his first regionals trip. It’s an accomplishment many saw coming for the freshman, and not just because his father is Penn State assistant coach Casey Cunningham. But Cunningham isn’t letting any outside expectations get to him.
“I don’t really try to look at rankings and stuff. I just think I’m going to go out there and wrestle as hard as I can and that’s all that really matters to me,” he said. “For me, I don’t feel any pressure. I just like that my dad can help me with my wrestling.”
His wrestling has shown that he doesn’t feel the pressure with a 32-3 mark. However, all three of those losses have come to Mifflin County’s Nic Allison. The most recent was a 5-3 sudden-victory loss in the District 6 finals last weekend.
It’s quite possible these two will square off again, but this time for a PIAA Northwest Regional title on the line.
“I think I’m right there. I just need to be aware of the wrestling positions,” Cunningham said. “In short time, I can give up a stall or something. I think I can get him.”
Price is just one of two Little Lions making a return trip to the regional tournament. He’s in a much different spot than last year when he finished as the third seed of District 6 at 160 pounds.
This year, he’s the District 6 champion and in a prime spot to earn his first trip to the PIAA Championships. When asked about how excited he was, he not only answered about himself but his team, too.
“It’s exciting and nerve-wracking. I’m extremely happy that we are taking nine this year, which is so much fun,” Price said. “Coming in, I’m the second seed, so that’s really nice to know that I’ll be having a shot at the PIAA tournament this year.”
It hasn’t all been roses for Price this season, though. He got a late start to the year because of preseason wisdom teeth surgery, then he sprained his MCL, which required him to wrestle with a large knee brace.
Luckily, the brace was shed just before the postseason began. Price couldn’t be happier about it.
Cummins is just as happy as Price, when it comes to his pupil’s growth from last season to this year.
“He’s big into soccer. He does a lot of that all year long. This has kind of always been a back seat for him,” Cummins said, “but I think now he is maybe realizing he has the skills and the talent to go far in this sport. He is starting to figure that out, and that’s important.
“If we can get him to figure that out and buy in a little bit more in the offseason, he’ll do well no matter what. But, with a little bit more output from him, he can be very scary next year. In the postseason this year, we are excited about it. He’s a guy who is capable to push it here at the end and make some noise.”
PIAA Northwest Regional
When: 5 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m. Saturday
Where: Fieldhouse, Altoona
Brackets: FloWrestling.com
This story was originally published February 27, 2020 at 3:36 PM.
