9 Centre County wrestlers push into PIAA Class 2A quarterfinals, need just one win to secure medal
After the dust settled Thursday on the first day of the PIAA Class 2A wrestling championships, all 15 of Centre County’s wrestlers were still alive in the Giant Center.
Penns Valley and St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy each sent three wrestlers into the quarterfinals. Add in two from Philipsburg-Osceola and one from Bald Eagle Area, and that makes nine quarterfinalists for the county. Each of those nine needs just one more win to secure his spot on the podium and a PIAA medal.
The Wolves are the highest-placed team of the county’s programs at ninth with 19 points. They are tied with Benton. Notre Dame-Green Pond leads the race with 37.5 points. Saucon Valley, Montoursville, Reynolds and Chestnut Ridge round out the top five in that order.
The Eagles and Rams are tied for 13th with 16 points. The Mounties are tied for 18th with 11 points.
Here’s how each of the teams sit after Day 1:
Bald Eagle Area
Quarterfinalists: Gage McClenahan (145)
Still alive: Coen Bainey (106), Cooper Gilham (120) and David Close (220)
Eliminated: None
Team score: T-13th, 16 points
Recap: The Eagles came to the Giant Center with four wrestlers.
All four are alive, which was what coach Ron Guenot had wanted. However, the day didn’t go exactly as hoped.
“It was an OK day. There was a disappointment here and there,” he said. “We can’t dwell on what happened today. We have to look forward to tomorrow.”
Bainey, Gilham and Close all had to wrestle two matches.
Gilham and Close were successful in their first-round matches, scoring bonus points along the way. Gilham opened with a fall of Palisades’ Ashton Campbell in 3:52. Close had a 13-0 major decision of North Schuylkill’s Joe Tinari.
They each suffered defeats in the second round to send them to the consolations.
Bainey suffered an 8-4 loss to Catasaqua’s Jaryn Hartranft in the first round. He rebounded nicely with a pin of Northern Lebanon’s Owen Lehman in 40 seconds.
Guenot’s message is simple for his consolation wrestlers: Don’t dwell on the past.
“We are going to look into tomorrow and do the best that we can, so they are prepared,” Guenot said. “At this point in the game, you have to want it and want to move on. Sometimes it’s the guy that wants it the most is going to win the match.”
McClenahan, on the other hand, had just one match compared to his teammates. But he probably sweated more in his warmup than he did his actual match.
The senior collected a takedown nine seconds into the match. It took him just 10 more seconds to pin Lake Lehman’s Josh Bonomo.
“He’s ready. We’ll get back at it tomorrow,” Guenot said. “Again, everything that happened today is put behind us and concentrate on that next match.”
Penns Valley
Quarterfinalists: Clayton Royer (138), Malachi DuVall (152) and Andrew Sharer (182)
Eliminated: None
Team score: T-13th, 16 points
Recap: Rams coach Joel Brinker smiled wide, and with good reason.
Penns Valley brought just three wrestlers to the PIAA Championships in Hershey. All three have made the quarterfinals.
“It was pretty freaking amazing. It was a heck of a day,” Brinker said. “You can’t ask for more than that. It’s a sweet day to be in Chocolatetown for today.”
Brinker said his phone was blowing up with text messages from folks in Spring Mills following the results of the “Three Amigos” as Royer calls the group.
Sharer had to do the most work to get to the quarterfinals, but he did so with conviction.
The senior’s first-round match with Hamburg’s Travis Colson lasted just 54 seconds. In the second round, Sharer followed his first fall with another. He pinned the Northwest Regional champ in Reynolds’ Bryce McCloskey in 3:59.
Royer, who was making his first trip to the state tournament, gave up the first points of the match to his opponent, Conwell Egan’s Hunter Mays. Those were the only points that Mays scored.
Royer scored six unanswered points, three alone on near-fall points in the third period for a 6-2 win.
DuVall didn’t have any problems with his lone match of the day. DuVall took down Western Wayne’s Matthew Leslie in each period, added two escapes and won 8-2.
“Everything that they’ve done since they were little guys in wrestling. All three of them have put the time in,” Brinker said. “These three — it is great to see them get a return on their investment.”
Philipsburg-Osceola
Quarterfinalists: Hunter Weitoish (160) and Parker Moore (195)
Still alive: Chase Chapman (138)
Eliminated: None
Team score: T-18th, 11 points
Recap: Weitoish joked during the Southwest Regional tournament that he and Moore have a friendly rivalry about who can do better than the other.
They are on the same page after the first day of wrestling.
“For Parker and Hunter, it shows that anybody can be beaten in this tournament,” Mounties coach Brad Pataky said. “They have just as much of a reason to be in the quarterfinals as anybody else in this tournament. We are extremely proud of both of them.”
Moore and Weitoish only had one match but made the most of their opportunity. Both of their wins stuck out to Pataky for different reasons.
Weitoish trailed 1-0 early into the second period, but he went for a throw and scored near-fall points to lead 4-1 after two periods. He followed Pataky’s mantra of wrestling from whistle to whistle in the third period, adding a takedown and an escape for a 7-1 win over Johnsonburg’s Cole Casilio.
“Hunter wrestled very smart. There were a couple of opportunities that he could’ve got a couple shots off,” Pataky said. “In the third period, he could’ve gotten taken down, but he continued to fight.”
For Moore, Pataky stood on the edge of the mat and watched in astonishment as his junior rattled off 18 points in his first PIAA match.
It was a close match in the first period as Moore worked through the jitters and nervousness to lead 4-3 over Line Mountain’s Dominick Bridi. Moore turned it on in the second period, scoring nine points on three sets of near-fall points and a takedown.
Moore scored five more points in the third period for the 18-4 major decision.
“I’m very impressed with Parker’s first round. He came in knowing he belongs here and deserves to be on the podium,” Pataky said. “It showed in that first match. For him to come in here in his first trip to states, a lot of guys get nervous, but he was able to channel that nervous energy into positive energy.”
Chapman had a tough first-round opponent in Biglerville’s Blake Showers, who is a two-time PIAA placewinner. Showers topped Chapman 10-6 to send him to the consolations.
Chapman responded and used a late body lock for a match-winning takedown over Conwell Egan’s Hunter Mays, 6-5.
“He wrestled well in the first match. He got a little caught up and stopped wrestling against a really good kid,” Pataky said. “I thought he wrestled really well. He’s got to find that extra fight in him because it’s going to come down to these next (couple) matches to get on the podium.”
St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy
Quarterfinalists: Caleb Dowling (152), Keegan Rothrock (160) and Tyler Stoltzfus (170)
Still alive: Amonn Ohl (132) and Zack Witmer (138)
Eliminated: None
Team score: T-9th, 19 points
Recap: Wolves coach Pat Flynn had one word to describe how his guys wrestled: lackluster.
He mentioned that some of his guys were rather slow out of the gate.
“We have to talk with the guys. They seemed like they were a little bit nervous,” he said. “We’ll regroup here tonight, make weight right tomorrow and get five guys on the podium.”
Rothrock was in a tight match with Grove City’s Daiveon Say, which he eventually won, 11-10. Rothrock trailed 5-2 after the first period. He closed the gap to within one point after the second period ended.
With just under a minute left, Rothrock was trailing 10-9. He got the winning takedown with 43 seconds remaining to advance.
“Hopefully, it will get him reprepared. The kid was funky and strong,” said Flynn when asked if the match would help Rothrock going forward. “Keegan kind of played into his game. He had a game plan. The kid was rolling around and Keegan rolled with him, instead of following his game plan. He’s been here before, so hopefully we can get in the right state of mind here.”
Dowling, who is trying to capture his first PIAA title, seemed like he couldn’t get his offense going. He managed to just get two takedowns and added an escape for a 5-1 win over Line Mountain’s Matty Coller.
Flynn felt it was just a matter of clashing styles for Dowling.
“He’s a competitor. Would we like a bigger spread, absolutely, but the matches that Caleb has lost here the last few years have been against really good dudes,” Flynn said. “He’s ready to go. He wrestles better when people wrestle him. He’s overthinking a little bit, but he’s going to be fine.”
Stoltzfus took just 1:44 to stick Tri Valley’s Jacob Scheib to advance.
Witmer had what would be considered a surprising loss to open his PIAA Championships, but his opponent was no slouch.
Witmer took on a much taller and longer Patrick Demark of Trinity, who was a PIAA runner-up two years ago. Demark used that length to edge Witmer 4-3.
Witmer responded with a 10-2 major decision over Allentown Central Catholic’s Attikos Clifford to remain alive.
“He’s seasoned. He’s been in the loser’s bracket before. He has a great demeanor,” Flynn said. “He takes losses, calculates what happened and focuses on fixing it. He bounced back and beat another tall, skinny guy. He fell short of his championship goal, but now it’s time to just climb the podium as high as he can.”
PIAA Class 2A Championships
Thursday at Hershey
Team key: Allentown Central Catholic (ACC), Annville-Cleona (AC), Athens (A), Bald Eagle Area (BEA), Bedford (B), Bellwood-Antis (B-A), Benton (BT), Berlin-Brothersvalley (BB), Bermudian Springs (BS), Biglerville (BV), Bishop McDevitt (BM), Boiling Springs (BP), Brandywine Heights (BH), Brockway (BW), Brookville (BK), Burgettstown (BTT), Burrell (BU), Cambria Heights (CH), Cambridge Springs (CS), Camp Hill (CH), Canton (C), Carlynton (CY), Catasauqua (CQ), Central (CM), Chestnut Ridge (CR), Church Farm School (CF), Commodore Perry (CP), Conneaut (CT), Conwell Egan (CE), Corry (CY), Curwensville (CW), Delone Catholic (DC), Derry (D), East Pennsboro (EP), Eisenhower (E), Elizabeth Forward (EF), Ellwood City (EC), Fairfield (FF), Faith Christian (FC), Forest Hills (FH), Fort Cherry (FY), Franklin (F), Frazier (FZ), Freedom Area (FA), Fort LeBoeuf (FL), General McLane (GM), Girard (G), Glendale (GD), Greenville (GV), Grove City (GC), Halifax (H), Hamburg (HB), Harbor Creek (HC), Hickory (HY), Hughesville (HV), Huntingdon (HT), Jamestown (JT), Jefferson-Morgan (JM), Jersey Shore (JS), Johnsonburg (J), Kane (K), Lackawanna Trail (LT), Lake Lehman (LL), Laurel (L), Lewisburg (LB), Line Mountain (LM), Littlestown (LS), Mahanoy (MY), Maplewood (MW), Marion Center (MC), McGuffey (MG), Mercer (M), Meyersdale (MD), Middletown (MT), Midd-West (M-W), Mifflinburg (MB), Milton (MN), Mountoursville (MV), Mount Pleasant (MP), Mount Union (MU), Mount Carmel (Mt. C), Muncy (Mun.), Newport (N), North Schuylkill (NY), North Star (NS), Northeast Bradford (NEB), Northern Bedford (NB), Northern Lebanon (NLB), Northern Lehigh (NL), Notre Dame-Green Pond (ND), Octorara (O), Palisades (P), Pen Argyl (PA), Penns Valley (PV), Philipsburg-Osceola (P-O), Port Allegany (PY), Quaker Valley (Q), Redbank Valley (RV), Reynolds (R), Richland (RL), Saegertown (ST), Saucon Valley (SV), Scranton Prep (SP), Seneca (S), Sharon (SH), Sheffield (SF), Slippery Rock (SR), South Park (SPK), South Williamsport (SW), Southern Columbia (SC), Southmoreland (SM), St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy (SJ), Sullivan County (SY), Susquenita (SQ), Tamaqua (TQ), Titusville (TV), Tri Valley (TV), Trinity (T), Troy (TY), Tunkhannock (TH), Tussey Mountain (TM), Tyrone (TR), Union City (U), Warrior Run (WR), West Perry (WP), Western Wayne (WW), Westmont-Hilltop (WH), Williams Valley (WV), Wilson Area (W), Wyalusing (W), Wyoming Area (WYA)
Team scores: 1. Notre Dame-Green Pond 37.5, 2. Saucon Valley 29, 3. Montoursville 28, 4. Reynolds 27.5, 5. Chestnut Ridge 27, 6. Southern Columbia 26, 7. Forest Hills 23, 8. Brookville 21, T9. St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy 19, T9. Benton 19, T13. Bald Eagle Area 16, T13. Penns Valley 16, T18. Philipsburg-Osceola 11
Second Round
106: Jaryn Hartranft, CQ, dec. Coen Bainey, BEA, 8-4; 120: Brandan Chletsos, ND, dec. Cooper Gilham, BEA, 6-2; 132: Anthony Glasl, BW, major dec. Amonn Ohl, SJ, 13-3; 138: Patrick Demark, T, dec. Zack Witmer, SJ, 4-3; Clayton Royer, PV, dec. Hunter Mays, CE, 6-2; 145: Gage McClenahan, BEA, pinned Josh Bonomo, LL, :19; 152: Caleb Dowling, SJ, dec. Matty Coller, LM, 5-1; Malachi DuVall, PV, dec. Matthew Leslie, WW, 8-2; 160: Keegan Rothrock, SJ, Daiveon Say, GC, 11-10; Hunter Weitoish, P-O, dec. Cole Casilio, J, 7-1; 170: Tyler Stoltzfus, SJ, pinned Jacob Scheib, TV, 1:44; 182: Andrew Sharer, PV, pinned Bryce McCloskey, R, 3:59; 195: Parker Moore, P-O, major dec. Dominick Bridi, LM, 18-4; 220: Kolby Flank, W, pinned David Close, BEA, 1:09.
Consolation First Round
106: Bainey, BEA, pinned Owen Lehman, NLB, :40; 138: Chapman, P-O, dec. Hunter Mays, CE, 6-5; Witmer, SJ, major dec. Attikos Clifford, ACC, 10-2.
First Round
120: Gilham, BEA, pinned Ashton Campbell, P, 3:52; 132: Ohl, SJ, major dec. Brandon Breidegan, NLB, 12-2; 138: Blake Showers, BV, dec. Chapman, P-O, 10-6; 182: Sharer, PV, pinned Travis Colson, HB, :54; 220: Close, BEA, major dec. Joe Tinari, NY, 13-0.
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 4:25 PM.
