Centre County’s Class 2A wrestling teams set to kick off postseason with sectional tournament
The high school wrestling season has been unique, from not starting until January to no visiting fans in the stands for dual meets.
That’s not going to change for the postseason, either.
All four of Centre County’s Class 2A schools — Bald Eagle Area, Penns Valley, Philipsburg-Osceola and Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy — will take part in a sectional tournament on Tuesday to qualify for the District 6 Championships, slated for Saturday at Altoona.
The Eagles are going to host the Rams, Mounties and Wolves along with West Branch. Moshannon Valley was also supposed to take part, but the Knights decided not to participate in the postseason.
The goal for the county’s wrestlers is to finish in the top two of their weight class to advance.
BEA, Penns Valley, P-O and Saint Joseph’s combined to nab 11 of the top 13 seeds, which were released on Sunday. The county collected 22 of the 26 top two seeds.
The Eagles, Rams and Mounties each have three No. 1s, and the Wolves have the other two.
Coen Bainey (113 pounds), Cooper Gilham (126) and Jeffre Pifer (145) sit at the top for BEA. For Penns Valley, it is Dristen Wolfe (152), Malachi DuVall (172) and Ben Sharer (285).
Philipsburg-Osceola has Marcus Gable (120), Hunter Weitoish and Parker Moore (215) at No. 1. Saint Joseph’s has Zack Witmer (132) and Amonn Ohl (138) at the top of their weight classes.
Here’s a look at how each school is set up for the postseason:
Bald Eagle Area
Seeds: Lucas Fye (No. 2, 106 pounds), Bainey (No. 1, 113), Hunter Gardner (No. 2, 120), Gilham (No. 1, 126), Drake Holderman (No. 3, 132), Mason Reese (No. 4, 138), Pifer (No. 1, 145), Cameron Dubbs (No. 2, 152), Noah Foltz (No. 2, 160), Brady Proctor (No. 3, 172), Matthew Knepp (No. 2, 189), Mason McCauley (No. 3, 215), Nathan Antonuccio (No. 2, 285)
Outlook: Eagles coach Ron Guenot’s message to his team heading into the postseason is clear: Believe.
“Believe in your training. Believe that you are going to be in the top two going out of sectionals and you’ll qualify for districts,” Guenot told the Centre Daily Times on Sunday. “It’s been our message regardless of your record. Some of the kids believe that you are going to be a state placewinner is a message we’ve given some of the kids also.”
With the top two of each weight advancing to the District 6 Championships, BEA is primed to have a lot of wrestlers there if the seeds hold true.
The Eagles have nine wrestlers in the top two, but Guenot knows it’s not all about the number beside the name.
“At the end of the day, you have to wrestle your best no matter what seed you are, whether you’re 1 or 4 or 5 in the section,” he said. “You got to wrestle at the top of your game and be ready to go when you first step on that mat on Tuesday evening. You then just have to take it one step at a time.”
BEA was one of the last county schools to hit the mat this season after being shut down early due to COVID concerns. Some may think having less action might play into the team’s favor by allowing the wrestlers to be healthier.
Guenot, however, felt that it was a disadvantage. But with roughly 10 days to prepare for the sectional tournament, he feels his team is in the best shape possible under the circumstances.
“At the beginning of the season, mid-January, our conditioning was not where it needed to be, so that put us behind,” Guenot said. “With the week and a half that we’ve had to prepare for sectionals, it was an advantage in a sense and everyone else is in the same boat. Our guys might be a little bit healthier because they haven’t gone through that grind of a full season. I feel where we are at now is a good spot. Hopefully, the COVID stays away and we can stay in that good spot.”
Even though all the teams may have had the same amount of time to prepare for the sectional tournament, the Eagles have a slight advantage in being able to wrestle in their home gym. There won’t be any fans in attendance, but Guenot feels that familiar atmosphere can still help his young squad.
“It’s exciting to host a postseason tournament,” Guenot said. “I know Mr. (Doug) Dyke, our AD, has worked really hard that everything is in place. It’s exciting to be at our home school and have our live stream there. Todd Warner and Adam Day bring the play-by-play for the Bald Eagle fans.”
Penns Valley
Seeds: Colton Shunk (No. 3, 106), Chase Fleshman (No. 3, 113), Justin Darlington (No. 2, 126), Ty Watson (No. 2, 132), Nate Long (No. 3, 138), Noah Fetterolf (No. 4, 145), Wolfe (No. 1, 152), Cole Felker (No. 3, 160), DuVall (No. 1, 172), Hunter Lyons (No. 3, 189), Sharer (No. 1, 285)
Outlook: Coach Joel Brinker has talked numerous times about how much he wishes his squad could’ve gone through a full season.
But he believes that his team’s first tournament of the year on Tuesday will only help the younger members of the team go through the postseason.
“It’s experience. It gives them more mat time,” Brinker said. “It will allow them to go deeper in the postseason, so it builds confidence for down the road. I’ve said this is a group I really would’ve liked to have all year with a normal schedule. I’m happy with where they are at now for the shortened season.”
The Rams have five wrestlers seeded in the top two of their weight classes with seniors DuVall, Wolfe and Sharer nabbing No. 1 seeds. Brinker knows those five guys are in a great position to advance, but they still need to execute.
The Rams have wrestled every other school in the section but BEA, so Brinker knows nothing is a given.
“It’s not going to be easy. We haven’t seen Bald Eagle Area yet this year,” he said. “We’ve seen the other schools. Saint Joe’s has their hammers. They’ve (His team) done what they have to do to put themselves in a little better position, but everyone is 0-0, so let’s go do it.”
This will be the first postseason for many on Brinker’s young team, including Sharer. He was inspired to come out for wrestling this year for the first time since fourth grade after watching his older brother Andrew Sharer claim a District 6 title and finish fourth in the state last year.
He didn’t get to wrestle a lot of matches, but he did enough. and accordign to Brinker, Sharer is serous about the sport. Brinker said they debated whether Sharer would wrestle at 215 or 285 pounds, but ultimately went with the heavier class.
“We felt heavy (weight) would be a little more doable with his athleticism,” Brinker explained, “and agility would frustrate the heavyweights better. He wants to win. He’s not just out there, he’s having fun with it. He’s expecting to win.”
Philipsburg-Osceola
Seeds: Scotty Frantz (No. 2, 113), Gable (No. 1, 120), Nick Coudriet (No. 3, 126), Ben Gustkey (No. 4, 132), Austin Foster (No. 2, 138), Luke Hughes (No. 2, 145), Weitoish (No. 1, 160), Jimmy Richtscheit (No. 4, 172), Dom Shaw (No. 4, 189), Moore (No. 1, 215), Chase Klinger (No. 3, 285)
Outlook: The Mounties haven’t been on the mat competitively since their Jan. 22 dual with West Branch.
At the time, they were the first county team to complete their regular season,thanks to COVID complications. P-O was shut down for the whole week after that dual with the Warriors. They’ve been practicing since.
“This has been a year nobody ever anticipated or expected. It has taken a toll on some of the kids,” Mounties coach Brad Pataky told the Centre Daily Times on Monday. “Overall, our kids have been pretty upbeat. They have been really receptive of the adversity that’s been thrown at them, more than I expected them to. As teenagers, I expected them to take it a lot harder.”
Pataky said the challenge of having to keep his team engaged has been rather simple. It all goes back to the mentality he and his staff try to instill in their team of “being thankful for the opportunity that we are given and a sense of gratitude.”
He felt that the response his team has made isn’t all about the coaching staff. Pataky said it has been a team effort and applauds his seniors in Weitoish and Moore for helping lead the way.
“We have two seniors that have gone through our system, so I think they’ve taken those valuable life lessons,” Pataky said. “Any time an underclassmen looks at a senior, they are very impressionable. I think it is an overall contribution. We try to instill in the kids and they’ve responded really well. They’ve incorporated it into their lives.”
P-O has had to deal with COVID complications like all other schools and never really had its full lineup. But now the Mounties have everybody healthy and ready to go for the postseason.
They also have four of their seven regional qualifiers back and ready to go in Weitoish, Moore, Foster and Klinger.
“Any time you are able to fill the majority of the spots, it adds a little bit more of morale into the equation,” Pataky said. “When you have more teammates going through the same thing, it provides more linear fluency. Having a majority of our spots full, it helps going into the postseason.”
Pataky and his staff knows that making the PIAA Championships is going to be a lot tough than previous seasons because the qualifying numbers are lower.
In a normal year, the top six from districts go to the Southwest regional. Then, the top six from the Southwest regional made it to the state tournament.
This season, the top three from districts go to the Southwest regional. The top five from the Southwest regional go to the Western super regional, where the top four advance to the state tournament.
But the Mounties coaching staff doesn’t want their wrestlers getting too caught up in the details.
“We’ve touched very briefly on it,” Pataky said. “We’ve tried to help them understand the overall picture, by giving them as little information as possible. Sometimes I feel if you throw too much information at them, especially at this age, they will get overwhelmed. We’ve been trying to express to them that it doesn’t matter who you are wrestling, you got to be ready to wrestle.”
Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy
Seeds: Witmer (No. 1, 132), Ohl (No. 1, 138), Josh Hershbine (No. 5, 160)
Outlook: First-year head coach Brian Witmer had a lot on his plate entering this season.
Not only was he replacing program-starter Pat Flynn as coach, but he had to replace two state champions in Caleb Dowling and Tyler Stoltzfus. Add in the COVID-19 pandemic, and it could all brew up the perfect storm.
However, Witmer stuck to his favorite saying, “You have to turn adversity into an advantage.”
The Wolves had several tournaments on the schedule as they can’t do any dual meets with only three wrestlers. Most of the tournaments got canceled, which left Saint Joseph’s with just two opportunities to wrestle.
The Wolves haven’t competed since Jan. 16 at the Mid Winter Mayhem, because their chance to compete at the Powerade tournament was cut at the last minute due to COVID protocols in the school.
“The last tournament, they made weight and were ready to go. It was devastating to them,” Witmer said to the Centre Daily Times on Sunday. “We got a call. The athletic director said, ‘Coach, you can’t wrestle because of COVID protocols at the school.’ It was after the boys put all the work in. For the kids, it was gut wrenching, but you put it into perspective. It’s life lessons and that’s the way life is.”
Witmer thought at one point that the extremely short season might be an advantage for his wrestlers, but now he believes it’s going to hurt.
He said there is a balance of having too many matches and having just enough to have wrestlers ready for the postseason. He even used Penn State’s wrestling team as an example, coming out “sluggish” after their two-week COVID-induced layoff.
“We need some mat experience. We need match experience,” Witmer said. “Sometimes you need a certain amount of mat experience. Right now, we haven’t hit that amount that really helps you. The schools that have been off due to COVID, they come out sluggish. I think you need matches, but at the end of the day, our kids are ready to wrestle and things are going to be OK. I just wish they had more matches under their belts right now.”
Ohl, Zack Witmer and Hershbine might not have a whole lot of matches under their belts this season, but Ohl and Witmer have been able to learn from Dowling and Stoltzfus. They’ve already been through the postseason process. Witmer is a three-time PIAA place winner, and Ohl has the talent to have had the same accolades, but he’s dealt with injuries the past two seasons.
It’s that experience and learning that Coach Witmer feels will help with the unique season they’ve had this year.
“They know what it takes to become a state champ. They learned that from their predecessors,” Brian Witmer said. “You take a look at Stoltzfus, his background prior to last year was fourth at states and prior to that he didn’t even place, and he was first in the country last year. A lot can happen in one year. I think Amonn and Zack had the potential the last three years to be state champs, but there is only one state champ.”
So, how excited is Witmer to be coaching in the postseason? He’s been an assistant for the Wolves the past three years, but downplayed the idea of being the head coach this year.
“For me, it doesn’t mean anything. I’m just excited for the kids,” he said. “Josh, Amonn and Zack are great kids. They’ve put the time in. They’ve all made the right decisions in life. Amonn and Zack are ready to make their push in the postseason. I think it’s their time. I really think they are going to surprise a lot of people.”
