Centre County has 24 wrestlers advancing to the District 6 Class 2A Championships
Centre County’s four Class 2A wrestling teams were finally able to get their postseasons underway.
Thanks to Mother Nature, Bald Eagle Area, Penns Valley, Philipsburg-Osceola and Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy had to wait an extra day after the District 6 Class 2A Section 2 tournament was postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday. It’s nothing out of the ordinary, especially for this wrestling season.
The four teams combined to crown 11 champions, with the Rams having the most with four. With the four champions, Penns Valley was able to secure the Section 2 team title with 134.5 points.
The hosting Eagles finished in second with 128 points, as the Mounties finished a point behind in third. West Branch and the Wolves finished out the final team standings, in that respective order, of the five-team field.
Here’s a closer look at how all four Centre County schools finished:
Penns Valley
Champions: Dristen Wolfe (152 pounds), Malachi DuVall (172), Hunter Lyons (189) and Ben Sharer (285)
Other District 6 qualifiers: Justin Darlington (126) and Ty Watson (132)
Other finishers: Colten Shunk (3rd, 106), Chase Fleshman (3rd, 113), Nate Long (3rd, 138), Noah Fetterolf (3rd, 145), Cole Felker (3rd, 160)
Recap: When Penns Valley coach Joel Brinker was asked about his wrestlers combining to win the team race, he chuckled.
It seemed as though it was like a sigh of relief after what his team has had to endure this season.
“We’ll take it. We aren’t going to argue. It’s nice,” he said. “We got as many guys through as we could, and if that came along with it, cool. For what we’ve gone through this year, these guys handled it great. I couldn’t ask for any more than what they’ve done for the year. They wrestled great.”
The Rams qualified six wrestlers to this weekend’s District 6 tournament in Altoona by those wrestlers finishing in the top two of their weight class.
Wolfe and Sharer got lucky en route to their titles by the fact that they only had to wrestle one match each. DuVall and Lyons each had to wrestle multiple matches.
Lyons was the biggest surprise of the four champs, as he entered the tournament with an 0-2 record. He also took part in one of the more interesting finals, too.
The sophomore trailed West Branch’s Hayes Jones 12-7 to enter the third period. He had nearly pinned Jones late in the second period, but Jones was saved by the clock. Lyons picked up a reversal in the third period and finally got the pin with a time of 4:27.
“He’s a kid that has been wrestling for quite a while. He’s put work in year round,” Brinker said. “He’s small for 189, but the kid can wrestle. He’s young, and makes mistakes, but has a good attitude. We told him, ‘Look who is here, you could win this. People don’t know you, so just rely on your technique.’ It’s great to see him win it.”
Sharer eked out a 2-1 win over Philipsburg-Osceola’s Chase Klinger, thanks to an early first-period takedown. DuVall pinned BEA’s Brady Proctor in 1:19. Wolfe shut out the Eagles’ Heath Basalla, 6-0.
Darlington and Watson reached the finals, but faced some hammers in their losses.
Penns Valley didn’t have a wrestler finish any lower than third. But especially for this season, just missing out on advancing doesn’t necessarily mean those five wrestlers who finished third are done for the year, yet.
“We are telling the guys, ‘Third, you don’t know what could happen,’” he said. “‘With the world we are living in right now, between COVID issues or injuries, you got to be ready to go if you get called.’ For them to finish third showed guts and we’re very proud of them for that.”
Philipsburg-Osceola
Champions: Marcus Gable (120), Luke Hughes (145), Hunter Weitoish (160)
Other District 6 qualifiers: Scotty Frantz (113), Austin Foster (138), Dom Shaw (189), Parker Moore (215), Chase Klinger (285)
Other finishers: Nick Coudriet (3rd, 126), Ben Gustkey (4th, 132), Jimmy Richtscheit (4th, 172)
Recap: Coach Brad Pataky felt the Mounties would get anywhere from five to eight wrestlers into the district tournament.
When everything settled on Wednesday night, P-O had exactly eight qualify.
“We kind of expected this to happen, especially with how the guys have been working,” Pataky said. “We were right where we thought we should be. Some guys out performed themselves and some under performed. Now, it’s just going back to the drawing board tomorrow and saying what do I need to work on, and focusing on that next match.”
One of those wrestlers who Pataky felt out performed themself was Hughes. The junior came into the postseason with a 2-5 record.
He left with a 4-5 mark and a sectional title. Hughes opened by edging West Branch’s John Meyers 2-0 in the semifinals.
In his finals’ match, Hughes need a takedown in sudden victory to top BEA’s Jeffre Pifer 4-2.
“Hughes is constantly getting better week to week,” Pataky said. “He is one of those guys that comes to mind that as he is seeing guys have success, he is starting to have success with his hard work. The harder you work the more success you see happen. We are extremely proud of Luke. His work ethic has been tremendous and it is paying off in the postseason, when it needs to.”
Weitoish also had to put two victories together to claim his title. He opened by pinning West Branch’s Tyce Cantolina in 3:10 after racking up a 19-6 lead. In the finals, Weitoish used a strong second-period ride, a reversal and near-fall points in the third period to secure a 4-0 win over the Eagles’ Noah Foltz.
Gable’s finals match was the first finals match of the evening. He amassed a 7-0 lead on BEA’s Hunter Gardner before sticking the Eagles’ wrestler in 2:45.
Frantz, Foster, Moore and Klinger all were in the finals of their respective weight classes, but came up short of a title. Shaw, meanwhile, won a true-second place match after dropping his sectional opener.
“Overall, we had a good day. We saw a lot of positives on the things that we’ve been working on in the room,” Pataky said. “The kids are starting to finally trust the process we are showing them in the room. We are seeing it working on the mat, and guys are having success with it.”
Bald Eagle Area
Champions: Coen Bainey (113), Cooper Gilham (126)
Other District 6 qualifiers: Lucas Fye (106), Hunter Gardner (120), Jeffre Pfier (145), Heath Basalla (152), Noah Foltz (160), Brady Proctor (172)
Other finishers: Drake Holderman (3rd, 132), Mason Reese (4th, 138)
Recap: Gilham told his coaches that Wednesday’s sectional tournament was weird.
He couldn’t have been more right. It’s been quite some time since District 6 had sectional tournaments for the Class 2A schools.
“We got some comments from some of the guys that have been around for a long time,” BEA assistant coach Kyle Wallace said. “I think our warm up was a little weird. Guys just didn’t know what to think. Some of them liked this baby step in the way and some didn’t. The feel was different, which, 2020-2021, it’s all been different.”
One thing that wasn’t different for the Eagles was having several wrestlers advance in the postseason. In all, BEA had eight wrestlers advance further into the unique postseason.
All eight of those wrestlers were in the finals of their weight classes. However, Wallace feels his wrestlers have some work to do before Saturday.
“I thought we came out and wrestled about how we should,” he said. “I wouldn’t say we wrestled great, but we certainly have room for improvement. Overall, we took care of business in most spots. We came in here with 10 guys and I thought we could get eight through. We got all eight. We’d like to have 10 out of 10, but we wrestled OK.”
Gilham and Bainey were dominant in their finals matches. The senior in Gilham racked up a 16-2 major decision on Darlington. The sophomore in Bainey made short work of Frantz by pinning him in 44 seconds.
There were two weight classes that Wallace wasn’t sure if they’d get wrestlers through. Those weights were 106 and 160 pounds. It wasn’t because he didn’t believe in his wrestlers nor his wrestlers didn’t believe in themselves, it was about the matchups.
“A lot of people said that 106 in the semis was a toss up between Fye and Shunk,” Wallace explained. “Foltz and Felker, that is a pretty brutal match to happen, that’s probably two of the top eight guys in the region, and one of them wasn’t going to get out assuming Weitoish was going to beat either one of them in the finals. We pulled off those two toss ups.”
Fye shut out Shunk 5-0 in the semifinals. He then suffered a 10-0 defeated to West Branch’s Landon Bainey.
Foltz used a takedown with 26 seconds remaining in a sudden-victory period to top Felker in the semifinals. In the finals, Foltz suffered that earlier mentioned 4-0 loss to Weitoish.
“They both believed they would win. If it was considered a toss up, it was among the coaches, not the kids themselves,” Wallace said. “They went out and got it done. It wasn’t the prettiest of wins, but they took care of what they needed to take care of.”
Even though the sectional tournament was weird to both Gilham, Wallace and probably just about every other District 6 Class 2A wrestlers this year, Wallace feels it may have helped prepare his team for this weekend’s district tournament.
He said Wednesday’s tournament was a good way for the coaching staff to see what their guys were made of.
“We had an opportunity to learn about some guys. I think some of our guys learned to believe a little bit better coming into here,” Wallace said. “If we would’ve seen some of these guys on Saturday for the first time, maybe we would’ve been a little bit more surprised. I think we surprised ourselves tonight in some spots. We closed the gap with some guys that beat us badly in the past, so we’ll continue to close the gap or pass them by, in time for Saturday.”
St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy
Champions: Zack Witmer (132), Amonn Ohl (138)
Other district qualifiers: None
Other finishers: Josh Hershbine (5th, 160)
Recap: For a group of athletes that have only two or three matches this season, the Wolves looked seasoned in just their second competition of the year.
It also helps that those wrestlers in Witmer and Ohl have a ton of experience as they’ve wrestled a lot during their Saint Joseph’s careers.
However, coach Brian Witmer knows there is still work to be done.
“I could see the rust. We’ll knock some rust off each week and hopefully they’ll peak at the end, which is what matters,” Brian Witmer said. “The rust was noticeable, not so much with Josh because that was only his third and fourth matches in his life. The other two looked a little sloppy to me, but it’s all good. Our goal is to be state champs with the other two, so we have a long way to go.”
Zack Witmer is looking to end his career with another PIAA medal, except he would like this one would like to be gold. For Ohl, he’s hoping to get another medal again after collecting one his freshman campaign, but being plauged by injuries the following two seasons.
As Coach Witmer said, Hershbine just came out for the sport for the first time this year, so he’s still learning. For Zack Witmer and Ohl, Coach Witmer said “this isn’t their first rodeo.”
The duo didn’t really seem to have any problems on their way to their titles.
Zack Witmer, who is Columbia commit, opened with a pin of Gustkey in 47 seconds. In the finals, Witmer racked up a 10-2 major decision on Watson.
Ohl built up a 13-1 lead on his semifinal opponent in Reese before pinning the Eagles’ wrestler on his back in 2:52. In the finals against Foster, Ohl gave up a reversal and it was almost like a fire was lit under him. He scored 15 unanswered points for a 17-2 technical fall in 4:23.
Coach Witmer believes his duo are in the best spot possible with the limited action because of their past experiences. He said they just need to get out there and do what they do best. However, he does feel the sectional tournament helps for going deeper into the postseason.
“It’s just a matter of getting more mat time,” Coach Witmer said. “It is the first time we’ve ever worn masks. The only tournament we were in, we didn’t have to wear them, so that was the first go with that. They just have to get used to it, and they’ll be fine.”
District 6 Class 2A Section 2 Tournament
Wednesday at Wingate
Team key: Bald Eagle Area (BEA), Penns Valley (PV), Philipsburg-Osceola (P-O), St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy (SJ), West Branch (WB)
Team scores: 1. Penns Valley 134.5, 2. Bald Eagle Area 128, 3. Philipsburg-Osceola 127, 4. West Branch 66, 5. St. Joseph’s 40.5
Finals
106: Landon Bainey, WB, major dec. Lucas Fye, BEA, 10-0; 113: Coen Bainey, BEA, pinned Scotty Frantz, P-O, :44; 120: Marcus Gable, P-O, pinned Hunter Gardner, BEA, 2:45; 126: Cooper Gilham, BEA, major dec. Justin Darlington, PV, 16-2; 132: Zack Witmer, SJ, major dec. Ty Watson, PV, 10-2; 138: Amonn Ohl, SJ, tech. fall Austin Foster, P-O, 17-2 (4:23); 145: Luke Hughes, P-O, dec. Jeffre Pifer, BEA, 4-2 (SV); 152: Dristen Wolfe, PV, dec. Heath Basalla, BEA, 6-0; 160: Hunter Weitoish, P-O, dec. Noah Foltz, BEA, 4-0; 172: Malachi DuVall, PV, pinned Brady Proctor, BEA, 1:19; 189: Hunter Lyons, PV, pinned Hayes Jones, WB, 4:27; 215: Ethan Yingling, WB, dec. Parker Moore, P-O, 8-5; 285: Ben Sharer, PV, dec. Chase Klinger, P-O, 2-1
True 2nd place match
189: Dom Shaw, P-O, dec. Jones, WB, 4-2
Consolation finals
113: Chase Fleshman, PV, dec. Landon Pase, WB, 7-1; 126: Nick Coudriet, P-O, dec. Kaleb Sallurday, WB, 10-7; 132: Drake Holderman, BEA, pinned Ben Gustkey, P-O, 1:55; 138: Nate Long, PV, dec. Mason Reese, BEA, 10-5; 145: Noah Fetterolf, PV, tech. fall John Myers, WB, 16-0 (4:56); 160: Cole Felker, PV, pinned Tyce Cantolina, WB, 1:55; 172: Logan Folman, WB, pinned Jimmy Richtscheit, P-O, 2:49
Consolation semifinals
160: Felker, PV, pinned Josh Hershbine, SJ, :24
Semifinals
106: Fye, BEA, dec. Colten Shunk, PV, 5-0; 113: Bainey, BEA, pinned, Pase, WB, 2:32; Frantz, P-O, pinned Fleshman, PV, 5:54; 126: Gilham, BEA, pinned Sallurday, WB, 3:57; Darlington, PV, dec. Coudriet, P-O, 7-2; 132: Witmer, SJ, pinned Gustkey, P-O, :47; Watson, PV, dec. Holderman, BEA, 7-0; 138: Ohl, SJ, pinned Reese, BEA, 2:52; Foster, P-O, pinned Long, PV, 1:58; 145: Pifer, BEA, pinned Fetterolf, PV, 2:30, Hughes, P-O, dec. Myers, WB, 2-0; 160: Weitoish, P-O, pinned Cantolina, WB, 3:10; Foltz, BEA, dec. Felker, PV, 4-2 (SV); 172: DuVall, PV, pinned Richtscheit, P-O, :29; Proctor, BEA, dec. Logan Folmar, WB, 9-2; 189: Lyons, PV, dec. Shaw, P-O, 3-2
Quarterfinals
138: Reese, BEA, pinned Parker Johnson, WB, 2:31; 160: Cantolina, WB, major dec. Hershbine, SJ, 18-10
