Centre County has 10 wrestlers inch closer to PIAA Class 2A Championships
When the PIAA Class 2A Southwest Regional tournament began on Saturday, Centre County had 13 wrestlers aiming to make next weekend’s PIAA Western Super Regional.
After all the action was completed inside the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex on the campus of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 10 earned a spot to return to Indiana.
There were just two finalists in Penns Valley’s Malachi DuVall and Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy’s Zack Witmer.
Philipsburg-Osceola has the most super regional qualifiers with four. Bald Eagle Area was next with three.
The Mounties finished the highest in the team race with a tie for eighth with 37 points. District 7’s Burrell was the team champion with 64 points. District 6’s Forest Hills (60.5 points) and District 5’s Chestnut Ridge (56.5) rounded out the top three.
Here’s a look at how each Centre County program ended up:
Philipsburg-Osceola
Champions: None
Super regional qualifiers: Marcus Gable (5th, 120), Austin Foster (5th, 138), Hunter Weitoish (4th, 160), Parker Moore (4th, 215)
Eliminated: None
Team finish: T-8th, 37 points
Recap: Coach Brad Pataky’s squad had a tall task in front of them with the way that the weight classes were split up.
That meant their qualifiers were separated into pairs.
The lighter guys, Gable and Foster, had to start their days at 7:15 a.m. with weigh-ins and then wrestling at 8 a.m. The heavier guys, Weitoish and Moore, didn’t start their days until weighing in at 11:15 a.m. and then wrestling at noon.
However, Pataky and Co. were able to help their wrestlers overcome that adversity.
“We have a really good catching staff. We split them up a little bit,” he explained. “Everybody was with somebody at every second of the day. Our coaching staff had to step up (today), because we knew it was going to be a difficult day. It really helped in the overall outcome of the day.”
All four of the Mounties’ regional qualifiers advanced to the Western super regional. As a whole, P-O was one of four programs to push four, which was the most for the regional tournament, into next weekend’s final step before the PIAA Championships.
Weitoish and Moore were the lone seniors on the squad this year. It came as no surprise that those two finished the highest with fourth-place medals.
Weitoish opened with a 5-0 win over Chestnut Ridge’s Trevor Weyandt to make the semifinals. He squared off with Burrell’s AJ Corrado, who was the eventual champion, and was shut out, 7-0.
Weitoish used a 2-0 win over Beth-Center’s Trevor Pettit to make the consolation finals, where he lost to Forest Hills’ Ryan Weyandt, who beat Weitoish 4-1 in the district finals last weekend.
Moore had to rally right away after suffering a regional tournament-opening loss to Mount Pleasant’s Dayton Pitzer, who won a state title his sophomore year, but missed last season with an injury.
Moore, who was a reigning regional champion, opened the consolations with a pin of Meyersdale’s Bryan Most. He avenged a loss to Huntingdon’s Briar Deline from last weekend with a 7-4 win to reach the consolation finals. In the consolations finals, Moore suffered a 5-3 loss in sudden victory to Knoch’s Eli Reese.
“Being able to move on to the super region as a senior, we are really happy for them,” Pataky said of his duo. “Coming up through the program, they’ve progressed. We couldn’t be more happy for them, coming into a season they might not have known they were going to have.”
Foster and Gable had to play cardiac kids as each dropped into the fifth-place matches as top five advanced.
Gable, who took out the District 7 champion in his regional debut, suffered back-to-back losses to fall into that fifth-place match. The freshman rolled up a 10-3 win over Carlynton’s Bryce Rodriguez to advance.
Foster, who was pinned in the quarterfinals, picked up a pin of his own in the consolations quarterfinals. A 13-9 loss to Harbert, put Foster into the fifth-place match where he earned an 8-0 major decision over Tussey Mountain’s Chad Weist.
“Both Marcus and Austin have put themselves in that type of position in the practice room,” Pataky said. “When you practice hard, it usually shows in your results. They knew coming in that this was going to be a tough tournament. It was something that we tried to help them understand that anybody could be beaten here. They were able to take that piece of advice and use it to their advantage.”
Bald Eagle Area
Champions: None
Super regional qualifiers: Lucas Fye (5th, 106), Coen Bainey (3rd, 113), Cooper Gilham (4th, 126)
Eliminated: None
Team finish: 13th, 32 points
Recap: The Eagles came with three wrestlers, and they’ll be back again next weekend with three wrestlers.
That was the goal that coach Ron Guenot and his staff had set coming in. Even with the goal met, Guenot knows there is still work to be done.
“A couple of places, it would have been nice to finish a little higher up on the podium,” he said. “At the end of the day, we brought three here and are going to be bringing three back next week.”
All three of the Eagles’ wrestlers made the semifinals, where they ultimately lost and fell into the consolations.
Bainey was the highest finisher and had the hardest path to get to his third-place finish.
After suffering a 9-1 loss to Bentworth’s Chris Vargo, who went on to win the weight’s title, the sophomore had another tough test. Bainey faced reigning Class 2A 106-pound runner-up in Chestnut Ridge’s Calan Bollman in the consolation semifinals.
Bainey trailed 1-0 after a Bollman escape in the second period. In the third, Bainey reversed Bollman, and collected three near-fall points just under 30 seconds left in the match for a 5-1 win.
In the consolation finals, Bainey needed a reversal with about two seconds left to beat Elizabeth Forward’s Damon Michaels, 7-5.
“He had a tough loss there in the semis. He wanted to be a champion,” Guenot said, “but I think he grew up this weekend. He rebounded very nicely to come back and win a couple of matches. He had a big win over Bollman there, especially coming off a loss. I’m really proud of the way he rebounded.”
Gilham, who is in his final high school season, came up short in a loss to South Park’s Joey Fischer, who is a Pitt commit, in the semifinals.
The senior used a takedown against Burgettstown’s Joey Sentipal with just under 50 seconds to go to advance to the consolation finals with a 3-2 win. It was a match that Gilham had to take several blood times in for his nose.
In the consolation finals, Gilham had a 2-0 lead on Chestnut Ridge’s Ross Dull. Dull caught Gilham though and pinned him in 2:03.
“Coop will be fine. He knows what he needs to do,” Guenot said. “He’s right there with the best guys. We’ll get back in the room this week, polish some things and get after it Saturday morning.”
Fye, who was getting a taste of his first regional tournament as a freshman, did well. He gutted out a 4-0 win to make the semifinals, where he was pinned in 49 seconds.
Fye couldn’t right the ship in a 6-4 loss to Burgettstown Parker Sentipal. However, the Eagles’ wrestler rebounded when it mattered most.
Fye had a second-period escape hold up in a 1-0 defeat of Tyrone’s Khoury Walls to finish fifth.
“Lucas just kept battling. It was a great experience for him here,” Guenot said. “He’s right there. He wrestled a tight match there (in the consolation semifinals). We need to fine tune some things with Lucas. Lucas is a great kid and does everything we like to see him do.”
Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy
Champions: None
Super regional qualifiers: Zack Witmer (2nd, 132), Amonn Ohl (3rd, 138)
Eliminated: None
Team finish: 11th, 35 points
Recap: It has been quite an interesting year for the Wolves.
Their wrestlers entered the postseason with just three matches under their belts.
They are now just a top-four finish away from making the PIAA Championships.
“We’ve been trying to survive each week,” Saint Joseph’s coach Brian Witmer said. “We are trying to put our best foot forward and keep progressing each week. We are over 50 percent of the way to our goal, which is to get to states and be state champions.”
Witmer’s son, Zack, has become accustomed to making the Southwest regional finals. Saturday became his third time, and a repeat from last year.
The result was the same too, a loss.
The senior squared off with a familiar foe in Forest Hills’ Jackson Arrington, who pinned the Columbia commit last weekend in the District 6 finals.
Arrington racked up a 20-9 lead on Witmer before sticking him again, this time in 3:57.
“I wish we would’ve closed the gap a little bit more at (1)32,” coach Witmer said, “but we still have a couple of weeks to close that gap. He’s (Zack) in a little bit of a funk right now.”
Zack had no problems making the finals as he opened with an 8-0 major decision of Mount Pleasant’s Jamison Poklembo. In the semifinals, the senior took out a returning state qualifier in Tussey Mountain’s Hunter Horton, 14-9.
Ohl, who is healthy for the first postseason since his freshman year, was pin or be pinned.
The senior reached the semifinals by taking care of Chestnut Ridge’s Colton Bollman in 3:20. In the semifinals, Ohl locked up with Burrell’s Ian Oswalt and the pair went back and forth.
In one instance, the pair tried to throw each other, and Ohl came out on the wrong end of it. He was pinned in 3:29 by Oswalt.
Ohl didn’t stay down. He went with back-to-back pins for his third-place finish. He stuck Ligonier Valley’s Ryan Harbert in the consolation finals in 24 seconds for the final match of his day.
“Amonn got caught and pinned against the second-ranked kid in the state,” Coach Witmer said. “They were both in a position where someone was going to go and he came out on the bottom end of that. It could’ve very easily gone the other way.
“He responded well. He believes in himself. He felt he was better than the rest of the competition. He felt he was as good or better than anybody in the bracket.”
Penns Valley
Champions: None
Super regional qualifiers: Malachi DuVall (2nd, 172)
Eliminated: Justin Darlington (0-2, 126), Ty Watson (0-2, 132), Ben Sharer (1-3, 285)
Team finish: T-19th, 23 points
Recap: After winning his first district title since his freshman year last week, DuVall said he really wanted a regional title because he’s never had one.
His highest finish in the regional tournament was third, last year. This year, the Navy commit came close to accomplishing the feat, but ultimately fell in the finals.
DuVall was upbeat in the defeat, coming off the mat saying in a joking manner, “Yay, second place. Woohoo!”
“He has a different personality. He took it in stride,” Penns Valley coach Joel Brinker said of his senior. “He is still confident in himself. He thinks he can improve on that.”
DuVall took on Frazier freshman Rune Lawrence in the finals. The senior led 6-3 after two periods thanks to a takedown, two near-fall points and a reversal.
In the third period, the finals’ duo got a little funky with their wrestling styles. Lawrence caught DuVall, and stuck the Rams’ wrestler in 5:37.
“His kid is not your normal freshman,” Brinker said. “He is a high-caliber freshman. At the end, it wasn’t good wrestling. He (Malachi) knows he just threw something out there to see if something would happen.”
DuVall opened his final regional tournament with a 5-0 defeat of Mount Pleasant’s Noah Gnibus. He followed that up with an 11-4 rout of McGuffey’s Ethan Barr.
The day was more unique than usual for Brinker’s squad. Yes, it had its “ups and downs,” but there were two sessions. One session was for the lighter weights (106-138 pounds), and the other session was for the remaining weights. It forced Brinker’s qualifiers to be split up.
“It is not by any means ideal. The guys want to be around each other,” Brinker said. “Everybody cheers for each other. We are lucky we are even having this tournament with what’s going on in our world. We definitely would like to see it return the way it should be.”
During the other session for the upper weights, Sharer, who hadn’t wrestled since the fourth grade, saw his season come to a close one win shy of making the super regional.
His day started and ended with a loss to Mount Pleasant’s Ian Fasano. After being pinned his regional debut, Sharer earned a fall of his own to open the consolation bracket. He then was pinned back-to-back to finish sixth.
“I told him, ‘There are not many guys that are walking out of this tournament with a medal around their neck with as many matches as you have under your belt,’” Brinker said.
During that first session, the Rams had Darlington and Watson each get eliminated.
Darlington fought tough in a 9-1 major decision loss to Pitt commit Joey Fischer of South Park in the quarterfinals. He then was pinned by Bedford’s Camden Koontz in 2:18.
Watson was edged by Horton, 2-0, in the quarterfinals. The freshman then gave up a reversal with two seconds left in his match against Poklembo to fall 4-3.
“JD (Darlington) wrestled a heck of match, his first match, going against one of the top kids in the state,” Brinker said. “Ty is right there. Both matches, I think he knows it, he could’ve won both matches. He knows he could be going on.”
PIAA Class 2A Southwest Regional
Saturday at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana
Team key: Bald Eagle Area (BEA), Bedford (BF), Bentworth (BW), Berlin Brothersvalley (BB), Beth-Center (BC), Bishop McCort (BM), Blackhawk (BH), Burrell (B), Burgettstown (BT), Cambria Heights (CH), Carlynton (CY), Central (C), Chestnut Ridge (CR), Conemaugh Township (CT), Derry Area (D), Elizabeth Forward (EF), Forest Hills (FH), Frazier (F), Freedom Area (FA), Glendale (G), Huntingdon (H), Knoch (K), Laurel (L), Ligonier Valley (LV), Marion Center (MC), McGuffey (MG), Meyersdale (MD), Montour (M), Mount Pleasant (MP), Mount Union (MU), North Star (NS), Penn Cambria (PC), Penns Valley (PV), Philipsburg-Osceola (PO), Richland (R), Somerset (S), South Park (SP), St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy (SJ), Tussey Mountain (TM), Tyrone (T), Valley (V), Quaker Valley (QV), West Branch (WB) Westmont Hilltop (WH)
Team scores: 1. Burrell 64, 2. Forest Hills 60.5 3. Chestnut Ridge 56.5, 4. Mount Pleasant 55, T5. Carlynton 51, T5. Laurel 51, 7. Burgettstown 38, T8. Philipsburg-Osceola 37, T8. Quaker Valley 37, 10. Glendale 35.5, 11. St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy 35, 13. Bald Eagle Area 32, T19. Penns Valley 23
Finals
106: Cooper Hornack, B, dec. Landon Bainey, WB, 4-3 (UTB); 113: Chris Vargo, BW, dec. Bryce Beatty, MU, 8-1; 120: Mason Gibson, BM, tech. fall Hunter Walk, T, 25-9 (4:35); 126: Joey Fischer, SP, dec. Easton Toth, FH, 7-2; 132: Jackson Arrington, FH, pinned Zack Witmer, SJ, 3:57; 138: Brock McMillen, G, dec. Ian Oswalt, B, 5-2; 145: Kenny Duschek, BH, dec. Tyler Cymmerman, D, 3-1; 152: Grant Mackay, L, dec. Luke Moore, CR, 2-0; 160: AJ Corrado, B, pinned Oleg Melnyk, CY, 3:58; 172: Rune Lawrence, F, pinned Malachi DuVall, PV, 5:37; 189: Trent Schultheis, FA, med. forfeit, Patrick Cutchember, QV; 215: Dayton Pitzer, MP, pinned Collin Milko, CY, 2:11; 285: Marvin Beatty, MC, dec. Jalen Stephens, MD, 5-0
Consolation Finals
113: Coen Bainey, BEA, dec. Damon Michaels, EF, 7-5; 126: Ross Dull, CR, pinned Cooper Gilham, BEA, 2:03; 138: Amonn Ohl, SJ, pinned Ryan Harbert, LV, :24; 160: Ryan Weyandt, FH, dec. Hunter Weitoish, PO, 4-1; 215: Eli Reese, K, dec. Parker Moore, PO, 5-3 (SV)
Fifth-Place Matches
106: Lucas Fye, BEA, dec. Khoury Walls, T, 1-0; 120: Marcus Gable, PO, dec. Bryce Rodriguez, CY, 10-3; 138: Austin Foster, PO, major dec. Chad Weist, TM, 8-0; 285: Ian Fasano, MP, pinnned Ben Sharer, PV, 4:33
Consolation Semifinals
106: Parker Sentipal, BT, dec. Fye, BEA, 6-4; 113: Bainey, BEA, dec. Calan Bollman, CR, 5-1; 120: Gaven Suica, BT, dec. Gable, PO, 7-5 (SV); 126: Gilham, BEA, dec. Joey Sentipal, BT, 3-2; 138: Ohl, SJ, pinned Chad Weist, TM, 2:16; Harbert, LV, dec. Foster, PO, 13-9; 160: Weitoish, PO, dec. Trevor Pettit, BC, 2-0; 215: Moore, PO, dec. Briar Deline, H, 7-4; 285: Mitch Miles, L, pinned Sharer, PV, :16
Semifinals
106: Hornack, B, pinned Fye, BEA, :49; 113: Vargo, BW, major dec. Bainey, BEA, 9-1; 120: Walk, T, major dec. Gable, PO, 10-2; 126: Fischer, SP, dec. Gilham, BEA, 7-3; 132: Witmer, SJ, dec. Hunter Horton, TM, 14-9; 138: Oswalt, B, pinned Ohl, SJ, 3:24; 160: Corrado, B, dec. Weitoish, PO, 7-0; 172: DuVall, PV, dec. Ethan Barr, MG, 11-4
Consolation Quarterfinals
126: Camden Koontz, BF, pinned Justin Darlington, PV, 2:18; 132: Jamison Poklembo, MP, dec. Ty Watson, PV, 4-3; 138: Foster, PO, pinned Colton Bollman, CR, 2:33; 215: Moore, PO, pinned Bryant Most, MD, 3:46; 285: Sharer, PV, pinned Nicholas Murphy, EF, :52
Quarterfinals
106: Fye, BEA, dec. Tristen Hawkins, CT, 4-0; 113: Bainey, BEA, pinned Colin Bartley, L, 4:12; 120: Gable, P-O, dec. Niko Ferra, B, 3-03-0; 126: Fischer, SP, major dec Darlington, PV, 9-1; Gilham, BEA, major dec. Koontz, BF, 11-1; 132: Witmer, SJ, major dec. Poklembo, MP, 8-0; Horton, TM, dec. Watson, PV, 2-0; 138: Ohl, SJ, pinned Bollman, CR, 3:20; Oswalt, B, pinned Foster, P-O, 1:56; 160: Weitoish, PO, dec. Trevor Weyandt, CR, 5-0; 172: DuVall, PV, dec. Noah Gnibus, MP, 5-0; 215: Pitzer, MP, pinned Moore, PO, 3:53; 285: Fasano, MP, pinned Sharer, PV, 4:26
This story was originally published February 28, 2021 at 1:31 AM.
