3 of 5 Centre County wrestlers finish in top-3 of weight class in PIAA Class 2A Championships
A year ago, high school wrestlers were able to get their PIAA Championships in just before COVID-19 became a global pandemic, and the entire sports world was shut down.
As the pandemic has continued a year later, many thought the action inside the Giant Center on Friday wouldn’t happen. While the arena wasn’t packed full of fans like it normally is, five Centre County Class 2A athletes still had the opportunity to fulfill their dreams of being a state champion.
Here’s a look at where each of the five wrestlers finished:
Malachi DuVall, 172 pounds
School: Penns Valley
Place: 2nd
Recap: One would think that coming so close to obtaining a goal such as being a state title, a person would be devastated.
For DuVall, who won his third straight PIAA medal, he was upbeat, smiling from ear to ear, and really put it into perspective.
“When it comes down to it, it’s just a high school sport,” DuVall said. “I got the Navy coming up, and a lot more important things. As long as I can earn my first million by 25, I’ll be happy, so on to making money, I guess.”
The senior looked to be like he was in the money after topping Southern Columbia’s Gavin Garcia, 4-2 in sudden victory, to make the finals to face Frazier’s Rune Lawrence. The pair have squared off three straight weekends in the regional finals, super regional finals and then Friday night’s finals.
Trailing 3-2 to open the second period, DuVall was quickly down 6-2 after Lawrence escaped and took DuVall down.
The Rams senior caught a headlock and put Lawrence to his back and looked to have a pin secured. However, he didn’t get the call, was called for an illegal headlock after readjusting, and the pair were tied 7-7 to start the third period.
“I thought I had it,” DuVall said. “There are a couple of videos that I’ve already seen that say differently than what was called. You win some, you lose some. You don’t get calls, you get calls. I tried to keep my composure.”
Late in the third period, DuVall was trying to escape. As he went to roll through, Lawrence caught him for some near-fall points, and those were the deciding points in a 9-7 defeat.
“It was a state finals match. I didn’t win it, but second is awesome,” DuVall said. “I’m not very angry at it. I made it to the finals. It was a dream come true. It was an awesome process with my family. It’s been a fun growing experience.”
Coach Joel Brinker echoed the words of his wrestler when he said that he has seen so much growth from his senior from where he was as a sophomore, when he came back to the program after his freshman campaign was spent with St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy. Brinker said DuVall would let the anxiety and stress get to him, but now that’s out the window.
“Malachi is always going to compete. He’s going to throw stuff out there,” Brinker said. “He competed hard and wrestled well. He’s come a long way. Malachi thinks differently than most guys. It’s good that he does. He’s got a good perspective. As soon as he is done, he’s over it.”
Zack Witmer, 132 pounds
School: St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy
Place: 3rd
Recap: The PIAA Championships has always been a family affair for the Witmers.
Wolves’ coach Brian Witmer joked about how he has been bringing Zack to the championships since he was in diapers.
Well, that baby has grown into a young man who on Friday became the program’s second four-time PIAA medalist. Even though Brian Witmer hadn’t expected to be Zach’s head coach this year, each had a unique take on it.
“I grew up with him as my head coach. It’s not like it was anything new,” Zack Witmer said. “He’s always coaching me from the house, but it was special this year. We had a good time. We didn’t accomplish what we wanted, but in the end we are grateful for the place we are in and everything we have. It worked out.”
Coach Witmer added: “It was difficult because it’s emotional. It’s emotional that it’s his last ride. He had four medals and no golds, but I told the kids most years they are both state champs. It just so happens that both weight classes had accomplishments that were generational. It just so happened they were in our weight classes, but that’s wrestling.”
Zack Witmer had a 5-4 win to start the day, but was sent to the consolations after being pinned by Forest Hills’ Jackson Arrington, who has had Witmer’s number all postseason, and was the eventual champion.
Witmer bounced back with a 10-2 major decision to reach the consolation finals. In that match, Witmer took on Harbor Creeks’ Connor Pierce, who beat him in last weekend’s super regional.
Witmer got some revenge with a 4-0 defeat, and a third-place finish — the highest of his career.
“It means a lot. It shows I had a lot of consistency throughout my career,” Witmer said of being a four-time medalist. “I had a lot of ups and downs over the last four years. Coming into high school, I wanted to be a four-timer. It hurt the last few years not being on top of that podium. Right now, I’m just really thankful that I was able to come in here, and put it together when it counted, all four years.”
Amonn Ohl, 138 pounds
School: St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy
Place: 3rd
Recap: Ohl qualified for the PIAA Championships all four years of high school.
He was a medalist his freshman year, but the past two seasons, he was plagued by injuries.
“It was a great felling. Last year, I was really dinged up,” Ohl said. “The year before, I was fairly dinged up. I could’ve been on the podium both of those years. It felt really nice to get back up there.”
The now two-time medalist opened with a 4-2 win, but suffered a loss to Glendale’s Brock McMillen, who became a three-time champ later in the day.
Ohl rebounded with a 6-0 shutout of Montgomery’s Conner Harer. He then used a 2-0 shutout of Faith Christian’s Eric Alderfer to finish third — the highest of this career.
“I always wanted to finish higher up on the podium, but you can’t make everything happen,” Ohl said. “It’s just a great feeling to get back up there.”
Coach Witmer knew Ohl wasn’t happy with where he finished, but was proud of how Ohl competed.
“He wrestled a great tournament. He gritted out a couple of tough wins against some tough kids,” Witmer said.
Coen Bainey, 113 pounds
School: Bald Eagle Area
Place: 4th
Recap: Bainey made his second straight trip to Hershey.
He lost in the blood round last year. This year, he already had a medal secured, so it was just a matter of where would he finish.
The sophomore ended up finishing fourth, which, while not his ultimate goal, it was still special to him.
“It felt amazing. There is no other feeling,” he said. “Even though you want to be on top of the podium, that’s the goal for next year. It’s always nice to place here at states.”
Bainey opened with a 4-2 win to make the semifinals, where he dropped a tough 10-7 decision to Athens’ Gavin Bradley.
Bainey rebounded by edging Mount Union’s Bryce Beatty, 7-5, to make the consolation finals.
The Eagles’ wrestler took on a familiar opponent in Bentworth’s Chris Vargo in the consolation finals. Vargo handed Bainey his first loss of the season in the regional tournament, but Bainey beat Vargo in last weekend’s super regional.
“Wrestling Vargo again, we both start to know each other’s styles, it gets on you,” Bainey said. “When you have two pretty good wrestlers going against each other, not much can be done. It comes down to some stupid mistake that one of the wrestlers make that ends up winning or losing the match.”
Although Bainey didn’t specify happened in his match with Vargo, Vargo used a takedown with two seconds remaining in sudden victory to beat Bainey 2-0.
BEA coach Ron Guenot had nothing but high praise for his wrestler.
“You get down here and you are mixing it up with the top eight in the state, every match is tough,” Guenot said. “For him to come out of here with a fourth, he has nothing to be ashamed of. I’m proud of Coen for giving it everything he had, especially in that last match, which we knew was going to be tough.”
Parker Moore, 215 pounds
School: Philipsburg-Osceola
Place: 8th
Recap: A year ago, Moore took the wrestling postseason by storm.
He was beating opponents who, on paper, he shouldn’t have beaten. He earned the nickname of Cardiac Kid, by winning those close matches right at the end.
This year, his run through the postseason was a bumpy one, but he made it to the end. He became the Mounties’ first back-to-back state medalist since James Yonushonis did it in 2001 and 2002.
“When I was in elementary (wrestling), going to states was always a dream to get there,” Moore said. “All of the kids from Philipsburg, when they had such accomplishments, I looked up to them. Now, being a two-time state medalist, it’s pretty cool, even though I didn’t go out the way I really wanted to.”
Moore joked that he hasn’t yet fully comprehended the impact his history-making run has had on the Mounties’ program, but he said it will once he graduates and moves on to wrestle in college.
On Friday, the senior found himself in those close matches like last year, but he just wasn’t able to squeeze them out. He dropped all three matches he wrestled.
The tougher part, though, is that he lost by a combined three points.
“I let it up to the ref. I should’ve scored more points, so that’s my fault,” Moore said. “I can’t help the calls that happened. I just tried to roll with it and do my best.”
Coach Brad Pataky knows how special Moore is. He said that the sky is the limit for his senior, and that the opportunity to continue wrestling in college doesn’t come often.
Pataky went as far to say that Moore will be greatly missed now that his time with the Mounties’ program is over.
“He wrestled well. I overheard him talking there. There were some questionable calls that didn’t go his way,” Pataky said. “There were things that we thought calls should’ve gone in his favor. He said it best and took accountability that you can’t always leave it up to the ref.
“I’m very proud for how he’ grown. He’s a great kid. We are super proud of him and what he’s accomplished. He’s got a bright future.”
PIAA Class 2A Championships
Friday at Giant Center, Hershey
Team key: Allentown Central Catholic (ACC), Athens (A), Bald Eagle Area (BEA), Beth-Center (BC), Benton (B), Bentworth (BW), Bermudian Springs (BSP), Biglerville (BG), Bishop McCort (BM), Bishop McDevitt (BD), Blackhawk (BH), Boiling Springs (BS), Brandywine Heights (BY), Brookville (BV), Burrell (BR), Cambria Heights (CH), Carlynton (CY), Chestnut Ridge (CR), Conwell Egan (CE), Corry (C), Faith Christian (FC), Ft. LeBoeuf (FL), Forest Hills (FH), Frazier (F), Freedom Area (FA), Girard (GD), Glendale (G), Greenville (GV), Halifax (HF), Hamburg (HB), Harbor Creek (HC), Hickory (H), Hughesville (HV), Johnsonburg (J), Knoch (K), Laurel (L), Lewisburg (LB), Marion Center (MC), Meadowbrook Christian (MW), Mercer (MR), Meyersdale (MD), McGuffey (MG), Midd-West (MW), Mifflinburg (MB), Montgomery (MT), Montoursville (MV), Mount Pleasant (MP), Mount Union (MU), Muncy (M), North Star (NS), Notre Dame Green Pond (NDGP), Palisades (P), Penns Valley (PV), Philipsburg-Osceola (PO), Pope John Paul (PJ), Reynolds (RY), Richland (R). St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy (SJ), Saegertown (ST), Saucon Valley (SV), Sheffield (S), South Park (SP), South Williamsport (SW), Southern Columbia (SC), Sullivan County (SY), Tamaqua (T), West Branch (WB), West Perry (WP), Wyoming (W)
Team scores: 1. Notre Dame Green Pond 59, 2. Montoursville 54, 3. Burrell 53, 4. Southern Columbia 44.5, 5. Brookville 33, 6. Forest Hills 29, T7. Benton 28, T7. Hamburg 28, 9. Hickory 27, 10. Reynolds 25.5, 11. St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy 25, T27. Penns Valley 17, T37. Bald Eagle Area 10, T63. Philipsburg-Osceola 1
Finals
106: Louie Gill, H, dec. Cooper Hornack, BR, 6-2; 113: Jaden Pepe, W, dec. Gavin Bradley, A, 3-2; 120: Brett Ungar, NDGP, pinned Mason Gibson, BM, 4:12; 126: Joey Fischer, SP, dec. Scott Johnson, M, 3-2; 132: Jackson Arrington, FH, dec. Brandan Chletsos, NDGP, 10-3; 138: Brock McMillen, G, dec. Ian Oswalt, BR, 1-0; 145: Levi Haines, BG, pinned Nathan Higley, SY, 2:19; 152: Grant Mackay, L, dec. Dalton Gimbor, HB, 1-0; 160: AJ Corrado, BR, pinned Avery Bassett, MW, 6:20; 172: Rune Lawrence, F, dec. Malachi DuVall, PV, 9-7; 189: Cael Crebs, MV, pinned Ethan Finch, S, 5:00; 215: Dayton Pitzer, MP, dec. Dylan Bennett, MV, 6-1; 285: Nathan Taylor, BV, dec. Riley Robell, BD, 5-3
Consolation finals
113: Chris Vargo, BW, dec. Coen Bainey, BEA, 2-0 (SV); 132: Zack Witmer, SJ, dec. Connor Pierce, HC, 4-0; 138: Amonn Ohl, SJ, dec. Eric Alderfer, FC, 2-0
Seventh-Place Match
215: Hayden Linkerhof, C, dec. Parker Moore, PO, 2-1
Consolation semifinals
113: Bainey, BEA, dec. Bryce Beatty, MU, 7-5; 132: Witmer, SJ, major dec. Kaiden Wagner, LB, 10-2; 138: Ohl, SJ, dec. Conner Harer, MT, 6-0
Consolation quarterfinals
215: Reese, K, dec. Moore, PO, 3-2
Semifinals
113: Bradley, A, dec. Bainey, BEA, 10-7; 132: Arrington, FH, pinned Witmer, SJ, 2:43; 138: McMillen, G, dec. Ohl, SJ, 9-4; 172: DuVall, PV, dec. Gavin Garcia, SC, 4-2 (SV)
Quarterfinals
113: Bainey, BEA, dec. Adam Schweitzer, NDGP, 4-2; 132: Witmer, SJ, dec. Conner Heckman, MW, 5-4; 138: Ohl, SJ, dec. David Kreidler, ACC, 4-2; 172: DuVall, PV, major dec. Jacob Jones, SV, 12-2; 215: Dante Mahaffey, SV, dec. Moore, PO, 5-4
This story was originally published March 13, 2021 at 12:21 AM.
