How Centre County wrestling teams did in their District 6 team championship semifinals matches
Everything about this high school wrestling season has been weird.
From seeing athletes wearing masks while competing, to the different steps to get to Hershey last weekend, and now having dual meets after the state tournament concluded.
For Penns Valley, that meant squaring off with Glendale on Tuesday for a spot in the District 6 Class 2A team championship match. With the PIAA individual championships concluded and spring sports already starting, both teams faced some difficulty in preparing for the dual.
“You didn’t know. Everybody was saying, what do they have? Who knows,” Rams’ coach Joel Brinker said. “I know they have some guys that are in baseball or track mode. We have a couple of guys that aren’t with us because they are doing some spring sports.”
Vikings’ coach Brian Storm added: “It’s different. I don’t think the kids like. I don’t really like it, either, but we made it. I said, ‘Let’s give it a shot and let’s do it.’”
At the end of the day, it was Storm’s squad that came away with a 34-31 win.
The night began with Penns Valley in a hole out of the gate as it handed a forfeit to Glendale’s Winter Storm at 106 pounds. It didn’t get any better.
The Vikings’ Nick Zabinski earned a 6-4 win over Chase Fleshman to put the Rams in a nine-point deficit.
Penns Valley’s Hayden Yearick pinned Nate Storm in 52 seconds at 120 pounds to get the Rams on the board. The Vikings George Campbell responded with a 13-4 major decision over Justin Darlington.
Glendale led 13-6 after four bouts.
Penns Valley got back-to-back bonus point victories to claim an 18-13 lead. Ty Watson pinned Glendale’s Dayton Johnson in 1:53 at 132 pounds. The Rams’ Nate Long received a forfeit at 138.
The Vikings’ freshly crowned three-time PIAA champion in Brock McMillen took the mat, up a weight at 145 pounds. He picked up a pin in 1:16 to put Glendale back in front 19-18.
“We had guys up weights and moving around. I just told them to go out and have fun.” Storm said. “It was back and forth. We battled really hard.”
The back and forth continued over the next two bouts. Penns Valley’s Dristen Wolfe shut out Troy Misiura 12-0 at 152 pounds to put the Rams ahead 22-19.
However, Glendale responded with Garret Misiura using a last second takedown to turn a one-point lead into an 8-5 win at 160 pounds to tie the dual at 22-22.
“It was a good high school match. We came up short,” Brinker said. “Overall, top to bottom, I was proud of the effort.”
At 172 pounds, there was a lot of effort involved from the Rams’ Cole Felker and the Vikings’ Zeke Dubler. Both wrestlers were bumping up, with Felker up one weight class and Dubler up two weight classes.
Felker grabbed a 1-0 lead after two periods of wrestling thanks to an escape. In the third period, Dubler secured a late reversal, but there was still time left for Felker to score. He did with an escape with 20 seconds left.
The pair ended up going to sudden victory tied 2-2. Neither wrestler scored in the sudden victory period, so the bout went to rideouts. Felker was able to secure an escape in the first rideout period and kept Dubler from escaping in the other rideout period for the 3-2 win.
“I’ve been waiting for Cole to have a match like that. He dug deep, showed some heart and guts,” Brinker said. “I told him after the match, I’ve been waiting for that for a while. It was a good match. He hung in there and found a way to win.”
Dubler’s older brother, Suds, hit the mat at 189 pounds, and wasn’t on the mat for very long. He took Michael Hill down, claimed three near-fall points and pinned the Rams’ wrestler in 25 seconds. The Vikings led 28-25 with two bouts left.
Fresh off a 172-pound runner up finish, Penns Valley’s Malachi DuVall hit the mat at 215 pounds. He wrestled during the state tournament with a knee injury. The injury caught up to him on Tuesday as he had to injury default to Britton Spangle, which secured the dual win for Glendale.
The Rams were able to end the dual on a high note after seeing their senior go down. Fellow senior Ben Sharer pinned the Vikings’ Brock Smeal in 5:15 to set the final score.
The loss marked the official end to Penns Valley’s season.
“A lot of these guys haven’t been on the mat in almost a month,” Brinker said of his squad. “They showed fight and stuff. You could see the rust was there a little bit here and there.”
Forest Hills edges BEA
The No. 4 Bald Eagle Area Eagles knew they had a tall task in front of them when they took on No. 1 Forest Hills on Tuesday in the District 6 Class 2A team championship semifinals.
It didn’t stop the Eagles from giving it their all in a 36-33 loss.
“This one definitely stings. The bottom line is they (Forest Hills) won some close matches,” BEA coach Ron Guenot told the Centre Daily Times. “They (Forest Hills) kept us in some matches that we thought we would get bonus points.”
BEA’s Lucas Fye received a forfeit at 106 pounds to start the dual. After the Rangers earned a win at 113 pounds, the Eagles strung together three straight wins.
Coen Bainey earned a 6-4 decision. Cooper Gilham and Drake Holderman followed with back-to-back falls to give BEA a 21-3 lead after five bouts.
Forest Hills earned five straight wins with four of them by way of pins to take a 30-21 lead with three bouts left. The Eagles’ Brady Proctor (189 pounds) and Matthew Knepp (215) received forfeits to mount a 33-30 lead heading to the final bout.
The Rangers’ Kirk Bearjar pinned Mason McAuley in 1:37 to secure the dual win for Forest Hills.
Bellefonte sneaks by Central Mountain
The No. 3 Red Raiders had to travel just up the road to Mill Hall on Tuesday to take on No. 2 Central Mountain in the District 6 Class 3A team championship semifinals.
They made the trip back to Bellefonte with a 31-28 win.
“Extremely proud of our guys. It took a total team effort to beat a great team like Central Mountain,” Bellefonte coach Mike Maney said to the Centre Daily Times. “My message before the match was to show up and compete. They did that in every weight class.”
The Red Raiders raced out to a 13-0 lead. Garrett Choates started things off at 106 with a 5-0 shutout of the Wildcats’ Clayton Foster.
Aidan O’Shead followed by earning a fall in 1:34. Lane Aikey made his season dual debut with a 9-1 major decision.
Central Mountain rebounded with two straight bonus-point victories to pull within 13-11.
Jude Swisher, who was fresh off a third-place finish in the PIAA Championships, earned a 10-0 major decision. However, the Wildcats again picked up back-to-back bonus-point wins to claim a 21-17 lead.
Ethan Richner, who was coming off a seventh-place finish at the PIAA Championships, earned a fall to reclaim the lead for Bellefonte, 23-21. Central Mountain earned a major decision after Richner at 172 pounds to take the lead again.
Fourth-place finisher Ethan Rossman racked up an 18-3 technical fall in 5:30 to give the Red Raiders a 28-25 lead. Central Mountain picked a decision at 215 pounds to tie the dual at 28-28 with the heavyweights to go.
Addison Shawley, who was giving up 68 pounds to his opponent, got some help, but used a late takedown to turn a one-point lead into a 4-1 win and dual clinching victory for Bellefonte.
The Red Raiders will head to No. 1 State College on Thursday for the District 6 Class 3A team championship at 7 p.m. The Little Lions advanced automatically as they were to wrestle Mifflin County, who finished fourth but decided not to compete in the team duals.
Glendale 34, Penns Valley 31
District 6 Class 2A Team Championship Semifinals
Tuesday at Spring Mills
106: Winter Storm, G, won by forfeit
113: Nick Zabinski, G, dec. Chase Fleshman, 6-4
120: Hayden Yearick, PV, pinned Nate Storm, :52
126: George Campbell, G, major dec. Justin Darlington, 13-4
132: Ty Watson, PV, pinned Dayton Johnson, 1:53
138: Nate Long, PV, won by forfeit
145: Brock McMillen, G, pinned Noah Fetterolf, 1:16
152: Dristen Wolfe, PV, major dec. Troy Misiura, 12-0
160: Garret Misiura, G, dec. Micah Fetterolf, 8-5
172: Cole Felker, PV, dec. Zeke Dubler, 3-2 (UTB2)
189: Suds Dubler, G, pinned Michael Hill, :25
215: Britton Spangle, G, injury def. Malachi DuVall, :15
285: Ben Sharer, PV, pinned Brock Smeal, 5:15
Takedowns: G 9, PV 6
Records: Glendale 9-0, Penns Valley 4-2
Next match: Glendale at Forest Hills, District 6 Class 2A Championship, Thursday, TBD; Penns Valley’s season complete
Forest Hills 36, Bald Eagle Area 33
District 6 Class 2A Team Championships Semifinals
Tuesday at Sidman
106: Lucas Fye, BEA, won by forfeit
113: Snoop Shilcosky, FH, dec. Owen Johnson, 10-4
120: Coen Bainey, BEA, dec. Tony DiPaola, 6-4
126: Cooper Gilham, BEA, pinned Hunter Forcellini, 3:45
132: Drake Hoderman, BEA, pinned Jude Martyak, 1:37
138: Easton Toth, FH, pinned Mason Reese, 1:10
145: Tye Templeton, FH, pinned Kevin Taylor, 1:54
152: Jackson Arrington, FH, pinned Cameron Dubbs, :54
160: Dustin Flinn, FH, dec. Noah Foltz, 7-4
172: Ryan Weyandt, FH, pinned Nathan Fry, :40
189: Brady Proctor, BEA, won by forfeit
215: Matthew Knepp, BEA, won by forfeit
285: Kirk Bearjar, FH, pinned Mason McAuley, 1:37
Records: Forest Hills 8-1; Bald Eagle Area 8-2
Next match: Bald Eagle Area’s season complete; Glendale at Forest Hills, District 6 Class 2A Championship, Thursday, TBD
Bellefonte 31, Central Mountain 28
District 6 Class 3A Team Championship Semifinals
Tuesday at Mill Hall
106: Garrett Choates, B, dec. Clayton Foster, 5-0
113: Aidan O’Shea, B, pinned Madison Packer, 1:34
120: Lane Aikey, B, major dec. Zane Cooper, 9-1
126: Gino Serafini, CM, pinned Aaron McClusick, :42
132: Luke Simcox, CM, tech. fall Nathan Smith, 19-2 (5:42)
138: Jude Swisher, B, major dec. Taylor Weaver, 10-0
145: Griffin Walizer, CM, pinned Brady Garrison, 1:09
152: Rocco Serafini, CM, major dec. Andrew McChesney, 13-4
160: Ethan Richner, B, pinned Damien Galentine, 1:54
172: Caleb Porter, CM, major dec. Stephen Ivicic, 9-1
189: Ethan Rossman, B, tech. fall Nik Miller, 18-3 (5:30)
215: Gage Sutliff, CM, dec. Max Barrier, 5-1
285: Addison Shawley, B, dec. Cyrus McCarl, 4-1
Records: Bellefonte (14-0); Central Mountain (12-2)
Next match: Bellefonte at State College, District 6 Class 3A Championship, Thursday, TBD; Central Mountain’s season complete
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 11:29 PM.
