Here’s a look at each of Centre County’s wrestling teams ahead of the upcoming season

By Nate Cobler

November 26, 2021 7:00 AM

Bellefonte’s Jude Swisher is one of two Raiders wrestlers that will compete at the Division I level collegiately. Swisher (Penn) and Aidan O’Shea (Franklin & Marshall) will be the leaders on a team that is low on numbers. Abby Drey adrey@centredaily.com

Last wrestling season was unique, to say the least.

Because of the uncertainty surrounding COVID-19, several big in-season tournaments were canceled. Teams weren’t always sure when or if they were going to wrestle week to week.

For the postseason, Centre County’s teams had to wrestle a sectional tournament to make the District 6 Championships. Then, the qualifiers made the usual regional tournament, but that wasn’t the final step before making the PIAA Championships. Wrestlers then competed in a super-regional tournament in order to qualify for the PIAA Championships, and secured their state medal. At the scaled-down PIAA Championships, it was just a matter of what color medal would they receive.

This year, things seem to be back to normal for Centre County’s five teams: Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte, Penns Valley, Philipsburg-Osceola and State College. Saint Joseph’s Catholic Academy didn’t have any wrestlers to field a team this season.

The Eagles, Raiders, Rams, Mounties and Little Lions all have full schedules with tournaments mixed in between duals. The postseason looks to be back to its normal routine: District 6 Championships to regional tournament to PIAA Championships.

Here’s a look at each of the teams for the upcoming season, which gets underway on Dec. 11 for some teams:

Bald Eagle Area

Eagles coach Ron Guenot believes he’s going to know a lot about his team early in the season.

“Our schedule in December is extremely difficult,” he said. “We have added a Dec. 23rd dual with state perennial power Brookville, which will take place in Wingate.”

BEA gets its season underway on Dec. 14 when it travels to Bellefonte. It will then compete in the two-day King of the Mountain tournament, which was one of those big tournaments canceled last year, on Dec. 17-18 at Central Mountain.

The Eagles host Philipsburg-Osceola on Dec. 21, before taking on Brookville. They finish out December in the Trojan Wars tournament on Dec. 29-30 at Chambersburg.

Guenot’s squad will lean on its 15 returning letterwinners, which makes up about half of the team.

BEA has PIAA fourth-place finisher Coen Bainey back as a junior and state qualifier Lucas Fye, who will be in his sophomore season.

“Our returning lettermen, Coen Bainey, Lucas Fye and Noah Foltz, will be looked upon to provide leadership to this year’s team,” Guenot said.

Also, the Eagles have US Cadet World Team member Grace Stem returning for her senior year. She’s bringing along some other female wrestlers to the team, too.

In the summer, BEA became the first Centre County team — and the 12th school in the state — to start a girls wrestling team. Stem was a key component to making that happen, and Guenot backed her the entire way.

“We are looking forward to the opportunities that will bring,” Guenot said.

While Guenot’s team is young, with just four returning senior letterwinners, he said the new faces coming up will help. He estimated the Eagles’ roster should have between 25 and 30 wrestlers.

“There are many key newcomers coming up from junior high this season, which will provide depth to a squad with many underclassmen,” Guenot said.

Bellefonte

The Raiders will have some work to do this season as they graduated several key members from last year’s squad that went 13-1 and won several team titles. Three of those who graduated, Lane Aikey (Edinboro), Ethan Richner (South Dakota State) and Ethan Rossman (Lock Haven), are all now competing collegiately on the Division I level.

However, coach Mike Maney’s squad has another pair who plans to continue their wrestling careers at the Division I level — Jude Swisher and Aidan O’Shea — back to lead the squad. Swisher will join Penn after graduating and O’Shea is headed to Franklin & Marshall.

“Aidan O’Shea has been a steady student-athlete for the wrestling program the last three years,” Maney said. “He should provide strong leadership for the team. Jude Swisher, what more can you say. He is one of the best wrestler’s in the country. The only thing he has to check off his list of goals is a PIAA State Championship. He brings a great deal of passion and excitement every time he competes.”

Another wrestler who Maney said to keep an eye on is Addison Shawley. The junior had several big-time wins last year for Bellefonte that helped clinch duals. Shawley was topping some top-seeded wrestlers in tournaments and other wrestlers who had a history of success.

“He is capable to beat anyone and under high-pressure matches,” Maney said. “He will need to stay hungry, motivated, and believe he is capable of having the same success, and seek to make the PIAA State Championships.”

Not only did the Raiders graduate so many pieces, and only have five returning letterwinners, they also don’t have a whole lot to help replace those numbers. For the past couple of seasons, the Raiders’ junior high team consisted of at most 10 wrestlers. Maney knows this could be a big factor this season. However, the good news for Bellefonte is that the junior high team’s numbers are back up.

“For the first time in a couple decades, the biggest concern starting the season is numbers,” Maney said. “The season last year with COVID created some difficult situations to get newcomers out for the sport. Anytime numbers are low, you have concern about depth, injuries, etc.”

With low numbers, Maney is forced to start whoever he can to fill weights. He expects two freshmen in Cameron Garcia and Noah Weaver to help fill some voids in the lineup.

“They both had successful junior high careers,” Maney said. “Noah spent a great deal of time in the offseason getting better, so excited to see them compete at the varsity level.”

Penns Valley

The Rams nearly had their first PIAA champion last season since Max Dinges in 1963, when now-graduate Malachi DuVall reached the PIAA finals, but ultimately finished second.

Penns Valley was a younger squad last year, but still finished 4-1, claimed the District 6 Section 2 team title and was second in the District 6 Class 2A Championships.

The good news for Penns Valley is that most of those wrestlers are back.

The Rams have 10 returning letterwinners with five of them being seniors in Nate Long, Noah Fetterolf, Micah Fetterolf, Cole Felker and Hayden Yearick. Those five will be looked upon to be the leaders of a squad that head coach Joel Brinker says should have 22 wrestlers.

Also a part of those letterwinners are sophomores in Colten Shunk and Ty Watson, who each had as good of freshmen campaigns they could have had with limited mat time.

Watson finished second in the Section 2 tournament, was third at the District 6 Class 2A Championships and wasn’t able to make it out of the regional tournament. Shunk went 4-2 and finished third in the Section 2 tournament, which was just one place shy of qualifying for the District 6 Championships. With a full season under their belts, these two will only add to Penns Valley’s lineup.

“Excited to see what this group can do,” Brinker said, “with nine wrestlers having seen varsity competition and many of the underclassmen having solid junior high careers.”

Philipsburg-Osceola

For the first time in five years, the Mounties have a new coach in Justin Fye. Fye replaces former coach Brad Pataky, who led the squad to some of their better seasons in recent history.

However, Fye isn’t an unfamiliar face. He competed for the Mounties during his high school career.

Not only is P-O replacing its coach, but it will have to replace two-time PIAA placewinner Parker Moore and PIAA medalist Hunter Weitoish.

Last year, the Mounties had four wrestlers make the super regional tournament, with only Moore making the PIAA Championships. Two of those super regional qualifiers in Austin Foster and Marcus Gable are back.

“We have quite a few wrestlers with pretty lofty goals this year,” Fye said. “We look for returning Super Regional qualifiers, Austin Foster and Marcus Gable, to be leaders on our team, along with our entire senior class. Our underclassmen will be expected to step up and be a big part of our success, as well.”

The senior class consists of eight wrestlers: Foster (returning letterwinner), Scott Frantz (returning letterwinner), Nick Coudriet (returning letterwinner), Luke Hughes (returning letterwinner), Jimmy Ritchsheicht (returning letterwinner), Dom Shaw (returning letterwinner), Chase Klinger (returning letterwinner) and Caleb Quick (newcomer).

P-O has a total of nine returning letterwinners, with Gable (sophomore) and Ben Gustkey (junior) joining the previously mentioned seniors.

“With 19 wrestlers on the roster, we believe that we can make a lot of noise in District 6 this year,” Fye said. “A team goal is to make it to Saturday of Team Duals, compete for a team title at Districts, and continue to build on our team and individual success throughout the season.”

State College

The Little Lions claimed the District 6 Class 3A Championships team title last year, thanks in part to eight seniors who were on the team.

All of those wrestlers are gone, and this will be the first time in six years that State College fans won’t see an Urbas in the starting lineup — both Cole and Lance are now wrestling for Penn.

“We graduated a bunch of key seniors last year, so it will be a bit of a rebuilding year,” Little Lions coach Ryan Cummins said. “Our returning letterwinners will be a great example for our younger wrestlers.”

Cummins and his staff will have some help in that rebuilding as Hayden Cunningham will return to the lineup after missing all of his sophomore year recovering from an injury.

The junior had a stellar freshman campaign that saw him go 38-6. Of his 38 wins, 32 came with bonus points — 22 pins, eight forfeits and two major decisions.

Cunningham made the PIAA Championships, but didn’t place. He did finish second in the District 6 Championships and third at the Northwest Regional.

Eric Weaver and Carter Weaverling, along with Cunningham, all helped the Little Lions reach the PIAA team duals two years ago. Weaver and Weaverling are back again to go along with Pierson Manville and Nick Pavlechko.

Manville claimed a District 6 title as a freshman last year and came up just short of qualifying for the super regional by finishing third in the Northwest Regional. Pavlechko was well on his way to a promising season before it got cut short due to a hand injury.

Cummins pointed to Asher Cunningham, who is a freshman, as a key newcomer. He is the younger brother of Hayden. If he can do what his brother did as a freshman, State College is in good hands.