Here are Centre County’s high school wrestling leaders through Dec. 19
Editor’s note: Each week throughout the high school wrestling season, there will be a weekly county leaders story. This is the first installment of the weekly story.
The high school wrestling season is truly underway as all five of Centre County’s teams have had at least one dual, and took part in a tournament.
Penns Valley and Bellefonte each have earned team tournament titles. The Rams won the Babbit Duals title on Dec. 11. The Raiders claimed the team title in the St. Marys Kickoff Classic on Dec. 11.
Over the past week, Bald Eagle Area, Penns Valley and State College each added a dual victory as Philipsburg-Osceola and Bellefonte each suffered a loss.
Over the weekend, all five teams were in tournament action with the Rams and Mounties at the 50-team field of the Panther Holiday Classic at Mount Alyosius College. Penns Valley finished second in the team race as it had one champion, two second-place finishers and a fourth-place finisher.
The Eagles, Raiders and Little Lions all took part in the King of the Mountain tournament at Central Mountain High School in Mill Hall. The Little Lions finished third as a team in the 32-team field with three second-place finishers, a third-place finisher, a seventh-place finisher and an eighth-place finisher.
Let’s take a look at which Centre County athlete(s) tops the season’s first leaderboards:
Wins
Big things could be on the horizon for the county as it had seven wrestlers already get to double-digit victories this week. There is a lot of different ages in that group, too.
Penns Valley’s Cole Felker, who is a senior, teammate Ty Watson, who is a sophomore, and State College’s Pierson Manville, who is also a sophomore, take the top spot this week as each amassed 11 wins.
Felker went 4-1 during the Babbit duals, added a win in his team’s dual win over Huntingdon on Tuesday, and had six wins in his run to a fourth-place finish at 172 pounds. Felker’s 10th win of the season was a pin of Somerset’s Rowan Holmes in 4:00 of the consolation quarterfinals of the Panther Holiday Classic.
The Little Lions’ wrestler was perfect during his team’s competition in the Epharata Duals on Dec. 11, collecting five wins there. He had another in State College’s dual win over Shikellamy on Tuesday, and added five victories en route to a third-place finish at 145 pounds. Manville’s 10th win of the season was a 15-0 technical fall over Council Rock South’s Shermuhammad Sadriddinov in 3:08 of the consolation semifinals in the King of the Mountain.
Watson is undefeated on the season at 11-0. He had five wins during the Babbit Duals and added five more to claim the 145-pound title at the Panther Holiday Classic. Watson’s 10th win came in the semifinals, where he pinned St. Marys Andrew Wolfanger in 1:59.
Four other wrestlers were able to get to double-digit victories on the year. That group is comprised of a freshman, a sophomore, a junior and a senior.
The Rams’ Jack Darlington, who is a sophomore, was able to get to 10 wins. Darlington was 5-0 in the Babbit Duals, and had four wins on his way to a second-place finish at 106 pounds of the Panther Holiday Classic. His 10th win came when he pinned Mount Pleasant’s Joesph Longhi in 5:41 of their semifinals bout.
The Little Lions’ brothers Asher and Hayden Cunningham, as well as Braden Newby were the final wrestlers to get to 10-plus wins on the season.
Asher, who is a freshman, was 5-0 in the Ephrata Duals, added four more in the King of the Mountain — his first varsity individual tournament. He lost in the finals to a PIAA champion in Latrobe’s Vincent Kilkeary at 120 pounds. He faced three straight PIAA placewinners from the quarterfinals on. He topped PIAA runner up Cooper Hornack of Burrell, 6-4, to make the semifinals. His 10th win was a 6-2 defeat of fellow county wrestler in Bald Eagle Area’s Coen Bainey in the semifinals.
Hayden, who is a junior, made a return to the mat after missing his sophomore year recovering from a knee injury. Like his younger brother, Hayden was 5-0 at the Ephrata Duals and added four more in the King of the Mountain, where he finished second. He medically forfeited to Central Mountain’s freshman phenom Dalton Perry at 126 pounds in the finals. Hayden’s 10th win was a 4-1 victory over Canon McMillan’s Andrew Binni.
Newby, who is a senior, had a total of eight wins coming into this year. He has surpassed that and more by getting to 10 already. Newby went 5-0 during the Ephrata Duals, and had four more wins during his seventh-place finish at the King of the Mountain at 172 pounds. His 10th win came in that seventh-place match, where he pinned Hempfield’s Dylan Bard in 2:51.
There is a trio of other wrestlers needing just one more win to get to double digits on the year in Bellefonte’s Aidan O’Shea and Jude Swisher, and Penns Valley’s Colten Shunk.
Swisher had a historic week as he claimed his 100th career win when he pinned Bald Eagle Area’s Mason Reese on Tuesday.
Pins
There is a pair of Rams at the top of this list, and they’ve been previously mentioned.
Watson is the overall leader as all 10 of his wins are pins have come by way of the fall. His teammate Felker is just two behind.
Up until Watson’s finals match of the Panther Holiday Classic, he was a perfect 9-for-9 in wins and pins ratio. He had four in the Babbit Duals, and the quickest one that day was 22 seconds. Watson used four pins to reach the finals of his weight class at the Panther Holiday Classic.
His fastest of the tournament came in 36 seconds, when he stuck Spring Grove’s Jarod Baker in the quarterfinals. His 10th pin came in the semifinals of the Panther Holiday Classic.
Felker opened his year by collecting four falls during the Babbit Duals. His fastest that day was 40 seconds. During his run to a fourth-place finish, the senior added another three pins. His fastest was his Panther Holiday Classic opener in 49 seconds over Corry’s Mason Savitz. He used his eighth fall of the season to make the third-place match, highly exceeding his 14th seed.
Swisher and Manville are tied for third in the county with seven falls this year.
It was a historic week for pins for Swisher, who was able to earn his 50th of his career on Tuesday, when he pinned Reese. Swisher said he’s gunning for Bellefonte’s season record of pins, which is 31 by Mitchell Port, this year. Swisher is well on his way with so many this early in the year, but he knows the competition will only get tougher.
The Raiders’ senior used three pins to open his season to claim the 145-pound St. Marys Kickoff Classic title. He then earned three on his way to the 145-pound title at the King of the Mountain. Swisher used a pin of Garnet Valley’s Daniel Husain to make the King of the Mountain finals.
Manville opened his year by collecting four falls during the Ephrata duals. He added another during State College’s dual on Tuesday. The sophomore than had two on way to his 145-pound third-place finish at the King of the Mountain.
Philipsburg-Osceola’s Austin Foster collected five falls during his run to a fifth-place finish at 152 pounds of the Panther Holiday Classic. He is tied with six others for fifth in the county.
Those tied with Foster are Penns Valley’s Darlington and Kollin Brungart, and the Little Lions’ Newby, Hayden Cunningham, Shane Focht and Carter Weaverling.
Fastest falls
This leaderboard is often the one that the county’s wrestlers look to first.
So far, it’s State College’s Nick Pavlechko and Watson who have the honor of being named Centre County’s quickest winnera. The Little Lions’ sophomore and Rams’ wrestler barely broke a sweat when they set the time for fastest fall.
Watson picked up an 11-seconds fall against Bellwood-Antis in the Babbit Duals.
Pavlechko opened his King of the Mountain tournament, where he finished second at 215 pounds, with an 11-second pin of Northern York’s Corey Johnson. His teammates, Hayden Cunningham and Manville, are second and third, respectively, on this list.
Cunningham stuck Carlisle’s George Aitchison in 17 seconds during the Ephrata Duals. Manville also collected his fast fall in the Ephrata Duals, when he pinned Reading’s Julian Montanez in 18 seconds.
Watson has another time on the list with his 22-seconds pin, which is good for sixth in the county. He is tied with Bellefonte’s Addison Shawley and the Mounties’ Sam McDonald.
Shawley opened his King of the Mountain tournament by pinning Muncy’s Jacob Cooley in 22 seconds.
Watson’s 22-seconds fall came in the Babbit Duals, when he beat Derry’s Zachary Panichelle. McDonald stuck Archbishop Ryan’s Quinn Kennedy in the 106-pound consolation second round of the Panther Holiday Classic.
Shawley’s teammate Tyler Putnam rounds out the top-five. He pinned Moshannon Valley’s Lincoln Latosky in 21-seconds of the 215-pound quarterfinals of the St. Marys Kickoff Classic for the fourth-fastest time in the county.
Technical falls & Major decisions
Nine Centre County wrestlers were able to record a technical fall already, but only two have been able to get more than one.
Those wrestlers are Manville and O’Shea, who each have two on the year.
Manville recorded his first technical fall when he topped Malvern Prep’s Ryan Aquilani, 17-2, in the Ephrata Duals. Manville’s second technical fall came in the consolation semifinals of the King of the Mountain, where he picked up a 15-0 win over Council Rock South’s Shermuhammad Sadriddinov in 3:08.
O’Shea earned both of his technical falls in the King of the Mountain. His first was his tournament opener over Northern York’s Damien Dolly, 16-1, in two minutes of wrestling. The second technical fall was O’Shea racking up another 16-1 win, this one over Council Rock South’s Andrew Lindros in 3:57 of their consolation third-round match.
When it comes to major decisions, 15 county wrestlers earned this type of victory, but only one in Darlington earned two.
Darlington’s first major decision came when he beat Derry’s Dylan Klim, 15-1, in the Babbit Duals. Darlington added his second major decision when he topped South Williamsport’s Kaden Shay, 11-2, in the quarterfinals of the Panther Holiday Classic.
Leaders
Wins
| Name | School | Total |
| T1. Cole Felker | Penns Valley | 11 |
| T1. Ty Watson | Penns Valley | 11 |
| T1. Pierson Manville | State College | 11 |
| T4. Jack Darlington | Penns Valley | 10 |
| T4. Asher Cunningham | State College | 10 |
| T4. Hayden Cunningham | State College | 10 |
| T4. Braden Newby | State College | 10 |
| T8. Aidan O’Shea | Bellefonte | 9 |
| T8. Jude Swisher | Bellefonte | 9 |
| T8. Colten Shunk | Penns Valley | 9 |
Pins
| Name | School | Total |
| 1. Ty Watson | Penns Valley | 10 |
| 2. Cole Felker | Penns Valley | 8 |
| T3. Jude Swisher | Bellefonte | 7 |
| T3. Pierson Manville | State College | 7 |
| T5. Kollin Brungart | Penns Valley | 5 |
| T5. Jack Darlington | Penns Valley | 5 |
| T5. Austin Foster | Philipsburg-Osceola | 5 |
| T5. Hayden Cunningham | State College | 5 |
| T5. Shane Focht | State College | 5 |
| T5. Braden Newby | State College | 5 |
| T5. Carter Weaverling | State College | 5 |
Fastest Falls
| Name | School | Total |
| T1. Ty Watson | Penns Valley | :11 |
| T1. Nick Pavlechko | State College | :11 |
| 3. Hayden Cunningham | State College | :17 |
| 4. Pierson Manville | State College | :18 |
| 5. Tyler Putnam | Bellefonte | :21 |
| T6. Addison Shawley | Bellefonte | :22 |
| T6. Ty Watson | Penns Valley | :22 |
| T6. Sam McDonald | Philipsburg-Osecola | :22 |
| T9. Austin Foster | Philipsburg-Osceola | :24 |
| T9. Braden Newby | State College | :24 |
Technical Falls
| Name | School | Total |
| T1. Aidan O’Shea | Bellefonte | 2 |
| T1. Pierson Manville | State College | 2 |
| T3. Lucas Fye | Bald Eagle Area | 1 |
| T3. Garret Choates | Bellefonte | 1 |
| T3. Grady Garrison | Bellefonte | 1 |
| T3. Gage Long | Bellefonte | 1 |
| T3. Addison Shawley | Bellefonte | 1 |
| T3. Noah Weaver | Bellefonte | 1 |
| T3. Colten Shunk | Penns Valley | 1 |
Major Decisions
| Name | School | Total |
| 1. Jack Darlington | Penns Valley | 2 |
| T2. Coen Bainey | Bald Eagle Area | 1 |
| T2. Cameron Dubbs | Bald Eagle Area | 1 |
| T2. Lucas Fye | Bald Eagle Area | 1 |
| T2. Garret Choates | Bellefonte | 1 |
| T2. Cole Felker | Penns Valley | 1 |
| T2. Ethan Fetterolf | Penns Valley | 1 |
| T2. Carter Homan | Penns Valley | 1 |
| T2. Owen Barr | State College | 1 |
| T2. Asher Cunningham | State College | 1 |
| T2. Hayden Cunningham | State College | 1 |
| T2. Shane Focht | State College | 1 |
| T2. Pierson Manville | State College | 1 |
| T2. Braden Newby | State College | 1 |
| T2. Eric Weaver | State College | 1 |
This story was originally published December 19, 2021 at 1:46 PM.
