Shorthanded Penns Valley suffers first loss of season to Quentin Wright’s Tyrone wrestling team
Penns Valley wrestling coach Joel Brinker knew his squad was in for a rough night on Tuesday.
Not only were the Rams down three starters, but they had three wrestlers making their dual debuts against a Tyrone team that was coached by first-year head coach and former Penn State and Bald Eagle Area wrestler Quentin Wright.
In the end, Wright’s Golden Eagles (3-0) handed Penns Valley (6-1) its first loss of the season by a 39-31 score.
“We put some stress on them (his team) because we tried to gamble,” Brinker said, “and bump everyone up from (1)52 up. It didn’t pan out the way I thought it could, but I knew we had to try something. It just didn’t work out.”
Brinker’s squad was without those three starters in Colten Shunk (120 pounds), Ethan Fetterolf (152) and Micah Fetterolf (160). The Rams had to forfeit at Shunk’s weight, meanwhile seeing two wrestlers make their dual debuts at the Fetterolfs’ weights.
The dual began at 132 pounds, and wasn’t a very good start for the Rams, who knew they were giving up two forfeits later in the dual.
Tyrone’s Ashton Sipes racked up a 15-1 lead on Nick Cain, before pinning the Penns Valley wrestler in 3:34. Lukas Walk followed Sipes with a fall of his own in 3:45 over Nate Long.
“It was huge that we started off really good with Ashton and Lukas,” Wright said. “They really set the tone for the match.”
Ty Watson stopped the bleeding for a moment for the Rams, when he stuck the Golden Eagles’ Brody Klein in 1:37. Watson’s win pulled Penns Valley to within 12-6.
Tyrone strung together back-to-back wins at 152 and 160 pounds.
The Golden Eagles’ Reese Wood pinned Micah Good in 2:40. Wood’s teammate in Andrew Weaver came up a point shy of a major decision when he topped David Martin 7-0. Tyrone led 21-6.
“They wrestled hard. I told them, ‘Quentin is going to have his guys ready to wrestle.’ They did,” Brinker said.
Penns Valley wasn’t deterred, though.
Brandon Corl made his dual debut for the Rams in style at 172 pounds. He nearly pinned Jermaine Myers in the first period, but instead led 5-2. In the second period, Corl ended up getting the fall of Myers in 3:29.
Cole Felker used a five-point second period to earn a 9-4 win over Zach Lash. Hunter Lyons came up with a huge pin at 215 pounds in 1:23 over Jacob Rice, to tie the dual up at 21-21.
“I thought it was a toss up. I gave a slight lean to us, to be honest with you,” Brinker said of heading to heavyweight with the dual tied. “I thought we could pull out a W there.”
As Brinker said, things didn’t go as planned and that was the case at heavyweight.
Tyrone’s Braden Ewing caught Kollin Brungart and pinned him in 1:49. The win gave the Golden Eagles a 27-21 lead — one they wouldn’t lose.
The Rams’ Jack Darlington received a forfeit at 106 pounds. Then, Penns Valley had to give away two forfeits, which sealed its fate at 39-27 with one bout to go.
Carter Homan finshed the dual on a high note for the Rams by securing a 10-2 major decision over Remington Fleck.
“Penns Valley is an awesome team. They are a solid team the whole way through,” Wright said. “We kind of got lucky tonight with some of their starters being out, (which) gave us a chance (mathematically). All their other guys did what they needed to do.”
Tyrone 39, Penns Valley 31
Tuesday at Tyrone
132: Ashton Sipes, T, pinned Nick Cain, 3:34
138: Lukas Walk, T, pinned Nate Long, 3:45
145: Ty Watson, PV, pinned Brody Klein, 1:37
152: Reese Wood, T, pinned Micah Good, 2:40
160: Andrew Weaver, T, dec. David Martin, 7-0
172: Brandon Corl, PV, pinned Jermaine Myers, 3:29
189: Cole Felker, PV, dec. Zach Lash, 9-4
215: Hunter Lyons, PV, pinned Jacob Rice, 1:23
285: Braden Ewing, T, pinned Kollin Brungart, 1:49
106: Jack Darlington, PV, won by forfeit
113: Korey Walls, T, won by forfeit
120: Logan Rumberger, T, won by forfeit
126: Carter Homan, PV, major dec. Remington Fleck, 10-2
Takedowns: PV 5, T 11
Records: Penns Valley 6-1, Tyrone 3-0
Next match: Bellefonte at Penns Valley, Jan. 4, 7 p.m.; Bellefonte at Tyrone, Thursday, 7 p.m.
