Here are Centre County’s high school wrestling leaders through Jan. 2

The high school wrestling season has hit the holiday stretch of the year.

Centre County’s teams were part of three duals the week of Christmas, with three others postponed during the same week. Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte and State College also took part in some individual tournaments.

The Eagles picked up a huge 45-23 win over Brookville in a battle of top-15 teams on Dec. 23. They had wins from Matthew Knepp (215 pounds, decision), Gavin Guenot (106, fall), Lucas Fye (113, technical fall), Coen Bainey (120, fall), Jeffre Pifer (145, fall), Mason Reese (152, fall), Cameron Dubbs (160, decision), Caleb Close (172, major decision) and Noah Foltz (189, fall).

BEA came up just shy of a team title at the two-day MyHouse Trojan Wars tournament at Chambersburg High School. It finished with 138.5 team points for a second-place finish behind West Perry (140) with five placewinners in Fye (113, 2nd), Bainey (120, 3rd), Foltz (189, 3rd), Close (172, 7th) and Guenot (106, 8th).

The Raiders’ two scheduled duals last week were postponed. They competed in the Conestoga Valley Holiday Classic on Dec. 29-30, and came away with a third-place team finish.

Bellefonte finished with 147 team points, which was behind Mifflin County (241) and Central Dauphin (211). It had eight placewinners with three that made the finals — Jude Swisher (152, 1st), Aidan O’Shea (132, 1st), Gage Long (138, 2nd), Garrett Choates (113, 3rd), Tyler Putnam (215, 4th), Addison Shawley (189, 7th), Nate Smith (138, 8th) and Cameron Garcia (106, 8th).

The Little Lions haven’t had a dual since Dec. 14, and their last action was Dec. 18 in the King of the Mountain. They took part in the illustrious Powerade Tournament this week.

State College finished 16th in the 65-team field with 74 points, but only had eight wrestlers compete. It had three placewinners in Pierson Manville (138, 1st), Nick Pavlechko (215, 4th) and Asher Cunningham (120, 7th).

Penns Valley and Philipsburg-Osecola each packed in a dual before Christmas.

The Rams suffered their first loss of the season, when they were defeated by Tyrone, 39-31, on Dec. 21. Winners for Penns Valley were Ty Watson (145, fall), Brandon Corl (172, fall), Cole Felker (189, decision), Hunter Lyons (215, fall), Jack Darlington (106, forfeit) and Carter Homan (126, major decision).

The Mounties picked up their first win of the season, when they beat Altoona, 43-27, on Dec. 23. Winners for P-O were Marcus Gable (145, major decision), Austin Foster (160, fall), Luke Hughes (172, decision), Chase Klinger (285, fall), Sam McDonald (106, fall), Hunter Kephart (120, fall), Nick Coudriet (126, fall) and Scott Frantz (132, fall).

Let’s take a look at the movement on the leaderboards:

Wins

Two weeks ago, there was a three-way tie at the top, and seven wrestlers had already claimed double-digit victories on the year.

Now, one stands alone at the top and there are 13 wrestlers with 10-plus wins.

Manville was part of that three-way tie, but his 16 victories lead Centre County. The sophomore had five victories to claim the 138-pound title at the Powerade tournament.

Manville picked up probably one of the biggest wins of his high school career when he topped Hempfield’s Briar Priest in the semifinals, 4-3. Priest, who is a senior and a Pitt commit, is the defending 132-pound PIAA Class 3A champion.

Manville’s teammate in Cunningham sits second in the county with 14 wins. Cunningham had four wins to finish seventh in just his second varsity tournament.

Teammates Swisher and O’Shea each had four wins en route to their Conestoga Valley Holiday Classic titles. They are also tied for third in the county with 13 victories.

Swisher and O’Shea each picked up their 10th wins of the season this past week as well. Swisher’s was a pin of Bayard-Rustin’s Dayshawn Jacobs in 1:47 to open his tournament. O’Shea’s 10th was in his title run opener, where he racked up a 16-0 technical fall in 2:00 of Lampeter Strasburg’s Andrew Cramer.

Here are the other wrestlers to earn their 10th wins on the season:

Bald Eagle Area: The Eagles had a pair in Bainey (11 wins) and Close (11). Bainey topped Benedictine College Prep’s Brycen Arbogast, 4-2, in the 120-pound consolation semifinals. Close pinned JW Robinson’s Stephen Azua in 2:34 during their 172-pound consolation sixth round.

Bellefonte: Tyler Putnam (11) joined Swisher and O’Shea by getting win No. 10 this week. Putnam had to put in some extra work for the win too, as he topped Central Dauphin’s Carson Cassel 2-1 in tiebreaker-1 of their 215-pound consolation quarterfinals match.

State College: Shane Focht (10) became the fifth Little Lions wrestler to get to double digit wins this year. His 10th victory was a pin of Laurel’s Coltin Hill in 4:37 of their 285-pound consolation second round match of the Powerade tournament.

Pins

There were only a couple of wrestlers on the leaderboard that had multiple falls these past two weeks.

The biggest gainer was Swisher, which comes as no surprise as he is attempting to break Bellefonte’s season pin mark.

During his title run, the Penn commit used nothing but pins — four to be exact — to earn his title. He is now tied for the county lead with Watson at 11.

Swisher’s fastest fall during the tournament came in the finals, when he put Octorara’s Mike Trainor in 1:05. The Raiders’ wrestler also became just the second county wrestler to get 10 on the year. His 10th fall came in the semifinals in 3:13 of Delon Catholic’s Domonic Giraffa.

Focht used back-to-back falls after dropping into the consolation bracket of the Powerade tournament. His seven pins on the year are good for fifth in the county.

Putnam and Close were the only other wrestlers that are on the leaderboard to have multiple pins. They each had two to get to six on the year, which is tied with three other wrestlers for sixth in the county.

Putnam opened his Conestoga Valley Holiday Classic by putting Hershey’s David Essis on his back in 3:28. His second pin came against a District 6 foe in Mifflin County’s Tucker Crum, 4:25 in Putnam’s first match in the consolation bracket.

Close opened his MyHouse Trojan Wars tournament with a pin of Greencastle’s Adam Booze in 2:34. His other pin was the previously noted victory over Azua.

Major decisions

There are a pair of BEA wrestlers leading this category now after having multiple major decisions the past two weeks.

Bainey and Foltz are those Eagles’ wrestlers and their three major decisions lead the way for the county now.

Foltz had three alone during his run to that third-place finish in the MyHouse Trojan Wars tournament. The senior had a pair over the same wrestler in Chambersburg’s Aiden Hight.

Foltz first beat Hight, 9-1, in the third round of the championship bracket. The pair faced off in the consolation semifinals, where Foltz had a 10-1 win. In the consolation finals, the BEA wrestler topped Shippensburg’s Diesel Koser, 12-4.

Bainey had two during his third-place finish. The junior topped West Perry’s Jackson Rush, 11-2, during their third-round championship match. Bainey used another 11-2 win to reach the consolation semifinals over York Suburban’s Tyler Adams.

Close had a pair of major decisions over the past two weeks to come onto the leaderboard. He topped Brookville’s Easton Belfiore, 9-0, during the dual. Close then shutout Washington’s Tyler Meisenzahl, 13-0, to finish seventh at the MyHouse Trojan Wars.

Homan, Felker and Dubbs all added another major decision to get to multiple major decisions on the year.

Tech falls & fastest fall

O’Shea sits at the top of the technical falls category after he earned another this year. The Franklin & Marshall commit is now up to three on the year.

O’Shea’s previously mentioned win over Cramer was that county-leading victory.

Fye and Long became the third and fourth wrestlers, respectively, to get to multiple technical falls on the season. Fye racked up a 16-1 win over Brookville’s Jared Popson in 5:28 during the dual win for BEA. Long used a 16-0 shutout of Octorara’s Kai Johnson in 5:30 of their second-round championship match for his second.

Guenot became just the 10th county wrestler to earn a technical fall this year, when he shut out Perkiomen Valley’s Joseph Capaldo in their 106-pound consolation fourth round match in 5:00.

There were no new times added to the fastest fall’s list, which leaves Watson and Pavlechko with the quickest win so far at 11 seconds.

Leaders

Wins

Pins

Fastest Falls

Technical Falls

Major Decisions

Nate Cobler

Centre Daily Times

814-231-4609

Nate Cobler is a part-time reporter covering all things wrestling, either Penn State or Centre County’s high schools, for the Centre Daily Times. He’ll also cover other sports too. When he isn’t writing about sports, he is working for a local mortgage broker, Providence Mortgage Group.