State College wrestling gets ‘wake up call’ before postseason gets underway
With the District 6 Class 3A dual championship semifinals on the horizon, State College wrestling was aiming for a tuneup.
Instead, the Little Lions got a big eye-opener in a 53-16 loss to No. 5 Williamsport on Monday.
“We definitely got some work to do,” State College coach Ryan Cummins said. “We certainly didn’t wrestle to the level that we could have. I give all the respect to Williamsport. They came out hard, and won those matches by out-toughing us.”
The Little Lions won just three bouts of the 11 that were contested — two weights were forfeited to the Millionaires. In the eight wins that Williamsport collected, it had bonus points in seven of them — five pins.
It was a sight that Cummins wasn’t too proud of for his team.
“A lot of it comes down to pride. You don’t just roll over,” he said, “and a lot of guys did, really that’s unacceptable. They are going to hear that tomorrow (at practice), and (we’ll) move forward.”
Millionaires coach Brian Nasdeo felt it wasn’t all the State College wrestlers’ faults. His team was just at the top of its game and showed why they are ranked so high in the state.
“They (State College) got tough kids. I know that score doesn’t show it tonight,” Nasdeo said. “We wrestled really, really well, but I was really worried. I’d love being able to wrestle with them again. The coaching staff just seems like a bunch of great guys. They’re always willing to wrestle.”
The key part of the Little Lions’ dual was that their hammers in Asher Cunningham, Pierson Manville and Nick Pavlechko continued to shine as they’ve done all year. The trio combined for the victories on Monday, and all three scored bonus points.
Cummins knows what he has in those three, and that his other wrestlers look up to each of them. Now, it’s just a matter of them all stepping up and getting on the same level.
“They are role models in the room. They work day in and day out,” he said. “They work in the offseason. They are guys that everybody looks up to, and definitely strive to wrestle like them. Hopefully, they’ll wrestle more like them soon. They’ll be fun to watch here in the postseason.”
With the Little Lions down 12-0, Cunningham stepped on the mat and went to work immediately, recording a takedown five seconds into his 120-pound bout. He added one more takedown and two sets of nearfall points to lead 9-1 after one period of wrestling.
In the second period, Cunningham opened with a reversal and work on pinning combinations to collect six nearfall points, and claimed a 17-1 technical fall in 3:39.
After Williamsport won the next three bouts with two pins and a decision, Manville made quick work of Gavin Reed in their 145-pound matchup. Manville tooked Reed down, collected three nearfall points, and pinned Reed in 37 seconds.
The score was 27-11 in favor of Williamsport. The Millionaires won the next four bouts with two pins and two major decisions before Pavlechko came up.
Much like Cunningham’s bout, Pavlechko had two takedowns and five nearfall points to hold a 9-1 first period lead over Charlie Lundy at 215 pounds. In the second period, Pavlechko tallied a reversal and collected six nearfall points to secure a 16-1 technical fall in 3:27.
“They can go with anyone in the country,” Nasdeo said of the trio. “Hayden (Cunningham), I know he’s out and injured, but him too. You put him in that lineup back there, and maybe just a little more nervous going down the road there a little bit. One or two things go the other way. It’s a great program. I’m happy to wrestle them, and hope we can continue to wrestle them.”
The Little Lions must put Monday behind them because they have to get ready for the aforementioned District 6 Class 3A dual championships.
They will head to Mifflin County along with Bellefonte and Central Mountain on Saturday, to compete for a spot in the PIAA dual championships in Hershey on Feb. 10-12. However, as Cummins mentioned, State College has some work to do.
“It’s definitely a wake-up call for them, if nothing else,” Cummins said of Monday’s loss. “They can’t skate by. You can’t do the minimum and expect to win. They are going to have to dig deep, and really give a good performance to show some heart and some pride to beat Mifflin County.”
Williamsport 53, State College 16
Monday at State College
106: Jack Heller, W, pinned Charlton Allen, 1:50
113: Cael Nasdeo, W, won by forfeit
120: Asher Cunningham, SC, tech. fall Luke Segraves, 17-1 (3:39)
126: Devon Harris, W, pinned Eric Weaver, 4:22
132: Braden Bower, W, pinned Jacob Campbell, 1:27
138: Santino White, W, dec. Owen Barr, 7-5
145: Pierson Manville, SC, pinned Gavin Reed, :37
152: Riley Bower, W, pinned Thomas Williams, 1:00
160: Carter Weaver, W, pinned Josh Hershbine, 1:24
172: Roman Marrone, W, major dec. Braden Newby, 13-1
189: Sebastian Robinson, W, major dec. Carter Weaverling, 16-5
215: Nick Pavlechko, SC, tech. fall Charlie Lundy, 16-1 (3:27)
285: Charles Crews, W, won by forfeit
Takedowns: W 14, SC 9
Records: Williamsport 9-0, State College 7-5
Next match: State College at Mifflin County, District 6 Class 3A semifinals, Saturday, 10 a.m.
This story was originally published January 31, 2022 at 10:36 PM.
