Centre County wrestlers collect four District 6 Class 2A crowns, as 21 move onto regional
Step one is complete for Bald Eagle Area, Penns Valley and Philipsburg-Osecola wrestlers.
The three Centre County programs combined for four District 6 Class 2A champions on Saturday.
The Eagles had a pair of title winners in Coen Bainey and Noah Foltz. The Rams had a champ in Ty Watson. The Mounties’ Marcus Gable was the final man standing in his weight class.
Centre County will be represented well in the PIAA Southwest Regional in two weeks at Peters Township High School in McMurray as 21 wrestlers moved one step closer to Hershey.
BEA finished second in the team race with 186 points. It trailed the defending champions in Forest Hills, which ended with 205.5 team points.
P-O had a total of 157.5 points to finish fourth as Penns Valley ended in fifth with 145 points. Tyrone rounded out the top five with a third-place finish at 162.5 team points.
Here’s a look at who advanced for the Eagles, Rams and Mounties:
Bald Eagle Area
Champions: Bainey (120), Foltz (189)
Regional qualifiers: Gavin Guenot (106, 5th), Lucas Fye (113, 2nd), Kevin Taylor (132, 5th), Jeffre Pifer (138, 3rd), Mason Reese (152, 6th), Cameron Dubbs (160, 5th), Caleb Close (172, 2nd)
Other finishers: Matthew Knepp (215, 7th)
Eliminated: Hunter Gardner (126, 1-2), Tayten Yoder (145, 3-2)
Team score: Second, 186 points
Recap: The Eagles started the day with five semifinalists.
They pushed four into the finals, and came away with the two champs. Not only did BEA have those champions, but it will have nine regional qualifiers, which was just short of coach Ron Guenot’s goal of 10.
“I thought we had a good day. I thought the kids wrestled with a lot of heart,” Guenot said. “We turned around some of the losses that we had this year, and won some of those tight matches. The kids responded very well. We had momentum right off the bat early this morning and continued throughout the day. I’m proud of the effort and happy for the guys.”
The Eagles champions have traveled different paths leading up to Saturday’s titles.
Bainey has been all too familiar with getting to the district finals as he did it in his two previous years of varsity wrestling. However, one thing remained constant with him — bonus points.
The junior bonused his way to his third straight District 6 2A crown at a third different weight.
“It’s something I strive to do every match. Luckly, at this tournament, I seem to keep the streak going,” Bainey said.
On Friday, Bainey used a pin to reach the semifinals. In the semifinals, Bainey pinned Huntingdon’s Alex Gladfelter in 3:05 to make the finals.
The Eagles wrestler took on a county foe in the Mounties’ Nick Coudriet in the finals. Leading 7-0 late in the third period, Bainey let Coudriet escape, and snapped off a takedown with 4 seconds remaining to secure a 9-1 major decision.
“It’s an awesome feeling every time. It’s a great thing to do,” Bainey said of his third crown, “but I’m looking forward to that regional title. I need to get one of them now, that’s the next goal.”
As Bainey has been accustomed to being in the finals of tournaments, Foltz appeared in just his third ever title match in his high school career.
The saying goes, the third time’s the charm, and it couldn’t have been proven more true for Foltz.
Earlier this year, he made the Big 7 Tournament finals, where he was pinned. Just about three weeks ago, the senior made the Ultimate Warrior finals, where again he was pinned.
However, Foltz said that Ultimate Warrior finals appearance helped him in prep for Saturday.
“I was really nervous before the Ultimate Warrior final. I was shaking around like an hour before,” he explained, “Tonight, I told myself, ‘I’m prepared, I go to practice six days a week, take care of my body and eat right, so I knew this weekend was going to be a lot different.”
Foltz used a pin on Friday to make the semifinals, where he edged Penns Valley’s Hunter Lyons, 7-4. It set up a finals match with Central Cambria’s Ethan Kubat.
Foltz snapped off an early takedown for a 2-0 lead. Kubat had choice for the second period, and wanted to go on his feet, but neither wrestler scored.
In the third period, Foltz picked up a reversal 40 seconds in, and rode Kubat out for the remainder of the period for the 4-0 title win.
“It hasn’t really set in yet. I know two years ago I took sixth,” Foltz said, “and last year I went 0-2, so for me to be a district champ now it feels amazing, just to rebound like this. I told myself at the beginning of the year that I was going to be a district champ this year, not sure what weight, but I told myself I was going to win districts and make a run in the postseason.”
As for the other finalists in Lucas Fye and Caleb Close, they both came up short, but it’s valuable learning experiences.
Fye was in his second straight district final, and he ran into the same opponent in West Branch’s Landon Bainey, just at a different weight. Fye was tied with Bainey late in the second period, but Bainey collected a takedown and three nearfall points late to hold a 7-2 lead.
In the third period, Fye got a reversal late and a stall point, but couldn’t overcome Bainey for a second year in a 7-5 loss.
“He wanted that match bad, but came up a little bit short,” Guenot said. “The thing about Lucas is, right now, you wouldn’t even know he lost. He has that kind of attitude like I’m going to come back in the room next week and get ready to go for regionals. He has a short memory like that, which I think is a good thing.”
Close was appearing in his first district tournament since he is a freshman. He looked like a veteran at a tough weight class.
He used a 2-0 win to make the semifinals, where he took on a senior in Marion Center’s Gavin Stewart. Close needed a takedown in sudden victory to earn a 6-4 win and finals berth.
Close again took on another senior in Glendale’s Suds Dubler. Dubler led 1-0 to start the third period, but showed off his veteran skills to pin Close in 5:14.
“Caleb wrestled a great tournament. It is a learning experience,” Guenot said. “Dubler is a very tough kid. I think we can learn from what happened there in the finals and improve. For him to be a freshman at 172, a really tough weight class, is very impressive. I know Caleb will keep putting the time in and keep getting better.”
Penns Valley
Champions: Watson (145)
Regional qualifiers: Jack Darlington (106, 4th), Colten Shunk (120, 4th), Cole Felker (172, 5th), Hunter Lyons (189, 3rd)
Other finishers: Nate Long (132, 8th), Ethan Fetterolf (138, 8th), David Martin (152, 7th), Micah Fetterolf (160, 8th)
Eliminated: Chase Fleshman (126, 1-2), Kollin Brungart (215, 1-2)
Team score: Fifth, 145 points
Recap: District champs returning to Spring Mills have become the norm.
It wasn’t any different this year.
Watson kept a streak alive that now has had a Rams’ district champion for the last three years. Andrew Sharer started it two years ago, and Malachi DuVall continued it last year.
However, Watson felt his title this year was a year in the making.
“Last year, was a learning year. We barely had any matches going to districts,” he said. “I lost in the semis, came back to take third, and qualified for regionals. The experience of being here (last year) helped me so much.”
The sophomore bonused his way to the finals with a pin in the second round, an 11-2 major decision in the quarterfinals and a pin in the semifinals over P-O’s Austin Foster. Watson took on a senior in Forest Hills’ Noah Teeter.
Teeter recorded the first points of the bout with a takedown just over midway through the first period. He controlled Watson the rest of the way.
In the second period, Watson started from the bottom position, but struggled to get out from under Teeter. However, with only three seconds remaining, Watson hit a reversal to tie the bout at 2-2 heading to the final frame.
Watson put on a riding clinic for a full period rideout to force sudden victory. Seven seconds into the overtime period, Watson secured the winning takedown for a 4-2 victory.
“It feels amazing. I’ve been practicing all year for this,” he said. “It feels great to come out on top. It means so much to me, everyone supporting me. It feels good. I just dream about this being on top of the podium.”
Watson is now 34-0 on the year with 26 of his wins coming with pins. To the Rams wrestler, those are just numbers. He isn’t focused on them, he’s focused on his goals.
“He’s had a heck of a year. He puts a lot into it too,” coach Joel Brinker said. “In the finals, Teeter is a very quality opponent. He (Watson) wrestled his match, dug deep and kept wrestling. We are very proud of him.”
Even though Watson isn’t focused on the wins and pins, one of his goals seems to be to knock off one of his previous teammates.
“One of my good buddies, Malachi DuVall, has the pin record right now at 29. I’m trying to beat him, so that would be pretty cool,” Watson said with a laugh.
Penns Valley had three others make the semifinals in Darlington, Shunk and Lyons. Of the three, Lyons was the highest finisher in third with all of them making the consolation finals.
Felker came up one round shy of the semifinals, but responded well to get the two wins he needed in the consolation bracket to secure his regional spot. He ended his final district tournament with a 12-0 major decision.
“This is a great team, from top to bottom. The guys bought in, and worked hard everyday,” Brinker said. “I know that some didn’t get their goal right now. We have a lot that were right there in the top eight, that just aren’t moving on. There are a handful that just missed the boat this trip, but a lot of underclassmen are coming back that I think will use this as motivation for next year.”
Philipsburg-Osceola
Champions: Gable (132)
Regional qualifiers: Nick Coudriet (120, 2nd), Scotty Frantz (126, 3rd), Austin Foster (145, 5th), Luke Hughes (152, 5th), Dom Shaw (189, 5th), Chase Klinger (285, 4th)
Other finishers: Sammy McDonald (106, 7th), Hunter Kephart (113, 8th)
Eliminated: Nate Fleck (138, 3-2), Jimmy Richscheit (160, 1-2)
Team score: Fourth, 157.5 points
Recap: On the same day that the Mounties saw former coach Tim McCamley be inducted into the District 6 Hall of Fame, they claimed their first district champion since 2018.
In that year, P-O had two champs in Chase Chapman and Hunter Weitoish, but at the Class 3A level. So, Gable became the program’s first Class 2A champ since the Mounties dropped down in classifications.
Last year, Gable, who was a freshman, competed in his first district tournament and opened by pinning a returning state qualifier. He finished that tournament by pinning that same state qualifier to reach the regional tournament.
“I really think all of the matches last year and where I placed that way,” Gable said, “really helped me get further along (this year). All the practices that I went to, the conditioning and everything prepared me for this moment.”
The sophomore didn’t see the consolation bracket this year. Instead, he was the No. 2 seed, and cruised to the semifinals with a pin and a 13-4 major decision.
In the semifinals, Gable used a reversal and nearfall points in the second period to help secure a 6-2 win and a finals berth. He took on Tyrone’s Ashton Sipes, who was No. 1.
Gable had a strategy in mind for that match.
“In the (third) period, I decided to keep pushing the pace and keep attacking,” he said. “Eventually, I started to see him break a little bit. I kept on him throughout the period, eventually he broke.”
With the bout tied 2-2 early in the third period, Gable secured a takedown with just over one minute remaining. Sipes seemed flustered and gave up a caution point to hand Gable a 5-2 lead with just over 40 seconds remaining.
Sipes escaped to get within 5-3, but couldn’t score the tying points, and Gable claimed his crown.
“It feels absolutely amazing. I’m super glad that I managed to get it,” he said.
Mounties coach Justin Fye added on his champ: “Marcus did a great job in the finals. He didn’t start off like he wanted to, but he pushes the pace. He’ll push the pace for six minutes, and he was doing that. I know he probably wanted to score more there, but that is something we’ll work on in the room.”
As good of a first day that P-O had, the semifinals round didn’t go too well. The Mounties went just 2-4 with Gable and Coudriet as the only winners.
However, they did manage to get seven regional qualifiers, which was the exact number Fye thought his team could get through.
Even though the day didn’t start out well, P-O turned it around and had most of all of the regional qualifiers finish their district tournament with a win.
“We have seven guys going, but we may need an extra van for all of our coaches,” Fye said with a laugh about his comments earlier in the week. “I was very pleased with a great weekend of wrestling. I tell the guys all the time their hard work pays off when they get out on the mat. I felt like it paid off this weekend. We started out really strong yesterday. Today, we didn’t start it like we wanted to, but they turned it around and wrestled really well the second part of the day. We finished strong with a lot of wins here in the medal matches.”
District 6 Class 2A Championships
Saturday at Altoona
Team key: Bald Eagle Area (BEA), Bellwood-Antis (BA), Cambria Heights (CH), Central (C), Claysburg-Kimmel (CK), Forest Hills (FH), Glendale (G), Huntingdon (H), Juniata Valley (JV), Marion Center (MC), Moshannon Valley (MV), Mount Union (MU), Penn Cambria (PC), Penns Valley (PV), Philipsburg-Osceola (P-O), Richland (R), River Valley (RV), Southern Huntingdon (SH), Tyrone (T), United (U), West Branch (WB), Westmont Hilltop (WH)
Team scores: 1. Forest Hills 205.5, 2. Bald Eagle Area 186, 3. Tyrone 162.5, 4. Philipsburg-Osecola 157.5, 5. Penns Valley 145, 6. Glendale 110.5, 7. Huntingdon 108, 8. Penn Cambria 96.5, 9. Marion Center 94.5, 10. Mount Union 88
Finals
106: Jacob Sombronski, U, dec. Korry Walls, T, 5-4 (UTB 3); 113: Landon Bainey, WB, dec. Lucas Fye, BEA, 7-5; 120: Coen Bainey, BEA, major dec. Nick Coudriet, P-O, 9-1; 126: Trent Hoover, PC, dec. Hunter Forcellini, FH, 8-4; 132: Marcus Gable, P-O, dec. Ashton Sipes, T, 5-3; 138: Easton Toth, FH, dec. Liam Cornetto, MC, 3-0; 145: Ty Watson, PV, dec. Noah Teeter, FH, 4-2 (SV); 152: Jackson Arrington, FH, pinned Cole Stuchal, RV, 1:38; 160: Zeke Dubler, G, dec. Dustin Flinn, FH, 4-1; 172: Suds Dubler, G, pinned Caleb Close, BEA, 5:14; 189: Noah Foltz, BEA, dec. Ethan Kubat, CC, 4-0; 215: Kirk Bearjar, FH, dec. Ethan Norris, BA, 2-1; 285: Gunner Singleton, H, dec. Braden Ewing, T, 7-3
Consolation Finals
106: Mason Beatty, MU, major dec. Jack Darlington, PV, 14-1; 120: AJ Chilcote, MU, dec. Colten Shunk, PV, 4-3; 126: Scotty Frantz, P-O, dec. Landon Dunsmore, H, 6-4; 138: Jeffre Pifer, BEA, dec. Lukas Walk, T, 2-0; 189: Hunter Lyons, PV, dec. Niko Smeal, MV, 6-1; 285: Karter Quick, CC, dec. Chase Klinger, P-O, 4-2
Fifth Place Match
106: Gavin Guenot, BEA, dec. Isaiah Shilcosky, FH, 4-2; 132: Kevin Taylor, BEA, major dec. Anthony Coukart, PC, 10-1; 145: Austin Foster, P-O, pinned Devin Grubb, H, :50; 152: Luke Hughes, P-O, dec. Mason Reese, BEA, 2-1; 160: Cameron Dubbs, BEA, dec. Jayce Reck, MU, 3-2; 172: Cole Felker, PV, major dec. Tye Templeton, FH, 12-0; 189: Dom Shaw, P-O, med. forfeit Austin Wagner, PC
Seventh Place Match
106: Sammy McDonald, P-O, pinned Hunter Jones, CH, 1:37; 113: Brevin Michuk, FH, dec. Hunter Kephart, P-O, 2-0 (SV); 132: Eden Wagner, H, dec. Nate Long, PV, 7-6; 138: Caden McCully, U, pinned Ethan Fetterolf, PV, 4:46; 152: David Martin, PV, pinned Deklan Estep, CC, 1:25; 160: Felice Panebianco, WH, pinned Micah Fetterolf, PV, 3:34; 215: Matthew Knepp, BEA, pinned Ryvan Audi, R, 2:27
Consolation Semifinals
106: Darlington, PV, pinned Guenot, BEA, 3:54; 120: Shunk, PV, dec. Cam Stewart, MC, 4-0; 126: Frantz, P-O, major dec. Colton Henning, U, 9-0; 132: George Campbell, G, major dec. Taylor, BEA, 13-4; 138: Pifer, BEA, dec. Austin Syfert, R, 7-2; 145: Reese Wood, T, dec. Foster, P-O, 4-1; 152: Xander Shank, BA, pinned Hughes, P-O, 2:07; Nathan Little, PC, dec. Reese, BEA, 5-3; 160: Andrew Weaver, T, dec. Dubbs, BEA, 2-0; 172: Gavin Stewart, MC, dec. Felker, PV, 4-0; 189: Lyons, PV, pinned Shaw, P-O, 2:09 ; 285: Klinger, P-O, pinned Brad Miller, RV, 1:29
Consolation Quarterfinals
106: Guenot, BEA, dec. Sammy McDonald, P-O, 7-1; 113: Logan Rumberger, T, pinned Hunter Kephart, P-O, 2:30; 132: Taylor, BEA, dec. Eden Wagner, H, 4-3; Anthony Coukart, PC, dec. Long, PV, 11-7; 138: Syfert, R, pinned E. Fetterolf, PV, 4:07; 152: Shank, BA, pinned David Martin, PV, 4:08; Reese, BEA, dec. Estep, CC, 8-5; 160: Dubbs, BEA, pinned M. Fetterolf, PV, :40; 172: Felker, PV, injury def. Jon Hajzus, CC, 3:00; 189: Shaw, P-O, dec. Josh Ryan, MU, 6-4; 215: Billy Bumbarger, WB, dec. Knepp, BEA, 4-2 (SV)
Semifinals
106: Walls, T, pinned Darlington, PV, 1:25; 113: Fye, BEA, major dec. Gideon Bracken, U, 9-0; 120: Bainey, BEA, pinned Alex Gladfelter, H, 3:05; Coudriet, P-O, pinned Shunk, PV, 3:03; 126: Hoover, PC, pinned Frantz, P-O, 1:23; 132: Gable, P-O, dec. Campbell, G, 6-2; 138: Cornetto, MC, dec. Pifer, BEA, 3-2 (UTB 3); 145: Watson, PV, pinned Foster, P-O, 3:17; 152: Stuchal, RV, dec. Hughes, P-O, 2-0 (SV); 172: Close, BEA, dec. Stewart, MC, 6-4 (SV); 189: Foltz, BEA, dec. Lyons, PV, 7-4; 285: Singleton, H, pinned Klinger, P-O, 4:18
Consolation Fourth Round
106: McDonald, P-O, tech. fall, Abbigail Garner, WH, 16-0 (3:36); Guenot, BEA, pinned Isaiah Chyr, PC, 1:33; 113: Kephart, P-O, dec. Kyler Cromwell, SH, 7-5; 126: Caden Chilcote, MU, dec. Chase Fleshman, PV, 8-2; Colton Henning, U, dec. Hunter Gardner, BEA, 6-0; 132: Taylor, BEA, pinned Hunter Schnarrs, WB, 2:59; Long, PV, pinned Elijah Harper, SH, 1:19; 138: E. Fetterolf, PV, pinned Dayton Johnson, G, 1:32; Caden McCully, U, pinned Nate Fleck, P-O, 1:35; 145: Kaden Barnhart, RV, dec. Tayten Yoder, 3-0; 152: Martin, PV, pinned Austin Shoff, MV, 1:25; Reese, BEA, pinned John Myers, WB, 2:25; 160: Dubbs, BEA, dec. Jimmy Richscheit, P-O, 3-0; M. Fetterolf, PV, pinned Traystin Tomalson, U, 3:50; 172: Felker, PV, pinned Chase Stuchal, RV, 4:50; 189: Shaw, P-O, dec. Jason Pluebell, BA, 9-2; 215: Knepp, BEA, pinned Cade Krouse, U, 2:59; Bumbarger, WB, pinned Kollin Brungart, PV, 4:23
