Here are Centre County’s high school wrestling leaders through Feb. 20

The postseason is here — for three of Centre County’s wrestling teams at least.

Bald Eagle Area, Penns Valley and Philipsburg-Osceola each competed in the District 6 Class 2A Championships on Friday and Saturday.

It will come as no surprise that most of the movement this week on the leaderboards is from wrestlers at those three schools.

However, Bellefonte and State College will get their chances in postseason action on Feb. 26 in the District 6 Class 3A Championships.

Here’s a look at the movement on the leaderboards:

Wins

The leader has changed in this category several times this year, which is common.

However, there is a tie now at the top with a pair of underclassmen leading the way.

Penns Valley’s Ty Watson and Bald Eagle Area’s Caleb Close both have 34 wins to lead the county.

Watson, a sophomore, is the lone county wrestler to be undefeated on the season. He came close to suffering his first loss in the District 6 145-pound finals, as he trailed early, but he stayed poised, rallied for the win and claimed his first district crown.

Watson collected four wins on the way to a crown. He actually entered the postseason with 30 wins, which he achieved in a Feb. 8 dual against Clearfield’s Luke Freeland (7-3 decision).

Close, who is a freshman, made the finals in his first district tournament, which is impressive in one sense — but to do it at an upper weight class (172 pounds), that’s something else. Close showed off a veteran-like performance, gutting out quarterfinals and semifinals victories to get to the finals.

He entered as the No. 2 seed at his class and had 31 wins to open the postseason.

Bellefonte senior wrestler Jude Swisher sits just behind the underclassmen with 33 wins.

Bald Eagle Area’s Coen Bainey and Philipsburg-Osceola’s Marcus Gable each claimed district titles — the third for Bainey. They also were able to get to 30 wins on the season, which is good for a tie for fourth in the county.

Bainey just needed three wins to claim his crown, but Gable needed four, which is dependent on the number of wrestlers per weight class. Coincidentally, they each got that 30th win in their finals matchups.

Bainey continued his roll of bonus points in the District 6 tournament by collecting a 9-1 major decision over the Mounties’ Nick Coudriet in the 120-pound finals. It was Bainey’s ninth bonus-point win in the district tournament — seven pins, one technical fall and that major decision.

Gable topped Tyrone’s Ashton Sipes, 5-3, in the 132-pound finals.

The Rams’ Cole Felker and Jack Darlington are just one win away from 30 on the year as they each earned regional spots with a fifth- and fourth-place finish, respectively.

Here’s who reached at least 20 wins on the season:

Bald Eagle Area: The Eagles had a pair in Cameron Dubbs and Matthew Knepp. Dubbs (21 wins) pinned Penns Valley’s Micah Fetterolf in the 160-pound consolation quarterfinals in 40 seconds to secure his regional spot. Knepp (20) pinned Richland’s Ryvan Audi in 2:27 to finish seventh at 215 pounds.

Philipsburg-Osceola: Coudriet (21) fell in the district finals, but he opened his run to the title match by pinning United’s Michael Monty in 47 seconds in the quarterfinals for his 20th win.

Here’s who reached at least 10 wins on the season:

Bald Eagle Area: The Eagles had a trio in Mason Reese (12), Kevin Taylor (11) and Tayten Yoder (10) get to double-digit wins. Reese edged United’s Aidan Gallaher, 3-2, in their 152-pound second round match. Taylor snuck by Huntingdon’s Eden Wagner, 4-3, to secure his 132-pound regional spot. Yoder shut out Cambria Heights’ Jack Sheredy, 3-0, in their 145-pound consolation third round bout.

Bellefonte: The Raiders’ Grady Garrison (10) earned his 10th victory when he pinned Huntingdon’s Mason Taylor in 1:07 of a Feb. 9 dual.

Pins

Watson has been leading the way in this category for quite some time.

He traded the lead spot with Swisher on a couple of occasions, but over the past month, it’s been all Watson.

The pin king added two more falls during the District 6 Championships to get to 26 on the year. However, to Watson it’s just a number, but he is trying to set the season pin mark that is currently held by Malachi DuVall at 29.

Watson opened by sticking Moshannon Valley’s Jalen Kurten in 1:01 of their 145-pound second round match. In one of the more anticipated semifinal bouts, Watson took on P-O’s Austin Foster, who is high up on this list too.

The two went back and forth but eventually Watson came out on top by flattening Foster in 3:17.

Foster claimed three falls during the championships and is now tied for second in the county with Swisher. Each wrestler has 21 pins apiece.

Foster also picked up his 20th pin in the process when he put Huntingdon’s Devin Grubb on his back in 50 seconds of their quarterfinals match.

Felker became the fourth county wrestler to get 20-plus pins on the year. His 20 falls is good for fourth in the county. He flattened River Valley’s Chase Stuchal in 4:50 of their 172-pound consolation quarterfinals match to secure his regional spot.

Felker’s teammate Hunter Lyons climbed his way up the leaderboard by collecting three falls on his way to a third-place finish at 189 pounds. Lyons now has 17 pins on the season, which is tied with State College’s Pierson Manville for sixth in the county.

The Eagles’ Matthew Knepp made his way on to the board for the first time this year. The senior amassed three falls during the District 6 championships to get to 15 on the year. He is tied with teammate Jeffre Pifer for ninth in the county.

These wrestlers got to double-digit pins this week:

Bald Eagle Area: Gavin Guenot (10 pins) opened up his 106-pound consolation bracket run with a pin of Penn Cambia’s Isaiah Chyr in 1:33.

Penns Valley: The Rams had a pair in Micah Fetterolf (11) and Nate Long (10) get to double digits on the year. Fetterolf stuck Bellwood-Antis’ Julius Diossa in 1:29 of their 160-pound second round bout. Long took care of Southern Huntingdon’s Elijah Harper in 1:39 of their consolation fourth round.

Philipsburg-Osceola: The Mounties also had a duo in Chase Klinger (13) and Sammy McDonald (11) get to double digit pins. Klinger’s 10th pin came first when he pinned West Branch’s Tyler Biggans in 4:28 during a Feb. 8 dual. McDonald took care of Cambria Heights’ Hunter Jones in 3:18 in McDonald’s first ever district tournament match at 106 pounds.

Major decisions

As it has been for most of the year, no one seems to want to take the lead of this category by themselves.

Instead, another wrestler has joined the lead pack, who all have four major decisions.

BEA’s Lucas Fye became the seventh wrestler to get to four major decisions on the year. Fye shut out United’s Gideon Bracken, 9-0, in their 113-pound semifinals match.

Felker climbed into a three-way tie for eighth in the county as he got to three major decisions on the season. He shut out Forest Hills’ Tye Templeton, 12-0, to finish fifth at 172 pounds.

Gable and Taylor were able to collect their second major decisions during the District 6 Championships.

Gable racked up a 13-4 win over Penns Valley’s Nate Long in their 132-pound quarterfinals match. Taylor topped Penn Cambria’s Anthony Coukart, 10-1, to finish fifth at 132 pounds.

Technical falls & Fastest falls

McDonald was the only wrestler to earn a technical fall during the District 6 2A Championships. It was his first of the year, when he shut out Westmont Hilltop’s Abbigail Garner, 16-0 in 3:36 of wrestling.

Bellefonte’s Aidan O’Shea remained the leader of the technical fall category. He is the only one to have double digit technical falls, but he also added another to get to 11 on the year.

O’Shea shut out Huntingdon’s Wagner, 15-0, in 4:30 of wrestling in a Feb. 9 dual.

Penns Valley’s Colten Shunk jumped into a three-way tie for second in the county with four technical falls. He topped Clearfield’s Adam Rougeux, 17-0, in 4:29 of wrestling in a Feb. 8 dual.

There were no new times added to the fastest falls list.

Leaders

Wins

Pins

Fastest Falls

Technical Falls

Major Decisions

This story was originally published February 20, 2022 at 2:08 PM.

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.