Penns Valley’s Ty Watson sets record as 6 Centre County Class 2A wrestlers get PIAAs underway
Editor’s note: Results from the first day of PIAA Class 3A wrestling championships were not available as of press time. For those results and updates throughout the weekend from Hershey, visit www.CentreDaily.com.
After the first day of the PIAA Class 2A wrestling championships Thursday, Centre County had five wrestlers remaining.
The day began with six wrestlers from county schools. Of the five left, four still have a shot at PIAA gold as they are in the quarterfinals.
Bald Eagle Area has three needing just one win to reach the semifinals and secure a PIAA medal. Penns Valley has one wrestler.
As for the team race, the Eagles are sixth with 17.5 points. The Rams are tied for 36th with six points.
Notre Dame Green Pond leads the way with 41.5 points. Saucon Valley is second, 8.5 points behind Notre Dame with Chestnut Ridge in third at 26 points. Brookville and Faith Christian Academy, fourth and fifth respectively, round out the top five.
Here’s a look at who is still wrestling for Centre County:
Penns Valley
Wrestlers still alive: Ty Watson (145, quarterfinals)
Wrestlers eliminated: Jack Darlington (106, 0-2)
Team score: 6 points, Tied for 34th
Recap: Watson had a pretty easy day.
He had just one match and made some history.
The sophomore took on Line Mountain’s Mason Leshock in the second round. He took Leshock down late in the first period, and collected nearfall points for a 5-0 lead after one period.
Just over 30 seconds into the second period, Watson earned a reversal on Leshock, took him to his back and picked up a fall in 2:48 of the first PIAA Championships match of his career.
The pin was Watson’s 30th of the season, which set a new mark for the Rams. The previous mark was 29 held by PIAA runner-up Malachi DuVall.
“It feels amazing. It feels good beating one of my good buddies,” Watson said. “Now, I was informed that Baylor (Shunk) has the win record for a season at 41, so I guess we’ll go for that one, too.”
Watson now has 39 victories on the year.
Darlington had a rough first trip to the PIAA Championships. He trailed Trinity’s Major Lewis, 7-0, to start the third period of their 106-pound first round match.
Darlington was able to secure two takedowns in the third period but was too far behind to come back in a 10-4 loss.
The sophomore ran into fellow District 6 wrestler in Tyrone’s Korry Walls in the first round of consolations. Darlington scored the first points of the bout with a counter takedown of Walls, but those were his lone points.
Walls controlled the match over the final two periods, scoring 12 unanswered points, ending Darlington’s season with a 12-2 defeat.
“Jack has had a heck of year,” Penns Valley coach Joel Brinker said. “I know it burns, hurts and stings now for him. Coach Wise and I are proud of him big time. I’m sure everyone in the Penns Valley community (is too). Jack will be better for it. He puts in all the time. He’s going to be fine in the long run.”
Bald Eagle Area
Wrestlers still alive: Lucas Fye (113 pounds, quarterfinals), Coen Bainey (120, quarterfinals), Caleb Close (172, quarterfinals), Noah Foltz (189, consolation second round).
Team score: 17.5 points, Tied for 5th
Recap: The Eagles brought four wrestlers and all four are alive.
Three of the four remain alive for a PIAA gold.
Close had the most action of the quarterfinalists as he had to wrestle two matches. His winning scores were exactly the same, 1-0.
He used third-period escapes in both matches to move one win away from securing a PIAA medal as a freshman.
“It doesn’t matter how you win your matches. You move on,” BEA coach Ron Guenot said. “He’s a tough mat wrestler. I told him, ‘I wouldn’t mind him getting a takedown. I like those 1-0 wins. We’ll take them.’ A takedown would make me a little more confident. It’s Caleb. He’s tough on the mat. For him to be one match away from being in the semifinals, for a freshman, is quite a feat.”
Fye and Bainey each only had one bout and came away with wins.
Fye really had no problems with Curwensville’s Jake Cafley in their second round match. The sophomore secured an early first period takedown for a lead.
He added an escape in the second period, and secured a takedown late on his way to secure a pin with five seconds remaining in the period.
“You come down here and you build momentum. I think that is a good momentum builder for him,” Guenot said. “We’ll get back at it tomorrow. He feels good. He’ll be ready to go.”
Bainey controlled his match with Lancaster Catholic’s Eric Howe. He earned the first points with a takedown early in the first period, and kept Howe from escaping.
In the second period, the junior escaped quickly, had a takedown late and collected nearfall points to lead 7-0. In the third period, Bainey gave up some uncharacteristic points with a questionable stall and caution point for a 7-2 victory.
“Coen wanted to ride the kid. He got on top, and the referee called him for stalling,” Guenot said. “At the end of the day, it was a solid win. The name of the game, move on and survive.”
Foltz, who made his first PIAA Championships, had a great opener against Boiling Springs’ Collin Neal. He secured two first period takedowns and added nearfall points for a 7-0 lead.
In the second period, Foltz picked up another takedown and nearfall points for a dominating 11-0 lead. He finished off the match by earning a 16-1 technical fall in 4:32.
In the second round, Foltz ran into a buzzsaw in Greenville’s Cole Karpinski, who is 38-0 on the season and the top seed. Karpinski methodically picked up three takedowns and added some nearfall points in a 10-0 shutout.
“He definitely ran into a tough kid there. We knew it was going to be a tough match,” Guenot said of Foltz’s second round bout. “He knows what he needs to do. There is no reason why he can’t come back and be on the podium. He’s in a good mindset. He’s beat a lot of tough kids throughout the season, so there’s no reason why he can’t do it here.”
PIAA Class 2A Championships
Thursday at Giant Center, Hershey
Team key: Archbishop Ryan (AR), Athens (A), Bald Eagle Area (BEA), Bedford (BF), Benton (B), Bentworth (BW), Berks Catholic (BC), Beth-Center (B-C), Bishop McDevitt (BM), Boiling Springs (BS), Brandywine Heights (BH), Brockway (BY), Brookville (BV), Burgettstown (BT), Burrell (BR), Cambridge Springs (CS), Camp Hill (CH), Canton (C), Catasauqua (CQ), Central Cambria (CC), Central Valley (CV), Chestnut Ridge (CR), Cochranton (CT), Commodore Perry (CP), Conneaut (CN), Conwell-Egan (CE), Corry (CY), Cranberry (CB), Curwensville (CW), Danville (D), Derry (DY), Eisenhower (E), Elizabeth Forward (EF), Faith Christian Academy (FCA), Forest Hills (FH), Fort Cherry (FC), Fort LeBeouf (FL), Franklin (F), Frazier (FZ), Girard (GR), Glendale (G), Greenville (GV), Grove City (GC), Hamburg (HB), Harbor Creek (HC), Hickory (HY), Hopewell (HW), Hughesville (HV), Huntingdon (H), Jefferson Morgan (JM), Jersey Shore (JS), Johnsonburg (J), Kane (K), Lackawanna Trail (LT), Lancaster Catholic (LC), Laurel (L), Lehighton (LH), Lewisburg (LB), Line Mountain (LM), Littlestown (LTW), Marion Center (MC), Meadowbrook Christian (MDC), Meyersdale (MY), Midd-West (MW), Mifflinburg (MB), Montgomery (MT), Montour (M), Montoursville (MTV), Mount Carmel (MTC), Mount Pleasant (MP), Mount Union (MU), Muncy (MN), Newport (N), North Penn-Liberty (NPL), Northern Lebanon (NL), Northern Lehigh (NLH), Northwestern (NW), Notre Dame-Green Pond (NDGP), Palisades (P), Penn Cambria (PC), Penns Valley (PV), Pope John Paul II (PJP), Port Allegany (PA), Quaker Valley (QV), Reynolds (R), Sagertown (ST), Saucon Valley (SV), Sharon (SH), Somerset (S), South Side Beaver (SSB), South Williamsport (SW), Southern Columbia (SC), Southmoreland (SML), Sullivan County (SCY), Susquenita (SQ), Titusville (TV), Towanda (TW), Tri Valley (TVY), Trinity (TY), Tussey Mountain (TM), Tyrone (T), United (U), Warrior Run (WR), Washington (W), West Branch (WB), West Perry (WP), Williamson (WS), Wyalusing (WY), Wyoming Area (WA), Wyomissing (WM)
Team scores: 1. Notre Dame Green Pond 41.5, 2. Saucon Valley 33, 3. Chestnut Ridge 26, 4. Brookville 20.5, 5. Faith Christian Academy 19, 6. Bald Eagle Area 17.5, 7. Muncy 17, T8. Bishop McDevitt 16, T8. Saegertown 16, T8. West Perry 16, T36. Penns Valley 6
Second Round
113: Lucas Fye, BEA, pinned Jake Carfley, CW, 3:55; 120: Coen Bainey, BEA, dec. Eric Howe, LC, 7-2; 145: Ty Watson, PV, pinned Mason Leshock, LM, 2:48; 172: Caleb Close, BEA, dec. Brock Covell, TV, 1-0; 189: Cole Karpinski, GV, major dec. Noah Foltz, BEA, 10-0
Consolation First Round
106:
First Round
106: Major Lewis, TY, dec. Darlington, PV, 10-4; 172: Close, BEA, dec. Lucas Miller, NW, 1-0; 189: Foltz, BEA, tech. fall Collin Neal, BS, 16-1 (4:32)
This story was originally published March 10, 2022 at 2:24 PM.
