Here are the final Centre County high school wrestling leaders for the season

The 2021-2022 high school wrestling season came to an end on Saturday.

In all, eight Centre County wrestlers brought home PIAA medals with one being a state champ in State College’s Pierson Manville. Manville also was named the PIAA Class 3A Outstanding Wrestler for his title run.

There were a total of 11 wrestlers that competed in Hershey, so those athletes were the only ones able to make any movement on the final leaderboards of the year.

Here’s a look at who finished as the county’s leaders:

Wins

There were three Centre County wrestlers to go over 40-plus wins this season, and they’ve been trading the leadership role of this category all season long.

When it all settled, Bellefonte senior Jude Swisher is at the top with 42 wins. He collected four wins in the PIAA Championships on way to his second straight third-place finish. His 40th win came in the quarterfinals when he beat Council Rock South’s Shermuhammad Sadriddinov, 11-2.

Penns Valley’s Ty Watson finished second in this race, ending with 41 wins on the year. He had three during his first PIAA Championships, en route to a sixth-place finish. With the 41 wins, Watson tied the Rams’ season mark for most victories, which was set by current Penn State wrestler Baylor Shunk.

Watson’s 40th win was a pin of Canton’s Hayden Ward in 5:43 of their 145-pound consolation third round bout, which secured the sophomore’s first PIAA medal.

Bald Eagle Area’s Caleb Close was the final Centre County wrestler to get to 40 wins on the season. He also became the first freshman in the Eagles’ program to medal.

Close captured three wins during his first PIAA tournament on way to his eighth-place finish to end at exactly 40 victories. His 40th win was a 5-1 victory over Johnsonburg’s Kaden Dennis in their 172-pound consolation third round match, which secured Close’s spot on the podium.

State College’s Nick Pavlechko became the 13th county wrestler to get 30-plus wins on the season this week.

The sophomore collected four wins on his way to a third-place finish in his first PIAA Championships. He ends his season with 32 victories, which is tied for 10th in the county with Penns Valley’s Jack Darlington and Philipsburg-Osceola’s Marcus Gable.

Pavlechko’s 30th win was a 12-1 win over Gettysburg’s Samuel Rodriguez in their 215-pound quarterfinals bout. The win secured the Little Lions’ spot on the podium since he made the semifinals.

Pins

One wrestler has reigned supreme of this category from the beginning of the season.

It’s Watson, and it isn’t even close.

He opened his first PIAA Championships with a pin and used another to secure his podium spot. Watson finished with 31 pins on the year, which is the new single season mark for Penns Valley. It was previously held by Malachi DuVall, who had 29 in a season.

Watson’s 30th pin was the previously mentioned fall over Ward as it was Watson’s 40th win of the year.

Pins were really hard to come by at this point in the year with only BEA’s Lucas Fye and Manville also earning them during the championships.

Manville had a pair — one coming in the semifinals that sent the crowd into a frenzy and social media too. He became the fifth county wrestler to get to 20-plus on the season.

Manville in fact finished with 20 on the year, which is tied for fourth in the county. His 20th pin was that one in the semifinals over Bethlehem Catholic’s Tyler Kasak.

The champ was trailing Kasak late in the third period, when he elevated Kasak over to his back and stuck the returning state champ in 5:39.

Fye ended the year with 13 pins.

Major decisions

This category never had a single leader all year until near the end of the season when State College’s Asher Cunningham broke away from a large pack of wrestlers.

The freshman was one of five wrestlers to collect a major decision during the PIAA Championships. He ended the season with six to hold off a trio that ended with five major decisions.

Cunningham’s county leading major decision came when he beat West Chester Henderson’s Carmen Cortese, 11-2, in their 120-pound consolation second round.

Pavlechko is part of that trio ending the year at five major decisions. He is tied with Swisher and Fye. The Little Lions’ wrestler had three major decision to jump up the leaderboard.

Pavlechko used two major decision to make the semifinals. He outscored his opponents, 20-1, in those matches. He finished off his PIAA debut with a 10-2 win over Central Bucks West’s Carl DiGiorgio for third place.

Swisher had a pair of major decisions as Fye added one.

Watson was the other wrestler to pick up a major decision, which was his first of the year, when he earned a 15-4 win over Saucon Valley’s Cael Markle in the consolation quarterfinals.

Technical falls and fastest falls

Bellefonte’s Aidan O’Shea has led the technical fall category all year long. He finished as the county leader as he was the lone wrestler to have double-digit technical falls at 12.

Manville inched closer to O’Shea as he collected his eighth technical fall of the year. It was a 20-5 win over Connellsville’s Lonzy Vielma in 5:22 to make the semifinals.

BEA’s Noah Foltz was the only other wrestler to earn a technical fall during the PIAA Championships. He actually debuted in the PIAAs with a 16-1 win over Boiling Springs’ Collin Neal in 4:32 of their 189-pound preliminary match.

Fye and Penns Valley’s Noah Fetterolf each had nine-seconds pins, which were the fastest pins of the year for most of the season.

As it has been the case for the past couple of weeks, no new times were added.

Leaders

Wins

Pins

Fastest Falls

Technical Falls

Major Decisions

Nate Cobler

Centre Daily Times

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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.