Veteran Bald Eagle Area wrestling team too much for young Bellefonte squad
The first dual of the season can really tell the direction of where a wrestling team could be headed.
It also is the starting point for coaches to see what they need to start working on right away.
Both Bald Eagle Area coach Ron Guenot and Bellefonte coach Mike Maney said their squads each have a lot to work on as the Eagles came away with a 41-22 win over the Red Raiders on Tuesday night. The final score doesn’t show that the dual was a one-point lead for Bellefonte midway through.
For Guenot, his team is very seasoned with only a couple of new faces sprinkled into the lineup. For Maney, he had over half of his lineup seeing a dual for the first time — some that are experiencing the sport for the first time too.
“Anytime you wrestle Bellefonte, a rival match, and you get a win, that’s exciting,” Guenot said. “The first match of the year is sometimes a tough one because we haven’t competed yet. It’s good to get that under our belt. Hopefully, we’ll build on this and get in the room tomorrow and keep getting better.”
Maney added: “It’s a dual meet situation. I think we let some outside factors influence us. You are going to have that with a young team. I was happy with how some of the younger guys wrestled. We got a lot of work to do and fix things, but there is a lot of wrestling left in the year.”
The dual began at 189 pounds with the Red Raiders getting on the board first.
Senior Nash Irwin took on Shawn Knepp, and got a takedown 45 seconds into the bout. Knepp showed off a solid top game in the second period, keeping Irwin from escaping, but tallied near-fall points to tie the match up at 2-2.
Knepp got the lead with a quick escape, but Irwin used a calm counter to an over-zealous shot from Knepp for a takedown. Irwin hung on for a 4-3 victory.
“He’s a little undersized. Certainly, coming into the match we want to be at full strength,” Maney said. “We got two of our better guys out there. I had to move some guys around. Nash was giving up some weight, and got us started on the right foot. He did what he needed to do, but we just need to be a little bit more consistent the rest of the way.”
BEA got on the board by Nate Fry getting a forfeit at 215. It then got some more bonus points from Eric Clark at 285.
The junior took on sophomore Colton Perryman, and raced out to a 4-0 lead after two periods thanks to a nice blast double-leg takedown in the first period and easy takedown in the second period.
In the third period, Clark picked up a penalty point, added an escape, and recorded a takedown with one second left to secure an 8-0 major decision. The Eagles led 10-3.
Bellefonte responded with back-to-back bonus point victories. Freshman Wyatt Long pinned Liam Purcell in 1:32 at 107. Sophomore Cameron Garcia received a forfeit at 114 to give the Red Raiders a 15-10 lead — their final one of the dual.
““We were getting some bonus points there in a couple of areas, but we gave up some bonus points,” Guenot said. “We lost some matches at the end. We can’t give those points up going forward if we can help it.”
PIAA medalist Lucas Fye stepped on the might for BEA at 121 pounds against freshman Jackson Long. The junior had no problems with the underclassman in racking up a 16-5 major decision. Fye amassed five takedowns in the bout.
PIAA medalist and American University commit Coen Baney opened his season with a forfeit at 127 pounds. He is now one win shy of 100 for his high school career.
Freshman Connor Maney racked up a 6-2 lead on fellow freshman Gavin Defour before sticking the Red Raiders’ wrestler in 1:43. The Eagles led 26-15 at that point.
“He’s wrestled for a long time. He’s a tough kid,” Guenot said of Maney. “We are looking forward to having him and seeing what he can do in the future. We are looking for big things from him going forward.”
Bellefonte’s Noah Weaver stopped the bleeding for a moment at 139 pounds by earning an 11-0 win over Hunter Ishler at 139 pounds. The win got the Red Raiders to within 26-19.
At 145 pounds, which was a match that both coaches felt could go either way, saw BEA’s Mason Reese take on Bellefonte’s Gage Long in a battle of upperclassmen. The pair fought to a scoreless first period.
Reese was unable to escape from Long in the second period, setting Long up good for the third period. Long started on the bottom. Late in the period, Reese put Long toward his back and collected three near-fall points.
Reese earned an additional point as Long had to call for blood time during the near fall due to a bloody nose. Long escaped with 30 seconds to go, and earned a takedown right before the buzzer. Long and his coaches thought he was going to overtime, but didn’t realize that blood time point in a 4-3 loss.
BEA led 29-19.
“We knew that was going to be a match that could go either way. Long is a tough kid,” Guenot said. “We knew that was going to be a good match. Mason kept wrestling and got those back points. It was a nice win to have.”
Maney added: “It was certainly a match we thought we could win. We just need to make a little adjustments there, and wrestle a little smarter.”
The Eagles won two of the last three bouts with pins in both wins.
Jeffre Pifer earned a fall in 28 seconds at 152 pounds. PIAA medalist Caleb Close closed out the dual by sticking Grady Garrison in 3:33 at 172 pounds.
Bellefonte’s Max Murray picked up a 6-3 win between those BEA falls.
Both teams now shift their focus toward the King of the Mountain tournament that starts on Friday and ends Saturday at Central Mountain High School.
“This is going to be a busy month. This is the toughest month of the year, right out of the gate,” Guenot said. “We’ll be battle tested. We’ll see where we are at.”
Bald Eagle Area 41, Bellefonte 22
Tuesday at Wingate
189: Nash Irwin, B, dec. Shawn Knepp, 4-3
215: Nate Fry, BEA won by forfeit
285: Eric Clark, BEA, major dec. Colton Perryman, 8-0
107: Wyatt Young, B, pinned Liam Purcell, 1:32
114: Cameron Garcia, B, won by forfeit
121: Lucas Fye, BEA, major dec. Jackson Long, 16-5
127: Coen Bainey, BEA, won by forfeit
133: Connor Maney, BEA, pinned Gavin Defour, 1:43
139: Noah Weaver, B, major dec. Hunter Ishler, 11-0
145: Mason Reese, BEA, dec. Gage Long, 4-3
152: Jeffre Pifer, BEA, pinned Jack McHail, :28
160: Max Murray, B, dec. Cameron Dubbs, 6-3
172: Caleb Close, BEA, pinned Grady Garrison, 3:33
Takedowns: B 7, BEA 14
JH final: BEA 49-30
Records: Bellefonte (0-1), Bald Eagle Area (1-0)
Next match: Bald Eagle Area and Bellefonte at King of the Mountain, Central Mountain HS, Friday, 11 a.m.
