Penns Valley wrestling comes out on top of back-and-forth battle with Bald Eagle Area
There was usually a common theme when it came to heavyweight championship boxing matches back in the day.
Each boxer would trade punch for punch, until one either took too many blows or one hit the right spot at the right time. They normally went several rounds.
The Penns Valley and Bald Eagle Area wrestling match on Tuesday night fit the bill of a heavyweight title fight.
The Rams (9-0) and Eagles (7-2) went blow for blow over the first eight bouts, but Penns Valley hit that right spot at one point in the dual to secure a 31-27 victory.
“This is close to old school wrestling. The fans here on both sides are passionate fan bases,” Rams coach Joel Brinker said. “We are just blessed to live in this area where wrestling still is (what it is). This is probably Round 1. I think there could be a Round 2. Win, lose or draw to these guys and the other teams in District 6, there are some good programs. We look forward to seeing where this goes. I won’t be surprised if the Rams and Eagles are tangling again, we’ll see.”
BEA coach Ron Guenot added: “This is what you want to see in high school wrestling. You don’t really want to see the 50-somethings to 20 or 10. To see a 31-27, that’s unique and exciting for the sport. It’s exciting for our program and I’m sure exciting for them. Congrats to Penns Valley, they wrestled a whale of a match. Hopefully, we’ll see each other down the road in district duals and individual districts.”
Guenot and Brinker each thought the dual could play out in different ways.
Brinker felt he knew where some bumping could occur not only for his team, but for the Eagles too. Guenot knew with where the dual started at, his squad would be trading blow for blow with the Rams.
The dual began at 133 pounds with BEA’s Coen Bainey bumping up from his usual 127 spot to take on Chase Fleshman, and throwing the first punch. The American commit rattled off seven takedowns to rack up a 20-5 technical fall on Fleshman in 5:51 of wrestling time.
The Rams’ Colten Shunk threw the counter punch at 139 pounds. Shunk collected four sets of nearfall points to secure a 17-0 technical fall over Hunter Ishler in 5:48. It tied the dual up at 5-5.
The punches continued to be thrown.
The Eagles’ Mason Reese pinned Max King at 145 pounds in 1:24. Penns Valley’s Ty Watson pinned Alex Surovec in 1:23.
At 160, BEA’s Jeffre Pifer had three sets of nearfall points in a 10-6 win over David Martin. Then, Penns Valley’s Ethan Fetterolf had a five-point first period to earn a 6-2 win over Cameron Dubbs.
The dual was tied 14-14.
“That was tough, because we didn’t have the score we thought we would’ve like to seen going into 189 and 215,” Guenot said, “so we made a move there. Penns Valley has three tough kids at 189, 215 and heavyweight, so hats off to them, that was the big difference in the match.”
The Eagles’ Caleb Close hit the mat at 189, bumping up from 172, and secured a pin in 38 seconds over Brandon Corl.
The Rams countered and this counter was the deciding blow.
Kollin Brungart took on Nate Fry and looked for an opening, that he got late in the first period. He took Fry down and took him to his back and squeezed tightly to secure the fall in 1:41.
“It was a surreal feeling. Being able to come in here and beat them, it’s a big rivalry of course,” Brungart said. “To set that tone and get those six points for our team, it’s just a surreal feeling. I was so locked in until I heard the whistle and the slap of the mat, it was crazy.”
Landon Hess followed Brungart at 285 and took on a familiar foe in Gage Gardner. Last year, the two squared off in their junior high careers with Gardner securing a 9-8 win.
Tuesday night, Hess got his revenge.
“It meant everything to be out there. You just put 100 percent effort and got good results from it,” Hess said. “I just knew I was going to win.”
He opened with the first points with a takedown and put Gardner on his back. Gardner escaped, but Hess led 4-1 after one period. In the second period, Hess had Gardner fighting off his back again, but ran out of time.
The third period opened with Hess leading 7-3. Hess added one more takedown and collected nearfall points late to secure a 12-3 major decision. The win gave Penns Valley its first lead of the night at 24-20.
“Brungart getting the fall was big. Hess winning at heavyweight was a big win,” Brinker said.
The Rams’ Conner Myers kept the winning train rolling as he earned a 10-6 win over Liam Purcell at 107 pounds. The bout had an astounding five reversals combined between the duo.
Jack Darlington extended Penns Valley’s lead to 31-20 when he racked up an 11-1 major decision over Kayson Tice at 114 pounds. Darlington showed moxie by wrestling through positions the entire bout, and came out on top of several scramble situations to collect several nearfall points.
The dual wasn’t out of reach yet for the Eagles, so they tried one more counter punch.
Lucas Fye did everything he could to try and get a pin for his squad against freshman Brayden Lisowski. Fye collected five takedowns and nearly had Lisowski on his back, but eventually finished with a 12-3 major decision.
Even though Fye won, it locked the dual up for Penns Valley as it lead 31-24 with one bout left.
Fye’s teammate Conner Maney closed out the dual by securing a 6-4 win over Zach Rummel.
“It was a fun dual. It would’ve been more fun if we would’ve won. It was a fun match for everybody,” Guenot said. “The fans got their money’s worth. You don’t get better than this when it comes to high school wrestling or high school sports, just two rival, tough teams going at it. It was fun, but like I said we wanted to come up on the winning end of that.”
Penns Valley 31, Bald Eagle Area 27
Tuesday at Wingate
133: Coen Bainey, BEA, tech. fall Chase Fleshman, 20-5 (5:51)
139: Colten Shunk, PV, tech. fall Hunter Ishler, 17-0 (5:48)
145: Mason Reese, BEA, pinned Max King, 1:24
152: Ty Watson, PV, pinned Alex Surovec, 1:23
160: Jeffre Pifer, BEA dec. David Martin, 10-6
172: Ethan Fetterolf, PV, dec. Cameron Dubbs, 6-2
189: Caleb Close, BEA, pinned Brandon Corl, :38
215: Kollin Brungart, PV, pinned Nate Fry, 1:41
285: Landon Hess, PV, major dec. Gage Gardner, 12-3
107: Conner Myers, PV, dec. Liam Purcell, 10-6
114: Jack Darlington, PV, major dec., Kayson Tice, 11-1
121: Lucas Fye, BEA, major dec. Brayden Lisowski, 12-3
127: Conner Maney, BEA, dec. Zach Rummel, 6-4
Takedowns: PV 10, BEA 16
JH final: Penns Valley 49-28
Records: Penns Valley (9-0, 5-0 Mountain League), Bald Eagle Area (7-2, 2-2 Mountain League)
Next match: Penns Valley at Philipsburg-Osceola, Tuesday, 7 p.m.; Bald Eagle Area at Hollidaysburg, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
