4 Centre County wrestlers still in the hunt for PIAA Class 2A gold. Recap of day one
The first day of the PIAA Class 2A wrestling championships came to a close on Thursday afternoon with four Centre County wrestlers still alive for gold.
Three others still remained in the consolation bracket of the tournament as one wrestler was eliminated.
Faith Christian Academy leads the team race with 46 points. It leads Notre Dame Green Pond by 19 points. Berks Catholic and Saucon Valley are tied for third with 20 points.
Here’s a recap of the day:
Bald Eagle Area
Team score: 12 points, tied-17th
Wrestler(s) alive: Lucas Fye (121 pounds, 1-0), Coen Bainey (127, 1-0), Caleb Close (172, 1-0)
Recap: The Eagles brought three to Hershey and all three remained in the hunt for a gold medal when wrestling was completed on Thursday afternoon.
Coach Ron Guenot was very pleased with how things shook out for his guys.
“That was our goal to go 3-0 and not have to mess with any consolation matches. We had some tough draws right off the bat,” Guenot said, “so for us to go 3-0 is really nice. (We can) try to relax a little bit, refocus, have some fun and enjoy the whole experience.”
Close might have had one of the toughest draws for the Eagles, even though he was the No. 1 seed. He opened his PIAA Championships by facing Lackawanna Trail’s Robbie Schneider, who finished fifth in the state last year.
The sophomore, who finished eighth last year, recorded a takedown with three seconds remaining in the first period to lead 2-0. He had two cautions to start the second period, but he did escape quickly for a 3-0 lead after two periods.
In the third period, Schneider started with an escape, but Close responded with a takedown, and he came away with a 5-2 victory.
Close now gets Notre Dame Green Pond’s Holden Garcia in the second round. Garcia was the PIAA champion at 160 pounds last season and is committed to Princeton.
“It was huge to beat a kid, like I said, that took fifth last year first round. You build some momentum,” Guenot said of Close’s first win. “You never know what can happen. This is Hershey, and upsets happen. You just have to worry about the next one in front of you. He looked good and real tough.”
Fye hit the mat first and took on Mid Valley’s Matthew Almedina, who is a freshman and was 32-9. The junior showed that experience pays off as he was on the Giant Center mats for the third straight year.
Fye scored the first points of the match with a reversal in the second period, and put Almedina on his back for nearfall points. He tacked on a takedown in the third period for a 6-1 win.
Fye faces Saucon Valley’s Aiden Grogg for a spot in the quarterfinals.
Bainey looked a little off in his match with Conwell-Egan’s Steven Harris. He recorded the first points with a takedown 25 seconds into the first period, but Harris quickly reversed him to tie the bout.
Bainey escaped to hold a 3-2 lead, but he opened the second period with two uncharacteristic caution calls trying to get out from the bottom. The American commit did collect a reversal on Harris, but Harris escaped to make it 5-3 going to the third period.
Harris earned an escape with 46 seconds remaining in the match, but couldn’t score on Bainey as the Eagle moved on with a 5-4 win. The senior now takes on North East’s Cyrus Hurd.
“The name of the game is move on and that’s what he did. It wasn’t his best match,” Guenot said, “but sometimes that first one can be the hardest one of the tournament. You move on and forget about that.”
Penns Valley
Team score: 10 points, tied-23rd
Wrestler(s) alive: Colten Shunk (133, 1-1), Ty Watson (152, 1-0), Kollin Brungart (215, 1-1)
Recap: The saying among wrestling coaches is the toughest win to get at the PIAA Championships is the first one.
All three of the Rams got their wins in their first matches, though some had to do a little more wrestling. Of the three, Brungart has been the most intriguing story.
A year ago, he was 15-16 and seemed a little overwhelmed with emotions at times. Fast forward to this year, and he was 31-9 and in his first and only PIAA Championships.
The senior took on Notre Dame Green Pond’s Jared Blobe in a preliminary round match, and trailed 1-0 to enter the third period. He quickly escaped to tie the bout.
With just under 20 seconds left in the match, Brungart put Blobe to his back for a takedown and nearfall points, and came away with a 5-1 win.
In the next round, he was pinned by Central Valley’s Brenan Morgan in 46 seconds, but coach Joel Brinker knew how far Brungart had come this year.
“Before the tournament, coach (Mike Wise) and I were talking with him. Last year, he was always wavering,” Brinker said. “He didn’t even really want to do districts last year, and here he is in Hershey. We asked him, ‘Is he glad he stuck with it?’ He said, ‘most definitely.’ He’s having the time of his life. To get the first win like he did here, (we’re) just very proud of and happy for him.”
For Shunk and Watson, trips to Hershey are just a normal routine, whether as participants or as supporters.
Shunk has been here several times, supporting older brother Baylor in his quests for PIAA medals. Now, he got his first taste of the Giant Center mats.
The junior came out and looked very comfortable in his preliminary match with Cranberry’s Conner Rezkowski. Shunk controlled from start to finish with two takedowns and an escape to shut out Rezkowski, 5-0.
His second match was more of an eye opener. Shunk took on Conwell-Egan’s Charlie Robson, who was the Southeast champ and 37-3.
Robson racked up a 16-0 technical fall in 2:22, scoring 11 points in the first period thanks to a takedown and three sets of nearfall points.
“He’s been here in the past with his brother, watching and been in the arena, but to get out and actually on the mat, so it was a very good win for him. It was a smart match,” Brinker said of Shunk’s day. “Second match, he just got overwhelmed there, and couldn’t really rebound. Tomorrow is a new day.”
Watson is appearing in his second straight PIAA Championships, and looking to improve on his sixth place finish last year. He had just one match on Thursday.
Watson took on Kane’s Reece Bechakas, who had a preliminary match first. The Rams wrestler recorded a takedown midway through the first period and nearly pinned Bechakas, but it was a 5-0 lead after one.
In the second period, the junior opened with a reversal and got the pin that eluded him in the first period. The time of the fall was 3:32. Watson gets Lackawanna Trail’s Max Bluhm Friday morning.
“I think right now, you can tell Ty has identified in the last couple of weeks that it’s time, the postseason is here. I wouldn’t say he was not wrestling good during the season,” Brinker said, “but there’s a different level of intensity that I feel he’s wrestling with now that maybe he wasn’t so much earlier in the year. This is the time to do it. He has high goals. Last year, he wanted to place and stuff. This year, he wants a little more than just placing. He’s wrestling really good, and excited to see how the next two days go.”
Bellefonte
Team score: 0 points, tied-99th
Wrestler(s) alive: None
Recap: The Red Raiders’ Gage Long got to make his first and only trip to the PIAA Championships as a senior. He had to do it alone too.
However, it was still what he envisioned.
“It feels really good that I finally made it here after years and years of falling short. I mean wins could have made it better, obviously,” Long said.
As Long said, his first PIAA Championships was cut much shorter than he would’ve wanted.
He had a preliminary match against Saucon Valley’s Travis Riefenstahl to start the day. Riefenstahl raced out to a 4-1 lead thanks to two first period takedowns.
Long responded to take a 5-4 lead after two periods of wrestling thanks to a takedown and nearfall points from a tilt. Riefenstahl opened by collecting nearfall points on Long, and the Red Raider escaped to tie it 6-6 with just over one minute remaining.
Riefenstahl picked up a counter takedown on Long with 30 seconds remaining. Long escaped from it, but was unable to get the win in an 8-7 loss.
In the first round of consolations, Long ran into a buzzsaw of Faith Christian Academy’s Max Stein, who shut out Long, 13-0, to end the senior’s career.
“He’s been solid for three years for us. I think he’s going to finish with about 80 wins. In the state of Pennsylvania, that’s not easy to do. He’s had a career that he could be proud of,” Bellefonte coach Mike Maney said. “I mean, today is not going to be one of those days right now in the moment. He’s certainly disappointed, but something he can reflect back on. He’s wrestled here at Hershey, a lot of people dream about doing it, but he was able to do it. The time might not be right now, but it’s certainly something to be proud of years later when he reflects back on his career.”
Philipsburg-Osceola
Team score: 3 points, tied-69th
Wrestler(s) alive: Caleb Hummel (107, 1-1)
Recap: Hummel and his coaching staff knew all week long who he was going to wrestle in the preliminary round of the championships. However, it changed Wednesday evening as Mount Union’s Mason Beatty was unable to make the trip to Hershey due to an injury he suffered at a practice.
“We found out that our first round opponent changed, it moved us in the bracket a little bit there,” Mounties coach Justin Fye said. “We had scouted our first kid pretty well. We were up last night scouting (our new opponent).”
The scouting paid off for Hummel.
He came out on fire against Montgomery’s Manny Stoltzfus. The freshman snapped off two first period takedowns and added some nearfall to hold a commanding 7-1 lead.
Stoltzfus started on his feet to open the second period and collected a takedown, but Hummel escaped to hold an 8-3 lead. The P-O wrestler poured it on in the third period.
Hummel opened with an escape, added a takedown and had Stoltzfus on his back again to come away with a 14-3 major decision.
“Caleb came out and was just aggressive that whole match. His shots looked great,” Fye said. “He was in deep a couple of times. He finished the match with the kid on his back. That was a great way to come out and start the day.”
Hummel’s prize for winning that preliminary match was a first round tilt with the defending PIAA champion in Northern Lebanon’s Aaron Seidel.
Hummel hung tough and trailed 4-0 after one period, then the champ turned it up another notch. Seidel had a 10-point third period thanks to four takedowns to secure an 18-3 technical fall in 4:54.
“We thought we could maybe hang with him on our feet a little bit there. We knew he was really tough on top, and he proved that when we’re out there wrestling.,” Fye said of Seidel. “We talk about all the time you have to have a short term memory. It’s one match at a time now. We talked about you have to have three wins to get a medal here from where we’re at. We have one, we need two more. We just got to go one at a time. We’ll see how it goes.”
PIAA Class 2A Championships
Thursday at Hershey
Team key: Bald Eagle Area (BEA), Bedford (BD), Bellefonte (B), Belmont Charter (BLC), Benton (BT), Bentworth (BW), Berks Catholic (BC), Berlin Brothersvalley (BB), Bermudian Springs (BS), Berwick (BWC), Beth-Center (B-C), Biglerville (BV), Bishop McDevitt (BM), Brockway (BY), Brookville (BKV), Burgettstown (BTT), Burrell (BR), Cambridge Springs (CS), Camp Hill (CH), Canton (CT), Carlynton (CYT), Catasauqua (CQ), Central Valley (CV), Chartiers-Houston (C-H), Chestnut Ridge (CR), Clearfield (CF), Commodore Perry (CP), Conneaut (CN), Conwell-Egan (CE), Corry (CY), Cranberry (CBY), Curwensville (CW), Faith Christian Academy (FC), Fort Cherry (FCY), Fort LeBoeuf (FLB), Frazier (F), General McLane (GM), Girard (GR), Glendale (G), Greensburg Salem (GS), Grove City (GC), Hamburg (HB), Honesdale (HD), Hopewell (HW), Hughesville (HV), Huntingdon (H), Indiana (I), Jefferson Morgan (JM), Juniata (J), Kane (K), Keystone Oaks (KO), Lackawanna Trail (LWT), Laurel (L), Lewisburg (LB), Line Mountain (LM), Littlestown (LT), Loyalsock (LS), Marion Center (MC), McGuffey (MG), Meadowbrook Christian (MBC), Mid Valley (MV), Midd-West (MW), Mifflinburg (MB), Milton (M), Montgomey (MGY), Montour (MT), Montoursville (MTV), Mount Union (MU), Mt. Carmel (MTC), Mt. Pleasant (MP), Muncy (MY), Newport (NP), North East (NE), North Star (NS), Northern Lebanon (NL), Northwestern (NW), Notre Dame Green Pond (NDGP), Northwestern Lehigh (NWL), Oswayo Valley (O), Palisades (P), Pen Argyl (PA), Penn Cambria (PC), Penns Valley (PV), Philipsburg-Osceola (P-O), Port Allegany (PAY), Quaker Valley (Q), Reynolds (R), River Valley (RV), Saegertown (ST), Salisbury (SY), Saucon Valley (SV), Schuylkill Valley (SYV), Sharon (S), Sharpsville (SPV), Somerset (SMT), Southern Columbia (SC), Southern Huntingdon (SH), St. Marys (SM), Sullivan County (SCY), Susquenita (SQ), Titusville (TV), Towanda (TW), Tri-Valley (T-V), Trinity (TY), Tussey Mountain (TM), Tyrone (T), United (U), Upper Dauphin (UD), Warrior Run (WR), West Branch (WB), West Perry (WP), Wyalusing (W), Wyoming Area (WA)
Team scores: 1. Faith Christian Academy 46, 2. Notre Dame Green Pond 27, T3. Berks Catholic 20, T3. Saucon Valley 20, 5. Bishop McDevitt 19, 6. Lackawanna Trail 18, 7. Chestnut Ridge 17, T8. Fort LeBoeuf 16.5 T8. Muncy 16.5, T10. Burrell 16, T10. Warrior Run 16, T17. Bald Eagle Area 12, T23. Penns Valley 10, T69. Philipsburg-Osceola 3, T99. Bellefonte 0
First Round
107: Aaron Seidel, NL, tech. fall Caleb Hummel, P-O, 18-3 (4:54); 121: Lucas Fye, BEA, dec. Matthew Almedina, MV, 6-1; 127: Coen Bainey, BEA, dec. Steven Harris, CE, 5-4; 133: Charlie Robson, CE, tech. fall Colten Shunk, PV, 16-0 (2:22); 152: Ty Watson, PV, pinned Reece Bechakas, K, 3:32; 172: Caleb Close, BEA, dec. Robbie Schneider, LWT, 5-2; 215: Brenan Morgan, CV, pinned Kollin Brungart, PV, :46
Consolation First Round
145: Max Stein, FC, major dec. Gage Long, B, 13-0
Preliminaries
107: Hummel, P-O, major dec. Manny Stoltzfus, MGY, 14-3; 133: Shunk, PV, dec. Conner Rezkowski, CBY, 5-0; 145: Travis Riefenstahl, SV, dec. G. Long, B, 8-7; 215: Brungart, PV, dec. Jared Blobe, NDGP, 5-1
This story was originally published March 9, 2023 at 3:12 PM.
