Bainey’s finish highest for Bald Eagle Area, rest of Centre County PIAA 2A medalists
The 2022-2023 high school wrestling season came to a close on Saturday afternoon for four Centre County PIAA Class 2A wrestlers.
Three of the four will return next season, and look to lead the next crop of athletes aiming for medals. The other will head to college and continue his career on the Division I level.
Faith Christian Academy ran away with the team title with 151 points. It had two individual champions as part of the nine medalists. Notre Dame Green Pond finished 50 points behind.
Bishop McDevitt rounded out the top three with 71 points.
Here’s a recap of medal day:
Bald Eagle Area
Team score: 32 points, tied-16th
Medalists: Lucas Fye (121 pounds, 5th), Coen Bainey (127, 4th), Caleb Close (172, 7th)
Recap: Bainey saw his high school career come to a close with him wrestling in the consolation finals for the third straight year.
Last year, he finished third. This year he was well on his way to that same finish until there were about 35 seconds remaining in the second period.
Bainey had just finished off a takedown of Bermudian Springs’ Hayden Yacoviello-Andrus and led 3-0. He was getting into his ride, then he looked at the official with fear in his face and said, “something popped. I felt something pop.”
The official stopped the match, and the senior grimaced in pain, grabbing his right knee.
Trainers and BEA coaches came to the side of Bainey. He was barely able to put any weight on his leg, and was forced to injury default.
“You don’t have words to describe him. I could go on and on about what he has meant to our program the last four years,” Eagles coach Ron Guenot said. “He’s one of the guys you don’t want to see leave. It’s been a honor to coach him. I’m looking forward to what more he has in store for his future. It’s a tough way to go out.”
It’s way too early to tell what kind of injury the American commit suffered. However, he was in good spirits, and still felt very proud of how his final PIAA Championships went — outside of the unfortunate finish.
“I’ve dealt with a lot of adversity this weekend. I was able to battle through and come back to the third and fourth place match,” Bainey said. “It felt good out there, an unfortunate sequence of events led to the outcome. I’m a three-time state medalist here in PA, it means a lot to me. I got to work toward my next goal, which is a national championship in college.”
Bainey was asked what he would want his legacy to be known for in a BEA singlet. He chuckled and gave quite an interesting response.
“It’s not over yet. I’m still representing my school in college. I’m still an Eagle technically at American. I got to keep going. This isn’t the end. This isn’t what the main goal is. The next level is the main goal, and doing well on the next level is where I want to be.”
Fye was in the fifth-place match for the second straight time. Last year, he took on a familiar foe and friend in West Branch’s Landon Bainey, who took second this year at 114 pounds.
Fye came away with his second PIAA fifth-place finish.
“It was good. I’m happy with it, except for the end. I could’ve done better,” Fye said of his finish. “I’m not quite satisfied, but I’m hungry for next year.”
Fye took on another familiar foe in Saucon Valley’s Aiden Grogg in the fifth-place match. Fye shut out Grogg, 6-0, on Friday afternoon to make the semifinals.
On Saturday afternoon, the result was the same, but much closer.
Fye tallied a takedown with 41 seconds remaining in the first period, but Grogg escaped to make it 2-1 after one period. The Eagles’ junior rode Grogg out for the entire second period, and added an escape in the third period for a 3-1 win.
“I didn’t do anything differently. I just went out there and fought through the pain,” said Fye, who has been dealing with a shoulder injury. “I had to do whatever it took to win. I just had to stay focused and keep the head on right.”
Close, who didn’t like the way his season ended a year ago — even with a medal as a freshman, was in the seventh-place match for a second straight year.
This time around he won.
However, he felt a little disrespected as he entered the PIAA Championships.
“As a regional champion, you’re supposed to get a good draw. I ended up getting a returning fifth-placer in the first round,” he said. “I had a returning state champion in (Notre Dame Green Pond’s Holden) Garcia (in the quarterfinals). I’ve been sick all week, was having problems breathing, and it slowed me down during the (Garcia) match. It cost me.”
Close’s match on Saturday afternoon didn’t see a ton of action against Bishop McDevitt’s Lucas Lawler.
The pair circled around looking for an opening in the first period, but no points were scored. The Eagles’ sophomore escaped three seconds into the second period, and again no one was able to score anything else.
In the third period, Close used a strong ride to keep Lawler from escaping in a 1-0 win.
Even though the draw that Close had wasn’t the greatest, it showed him that he is right there with the best in the state. He mentioned he needs to work on getting to his offense more, and work on his conditioning.
Close went on to say that he’s going to be looking for someone that has a tough top game to help him get better escaping.
“I know there’s kids that placed ahead of me that I can definitely beat. I just got to remember that. Anytime I feel satisfied,” Close said, “I got to think about my true goals and the empty feeling I have now. I got to try to remember that so when I don’t feel like pushing myself or going to practice, I have some fuel to do it.”
Penns Valley
Team score: 18 points, tied-41st
Medalists: Ty Watson (152, 6th)
Recap: Watson made a second consecutive trip to the PIAA Championships.
He ended up in the same spot as last year, in the fifth-place match. The result was also the same.
“Honestly, I think I’ve learned so much this year, more than I did last year. Like I said (Friday), I came into the state tournament without any losses,” Watson said. “I got my bell rung here (last year). I got pinned twice and majored, those were my three losses. It’s still a loss (Saturday) and it’s frustrating, but I feel like I’ve improved since last year.”
Watson led 1-0 after two periods of wrestling against Saucon Valley’s Liam Scrivanich. The pair was unable to score at all in the first period.
They scrambled a bit, but nothing came to fruition. Watson’s escape in the second period was the lone point.
In the third period, Scrivanich collected an escape 22 seconds in to tie the bout. Again, the pair was scrambling for scoring, but nothing came about, and they headed to sudden victory.
Scrivanich caught Watson with just under 40 seconds remaining and put him on his back. Watson fought out of the position, but lost 5-1.
“I got to get to my shots a little bit more, setting up clear ties, getting to a leg, and as soon as I get to the leg, finish it. Sometimes I get to the leg, stop and wait to see what the guy does, that’s not what I need to do,” Watson said of his offseason focuses. “I’m going to keep working on that next season. I’m ready to come back, bigger next year. I’m hoping to go up some weight classes, so you’ll see me next year hopefully on top of the podium.”
PIAA Class 2A Championships
Saturday 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 151, 2. Notre Dame Green Pond 101, 3. Bishop McDevitt 71, 4. Montgomery 64, 5. Warrior Run 63, 6. Saucon Valley 60, T7. Muncy 52.5 , T7. Wyoming Area 52.5, 9. Burrell 51, 10. Grove City 46, T16. Bald Eagle Area 12, T41. Penns Valley 18
Finals
107: Aaron Seidel, NL, dec. Dominic Deputy, CR, 6-1; 114: Ayden Smith, NDGP, dec. Landon Bainey, WB, 5-4; 121: Gauge Botero, FCA, dec. Brandt Harer, MGY, 5-1; 127: Cooper Hornack, BR, dec. Chris Vargo, BW, 2-1; 133: Jaden Pepe, WA, dec. Conner Heckman, MW, 5-3; 139: Anthony Evanitsky, WA, dec. Reagan Milheim, WR, 7-4; 145: Vincent Bouzakis, NDGP, dec. Cade Wirnsberger, MC, 3-2; 152: Conner Harer, MGY, dec. Cameron Milheim, WR, 3-2; 160: Grant MacKay, L, dec. Hunter Hohman, GC, 5-0; 172: Adam Waters, FC, pinned Holden Garcia, NDGP, 1:43; 189: Rune Lawrence, F, pinned Jackson Zimmerman, BKV, 2:42; 215: Austin Johnson, MY, dec. Brenan Morgan, CV, 10-7; 285: Riley Robell, BM, major dec. Aiden Compton, NDGP, 15-2
Consolation Finals
127: Hayden Yacoviello-Andrus, BS, injury def. Coen Bainey, BEA, 2:28
5th Place Match
121: Lucas Fye, BEA, dec. Aiden Grogg, SV, 3-1; 152: Liam Scrivanich, SV, dec. Ty Watson, PV, 5-1 (SV)
7th Place Match
172: Caleb Close, BEA, dec. Lucas Lawler, BM, 1-0
This story was originally published March 11, 2023 at 6:24 PM.
