Bald Eagle Area boys wrestling falls to Central Mountain while girls team picks up win
Bald Eagle Area coach Ron Guenot looked flabbergasted as he gazed at the scoreboard inside his home gym.
The Eagles recorded just two bout victories in a 51-9 loss to Central Mountain on Tuesday night.
“Central Mountain, really hats off to them. They wrestled really well. They took it to us in every phase of the matches,” Guenot said. “We have to get better from that, learn from that and try to put it behind us, that’s pretty much the bottom line.”
Wildcats coach Biff Walizer was just as stunned by the end result: “(This) isn’t the number I would have predicted as far as looking at the matchups and so forth. We just kind of had everything going our way tonight.”
The dual began with a great matchup at 127 pounds with BEA’s Tanner Guenot taking on Aiden Kunes. Guenot finished fifth last year at the PIAA Championships in Class 2A as Kunes was a 3A qualifier.
The pair had a scoreless first period, and Kunes had a full period ride out in the second to keep the score tied. In the third period, Kunes got an escape with 1:30 left, and that’s all that was needed for a 1-0 win.
The Eagles’ Caden Judice followed to give his team the lead as he racked up an 18-1 technical fall on Luke Garman in 4:56. From there, it was all the Wildcats.
Patrick Tarantella eked out an 8-6 win over Dawson Lomison at 139 pounds. Penn State commit Dalton Perry flattened Easton Grimes in 1:39 to make it 12-5 in the dual.
Luke Ananea needed 26 seconds to dispatch Wyatt Knepp. BEA bumped Alex Surovec up to 160 pounds from 152 to face Central Mountain freshman Dakoda Packer-Edwards.
Packer-Edwards had an escape with 1:45 left in the match to earn a 1-0 win.
“Some of those matches were really dog fights starting out. Luck of the draw, they drew that 127 start, great match out of the gate, and didn’t disappoint. That was a nail-biter with two tough kids going at it,” Walizer said. “Dakoda Packer(-Edwards), he’s certainly exceeding our expectations right now. He’s not that experienced, but he’s a strong, physical kid, and keeps moving forward. He’s got a good gas tank and coachable.”
Dalton McDermott kept things rolling for the Wildcats at 172 pounds with a pin of Brody Gardner in 2:31. Bryce Brungard followed with another fall in 1:40 to make the dual score, 33-5.
Kai Fravel had a reversal early in the third period to edge Kyle Watson, 5-4.
The Eagles got their only other win from Gage Gardner at heavyweight. He showed off his offense by tallying four takedowns on Henry Hayes for an 11-1 major decision.
Circling back to the top of the lineup saw Central Mountain’s Cael Dorman nearly get pinned at the end of his 14-7 win against Tyler Corey. After a forfeit for the Wildcats at 114 pounds, Collin Bauman ended the dual by pinning Liam Purcell in 4:56.
“Good job by Central Mountain. They’re a very good team, but we need to give a better effort than that,” Guenot said. “We’ll work on every phase, top, bottom and neutral, and go from there. It starts tomorrow.”
BEA girls roll to second win
The Lady Eagles got their second dual under their belts when they took on the Lady Wildcats.
BEA won three of the five contested bout and picked up three forfeits for a 30-18 win.
“Starting the year out, having eight girls, four new girls, thought it would be interesting, but great team unity. They seem to bond pretty well, working with each other,” coach Eddie Hockenberry said. “A lot of the upper class girls have been working with a lot of the new girls, so it’s been quite nice to see. It’s been pretty fun, kind of surprising with the little bit of success we had. You just never know until you go out and perform.”
Things didn’t start out well for the Lady Eagles as they saw a pin from Central Mountain’s Austynn Falls in 1:11.
However, returning PIAA placewinner, Grace Crestani, earned a huge win over the Lady Wildcats’ Kendall Wagner.
It was a battle of some of the top ranked wrestlers in the state, but it was Crestani that flattened Wagner in 1:27.
“Grace didn’t play football this year. She’s worked a lot, I don’t know how many extra hours of practice from last year, when states was over. She said she’s committed to wrestling,” Hockenberry said. “She was going to put her full emphasis on wrestling. It’s evident right now. You can tell that the work she put in, it’s paid off. I can’t be much happier.”
After Harley Spayd got a forfeit for the Lady Eagles, Ashlyn Miller got more point for Central Mountain with a fall to tie the dual at 12-12.
BEA got forfeits for Eden Eveleth (106 pounds) and Lily Spicer (112) to double up the Lady Wildcats.
The Lady Eagles’ Addison Tice was trailing Emma Scarborough-Perez, 10-0, late in the second period, when she got a reversal. Tice was then able to put Scarborough-Perez on her back for a fall and win with one second remaining in the period.
The dual came to a close with Kaitlyn Scarborough-Perez collecting a fall for Central Mountain.
“We had two big matches. We won both the toss up matches. At 118 with Addy Tice, coming from behind and getting the fall with one second left in the second period,” Hockenberry said. “Then, Grace’s match with Kendall was two state ranked wrestlers, it can’t get much better than that. I’m very pleased with our couple of new girls. They went out and got the nerves knocked out of us, so hopefully we’ll make the step to the next level with our new girls.”
BOYS
Central Mountain 51, Bald Eagle Area 9
Tuesday at Wingate
127: Aiden Kunes, CM, dec. Tanner Guenot, 1-0
133: Caden Judice, BEA, tech. fall Luke Garman, 18-1 (4:56)
139: Patrick Tarantella, CM, dec. Dawson Lomison, 8-6
145: Dalton Perry, CM, pinned Easton Grimes, 1:39
152: Luke Ananea, CM, pinned Wyatt Knepp, :26
160: Dakoda Packer-Edwards, CM, dec. Alex Surovec, 1-0
172: Dalton McDermott, CM, pinned Brody Gardner, 2:31
189: Bryce Brungard, CM, pinned Austin Stine, 1:40
215: Kai Fravel, CM, dec. Kyle Watson, 5-4
285: Gage Gardner, BEA, major dec. Henry Hayes, 11-1
107: Cael Dorman, CM, dec. Tyler Corey, 14-7
114: Gavin Heverly, CM, won by forfeit
121: Collin Bauman, CM, pinned Liam Purcell, 4:56
JH: Central Mountain 49-34
Takedowns: CM 19, BEA 7
Records: Central Mountain (1-0), Bald Eagle Area (1-1)
Next match: Bald Eagle Area at Dandy Duals, Towanda High School, 11 a.m. Saturday
GIRLS
Bald Eagle Area 30, Central Mountain 18
155: Austynn Falls, CM, pinned Cameron Corl-Alton, 1:11
170: Grace Crestani, BEA, pinned Kendall Wagner, 1:27
190: Harley Spayd, BEA, won by forfeit
235: Ashlyn Miller, CM, pinned Shaylin Harter, :30
100: No match
106: Eden Eveleth, BEA, won by forfeit
112: Lily Spicer, BEA, won by forfeit
118: Addison Tice, BEA, pinned Emma Scarborough-Perez, 3:59
124: Kaitlyn Scarborough-Perez, CM, pinned Rebekah Guenot, 2:33
130: No match
136: No match
142: No match
148: No match
Takedowns: CM 4, BEA 1
Records: Central Mountain (3-4), Bald Eagle Area (2-0)
Next match: Bald Eagle Area at Lady Phoenix Christmas Classic, Sugar Valley Rural Charter School, Saturday, 10 a.m.
