How Penns Valley made history, other teams fared at the district dual wrestling championships
“We’ve been the bridesmaid for quite a few years.”
Those were the words that Penns Valley coach Joel Brinker had to say Saturday after the Rams secured their first-ever trip to the PIAA Class 2A dual championships.
Penns Valley didn’t come away with a District 6 crown as it dropped a 59-6 match to reigning champion Bishop McCort in the district dual finals, but the Rams got the next best thing — a shot in the PIAA Championships.
“It’s definitely something we always talk about and work toward. It reflects, from our elementary program with Tyler Myers, and junior high with Wayne (Yearick) and Colby (Stover), this is for everybody,” Brinker said, referring to the program’s other coaches by name. “It’s not just varsity. These guys came up through the program, and (I’m) very proud of them. I’m excited. I know they wanted this. It’s pretty sweet.”
The Rams, who topped Huntingdon 45-23 in the semifinals, knew what they were up against in the finals with the Crushers, who are one of the highest-ranked teams in the country. However, it didn’t stop them from competing.
As Bishop McCort raced out to an 8-0 lead after getting a technical fall at 107 pounds and a decision at 114 pounds, Penns Valley’s Conner Myers and Erik Carlile stayed poised and focused — and came away with wins of their own.
Myers, who was coming off beating a Bloomsburg commit in Philipsburg-Osceola’s Caleb Hummel on Wednesday, faced off with Jack Silfies.
Silfies got the first points on the board with a takedown, but Myers was able to collect a reversal before the period ended. In the second period, Myers earned an escape to tie the bout, 3-3.
The third period saw Myers ride Silfies for the full period, but he was able to turn the Crushers’ wrestler toward his back for nearfall points in a 7-3 win. As time was winding off the clock, Myers knew he had the win and was raising his hands to elevate the roar of the Rams’ fans in the stands.
Carlile and Bishop McCort’s Austen Carfley wrestled through a scoreless first period, but Carfley got on the board with an escape early in the second period. During a flurry in the same period, Carlile came out on top for a takedown, which proved to be the winning points.
The third period saw the duo looking for scoring opportunities on their feet that just never came to fruition.
“Conner is on a high rate now. He’s very unconventional and hard to prepare for. He’s a different kid,” Brinker said. “Eric has just been constant, that was a great win against a quality opponent.”
After those wins from the lightweights, the Crushers rattled off nine straight bonus-point victories. They had five pins, three technical falls and an injury default.
Penns Valley will head to Burrell High School on Tuesday to compete in a preliminary-round match of the PIAA Championships against Quaker Valley, who finished fourth in District 7. The winner of that match then faces Burrell, who is the District 7 champion, in the first round later that night.
Should the Rams get past both of the Pittsburgh area teams, they’ll travel to Altoona on Friday for the quarterfinals.
“I think we just keep things going. Tuesday, we head to Yinzerville, so we’ll see who we have,” Brinker said. “I just want these guys to do what they’ve been doing. This is a nice feather in our cap, but let’s try to keep advancing.”
BEA goes 0-2
Penns Valley wasn’t the only Centre County team competing on Saturday morning in the District 6 Class 2A dual championships.
Bald Eagle Area also made the trek to Spring Mills, where they faced the newly crowned district champion, Bishop McCort, in the semifinals. It was a 65-10 defeat.
In the consolation finals, the Eagles had to take on Huntingdon. If they won, BEA would’ve wrestled the Rams for a true second-place finish since they didn’t wrestle earlier in the day. But, unfortunately for BEA, the match didn’t quite go as planned.
The Eagles trailed the Bearcats early, 12-0, after being pinned in back-to-back bouts. Liam Purcell (121 pounds), Tanner Guenot (127), Caden Judice (133) and Dawson Lomison (139) strung together consecutive bonus-point victories to put their team out front, 23-12.
Purcell had a second-period pin of Gavin Bilich in 3:12. Guenot hung an 18-0 technical fall on Ryan Morningstar in 3:03.
Judice pinned Johnathan Schneider in 1:08. Lomison amassed an 19-1 technical fall on Chris Gibson in 4:42.
The teams traded falls to keep an 11-point lead for BEA. However, Huntingdon claimed the next three bouts with bonus in all to hold a 33-29 lead with two bouts left.
The Eagles’ Caleb Close pinned Quinten Poorman in 42 seconds to give BEA a 35-33 lead. In the final bout, the Bearcats’ Landon Erdman bumped up to edge Gage Gardner, 4-1, to give his team a 36-35 win.
“Obviously, the goal was to make state duals. We had to beat Huntington there and take it one at a time, but we didn’t get it done,” Eagles coach Ron Guenot said. “We lost some matches where we gave up falls. We had a tough break at 160 there with that injury, and that was the dual meet.
“They (Huntingdon) turned a couple matches around from the first dual meet. We got six in the last dual meet, and then they got six in this dual meet. When you start talking about 12-point swings, things can change quickly.”
State College falls in D6 3A semis
State College also was on the prowl for a district title on Saturday afternoon at Central Mountain High School in Mill Hall.
The Little Lions, who were the No. 4 seed, took on the hosts and No. 1 Wildcats in the District 6 Class 3A semifinals.
It was a tight dual out of the gate, but ended up being a 44-18 win for Central Mountain, who went on to top Altoona, 39-28, for the team title.
The dual began at 189 pounds with State College’s Alijah Al-Sulaimani and Asher Cunningham earning victories.
Al-Sulaimani had to put in some extra work against the Wildcats’ Todd Caris as he needed a takedown in sudden victory to earn his win. Cunningham, who bumped up a weight, needed just 47 seconds to dispatch Kai Fravel.
At 285, State College looked as if it might take another bout, but Cental Mountain’s Bryce Brungard took down Michael Troupe in sudden victory for a 4-1 win. The Wildcats got a forfeit at 107 to tie the dual at 9-9.
Central Mountain’s Gavin Heverly racked up a 19-3 technical fall on Noah Young. Young’s teammate Jon Whitbred eked out a 2-0 win to keep the Little Lions within 14-12, but things went off the rails quickly.
The Wildcats rattled off four straight wins with pins in two of those to blow open the dual, 32-12. After State College’s James Whitbred received a forfeit, Central Mountain got bonus points in the final two bouts for the win.
“Today was unfortunate. We had some things not go our way. It was some things we can change in the future,” Little Lions coach Jason Nickal said. “We wrestled a really tough Central Mountain team.”
District 6 Class 2A Championships
Saturday at Spring Mills
Finals
No. 3 Bishop McCort 59, No. 1 Penns Valley 6
107: Keegan Bassett, BM, tech. fall Evan Lisowski, 17-2
114: Eli Herring, BM, dec. Max Dinges, 4-0
121: Conner Myers, PV, dec. Jack Silfies, 7-3
127: Erik Carlile, PV, dec. Austen Carfley, 3-1
133: Jax Forrest, BM, pinned Tripp Watson, 1:24
139: Sam Herring, BM, tech. fall Zach Rummel, 18-1
145: Bo Bassett, BM, pinned Sawyer Fetterolf, :14
152: Devon Magro, BM, pinned Seth Fetterolf, :56
160: Melvin Miller, BM, pinned Joey Torres, 1:52
172: Jayden O’Farill, BM, pinned Robert Martin, 1:30
189: CJ Penseiro, BM, tech. fall Shane Rimmey, 17-2
215: Marquez Goodwin, BM, tech. fall Landon Hess, 18-3
285: Caleb Rodriguez, BM, injury def. Ty Steiger
Records: Bishop McCort (15-0), Penns Valley (13-3)
Consolation Finals
No. 5 Huntingdon 36, No. 2 Bald Eagle Area 35
107: Gaige Sholly, H, pinned Michael Wesley, :52
114: Landin Snare, H, pinned Logan Burns, 1:10
121: Liam Purcell, BEA, pinned Gavin Bilich, 3:12
127: Tanner Guenot, BEA, tech. fall Ryan Morningstar, 18-0 (3:03)
133: Caden Judice, BEA, pinned Johnathan Schneider, 1:08
139: Dawson Lomison, BEA, tech. fall Chris Gibson, 19-1 (4:42)
145: Christian Taylor, H, pinned Easton Grimes, :12
152: Alex Surovec, BEA, pinned Zachary Hershberger, :54
160: Reese Hughes, H, injury def. Chayse Kellander
172: Grady Clark, H, won by forfeit
189: Dominic Peruso, H, dec. Kyle Watson, 10-9
215: Caleb Close, BEA, pinned Quinten Poorman, :42
285: Landon Erdman, H, dec. Gage Gardner, 4-1
Records: Huntingdon (18-6), Bald Eagle Area (10-5)
Semifinals
No. 1 Penns Valley 45, No. 5 Huntingdon 23
285: Hess, PV, major dec. Noah Metz, 8-0
107: Sholly, H, tech, fall E. Lisowski, 21-6
114: Dinges, PV, pinned Bilich, :46
121: Myers, PV, pinned Snare, 1:05
127: Carlile, PV, pinned Morningstar, 1:44
133: Watson, PV, pinned Gibson, 4:54
139: Rummel, PV, tech. fall Eli Wallen, 18-2
145: Taylor, H, dec. Sa. Fetterolf, 6-4
152: Se. Fetterolf, PV, pinned Hughes, 2:52
160: B. Lisowski, PV, pinned Hershberger, :51
172: Clark, H, pinned Martin, 1:37
189: Peruso, H, dec. Rimmey, 2-1
215: Erdman, H, pinned Steiger, 1:16
No. 3 Bishop McCort 65, No. 2 Bald Eagle Area 10
285: Rodriguez, BM, won by forfeit
107: K. Bassett, BM, pinned Wesley, :50
114: E. Herring, BM, pinned Burns, 1:48
121: Guenot, BEA, pinned Silfies, 2:43
127: Carfly, BM, won by forfeit
133: Forrest, BM, won by forfeit
139: S. Herring, BM, won by forfeit
145: B. Bassett, BM, pinned Grimes, :35
152: Magro, BM, pinned Wyatt Knepp, :41
160: Miller, BM, pinned Kellander, 1:35
172: Pensiero, BM, pinned Brody Gardner, 1:00
189: Close, BEA, major dec. O’Farri, 9-1
215: Matteo Noronha, BM, tech. fall Watson, 15-0
District 6 Class 3A Championships
Saturday at Mill Hall
Semifinals
No. 1 Central Mountain 44, No. 4 State College 18
189: Alijah Al-Sulaimani, SC, dec. Todd Caris, 7-4 (SV)
215: Asher Cunningham, SC, pinned Kai Fravel, :47
285: Bryce Brungard, CM, dec. Michael Troupe, 4-1 (SV)
107: Cael Dorman, CM, won by forfeit
114: Gavin Heverly, CM, tech. fall Noah Young, 19-3 (3:13)
121: Jon Whitbred, SC, dec. Collin Bauman, 2-0
127: Luke Garman, CM, dec. Mason Sanderson, 8-5
133: Aiden Kunes, CM, pinned Johnathan Coates, 2:57
139: Patrick Tarantella, CM, dec. Nicholas Berrena, 5-4
145: Dalton Perry, CM, pinned Sam Davidson, 3:17
152: James Whitbred, SC, won by forfeit
160: Luke Ananea, CM, pinned Xavier Zeruth, :48
172: Dalton McDermott, CM, won by forfeit
Records: State College (5-4), Central Mountain (13-0)
