What you missed this week in Centre County high school sports: March 5, 2026

Eighteen Centre County boys wrestlers placed high enough in regionals this past weekend to advance to the state championships in Hershey starting today.

Meanwhile, six Centre County girls wrestlers competed in the Central Regional on Saturday, but only one placed high enough to qualify for the state championships.

Here are the highlights from local games covered from Feb. 26 through March 4 by After the Whistle, the high school sports coverage team at Penn State’s Bellisario College of Communications. (Please note that After the Whistle will take next week off for spring break, so the next digest will be published March 19.)

Boys Wrestling

Class 2A Southwest Regional (Feb. 27-28)

Bald Eagle Area had an impressive showing at regionals and paced the county with its only Class 2A regional champ. Tanner Guenot earned his second straight Southwest Regional title with a 4-2 victory over Bishop McCort’s Austin Carfley at 133 pounds, redeeming himself from his loss to Carfley in the District 6 championship. Overall, Bald Eagle Area sent three wrestlers to states — while Penns Valley advanced a program-best seven wrestlers to states, despite not having a regional champ. Philipsburg-Osceola also qualified two.

Tournament scores

Penns Valley: 120.5 points (4th place)

Bald Eagle Area: 74 points (6th place)

Philipsburg-Osceola: 43 points (t-13th place)

Class 3A West Regional (Feb. 27-28)

State College had two individual champions in freshman Teag Sanderson at 172 pounds and Penn State commit James Whitbred at 152. (Altoona had an individual champion with Gavin Ciampoli at 160 with a major decision, while Penn State commit Braiden Weaver finished second at 133.) Bellefonte’s Ezra Swisher finished third individually in a close 1-0 dual, and Jackson Long placed fourth in another close 3-2 match. Overall, State College boasted four state qualifiers while the Red Raiders had two.

Tournament scores

State College: 88.5 points (4th place)

Bellefonte: 54.5 points (9th place)

Girls Wrestling

Central Regional (Feb. 28)

Bellefonte placed highest among the competing Centre County schools by finishing 28th in the large field. Sophomore Bailee Scott at 155 was the lone state qualifier, finishing fourth with a 3-2 record on the day. Sophomore Ella Johnsonbaugh wrestled at 142 for the Red Raiders, going 2-2 on Saturday.

Philipsburg-Osceola sent two wrestlers to the Central Regional. Daisy Glessner finished sixth in the 235-pound class, two places out of state championship qualification. Kendyl Meersand went 1-2 on Saturday at 148, losing in the quarterfinals to third-place finisher Roslyn Snyder of Shikellamy.

State College’s Starlynn Emel-Rash (190) finished with a 1-2 record. Williamsport’s Mia Davis pinned the junior midway through the bout. Emel-Rash then won by forfeit over Southern Huntingdon’s Brianna Gordon, before losing to Shikellamy’s Kirsten Grubbs.

Bald Eagle Area’s Lily Spicer also ended Saturday with a 1-2 record. The senior, wrestling at 100 pounds, won her opening match by a 4-1 decision, but lost her next two bouts to end her high school career.

Tournament scores

Bellefonte: 24 points (t-28th place)

Philipsburg-Osceola: 17 points (t-36th place)

State College: 3 points (t-51st place)

Bald Eagle Area: 2 points (55th place)

Girls Basketball

Marion Center 50, Penns Valley 43 (Feb. 27): Marion Center hosted Penns Valley for the District 6 Class 3A consolation game on Friday. Penns Valley kept the first quarter close by forcing multiple turnovers and capitalizing on fast breaks to keep up with Marion Center’s high-powered offense. However, the Stingers broke away in the second quarter and led comfortably throughout the game. The Rams made a late fourth-quarter charge to keep the game close, but the Stingers never looked in trouble. Marion Center will travel to face Shady Side Academy in the first round of states at 6 p.m. Friday, March 6.

Other scores

St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy 75, Williamsburg 73 (Feb. 26; 1A district consolations)

Boys Basketball

Taylor Allderdice 45, State College 43 (Feb. 27): The Taylor Allderdice Dragons defeated the State College Little Lions in a tightly contested Class 6A subregional matchup that determined who moved on to states. State College held a one-point lead at halftime in what was a back-and-forth game throughout. Entering the fourth quarter, the Little Lions maintained a two-point advantage, leading 35-33. Taylor Allderdice gained momentum in the fourth quarter, outscoring State College 12-8 to secure the victory. Lukas Stead led the Dragons with 22 points, while Micah James put up 11 points for the Little Lions.

Other scores

St. Joseph’s Catholic Academy 65, Shanksville-Stonycreek 59 (Feb. 28; 1A district play-in)

Athlete of the Week

Every week, the staff at After the Whistle will choose one top player from the games and meets they’ve personally watched and attended.

Teag Sanderson, State College, wrestling: The freshman and son of Penn State wrestling coach Cael Sanderson dominated at the Class 3A West Regional by earning the 152-pound title. Overall, he outscored the competition with a total score of 60-19.

Upcoming schedule

Here is a selected look at some — and not all — of the games and matches worth keeping an eye on over the next week.

Boys Basketball (March 6): Neighborhood Academy vs. St. Joseph’s, 7:30 p.m. (1A PIAA 1st round)

Girls Basketball (March 7): Geibel Catholic vs. Saint Joseph’s, 1 p.m. (1A PIAA 1st round)

Boys Wrestling (March 5-7): Class 2A state championships, All Day, at Hershey (Full slate here)

Boys Wrestling (March 5-7): Class 3A state championships, All Day, at Hershey (Full slate here)

Girls Wrestling (March 5-7): State championships, All Day, at Hershey (Full slate here)

Unified Bocce (March 10): Centre Regional Championship, at Nittany Valley Sports Centre

Unified Bocce (March 19): State championships, at Hershey

Swimming and Diving (March 11-14): State championships, All Day, at Bucknell (Full slate here)

Softball (March 9): West Branch vs Philipsburg-Osceola, 4 p.m.

Softball (March 10): Mount Union vs. Penns Valley, 4 p.m.

Baseball (March 11): Bellefonte vs. Montgomery, 4:30 p.m.

Erin Riley, Kennedy Rivers, Jenny Karamus, Massimo Manfra, Julia Nawalany, Owen Cameros and Kassandra Vasellas contributed to this story. Photos by Wes Bressler, Sawyer Hadlum and Brian Shoenfelt.

Check out this week’s highlights from Penn State’s Bellisario College’s After the Whistle on its YouTube channel.