Bellefonte falls just short in Virginia Duals

This year marked the 36th time the Virginia Duals have been contested.

It is one of the bigger tournaments on the East Coast. Teams from all over the nation compete both on a high school and collegiate levels.

Bellefonte, the team champion in 2006, made the long trek to the Hampton Coliseum this weekend for the first time since 2007. The ride back home to Centre County should be a happy one as Bellefonte made the finals again.

However, deep deficits prevented the Red Raiders from capturing another crown as they fell to Eastern View High School (Va.) 42-24 in the American High School division on Saturday night.

“In dual meets, momentum is a factor,” Bellefonte coach Mike Maney said. “The draw of weight started off right for them (Eastern View). Their first two guys were ranked in the state. They got off to a great start and we weren’t able to match the intensity.”

The match started at 152 pounds with Dakota Parson hitting the mat for Bellefonte. Parson suffered his first loss of the tournament with a 7-1 decision to Matt Laird. The Cyclones then used back-to-back pins to jump out to a 15-0 lead.

The Red Raiders got on the board at 182 thanks to Dillon Kephart’s pin in 4:53 to pull Bellefonte within 15-6. Eastern View tacked on 15 more points. After Bellefonte’s Max Mondy suffered a 3-0 decision, the Cyclones earned a fall at 220 pounds and a forfeit at 285 pounds to go up 30-6.

The Red Raiders began to make their comeback. Cole Stewart earned an 11-6 decison at 106 pounds, Shafiq Blake followed with a 19-9 major decision and Cameron Coppolo picked up a 7-1 decision at 120 to trail 30-16. However, Eastern View locked up the dual with a fall at 126.

Aaron Witherite and Brock Port were the final winners for the Red Raiders. Witherite picked up an 18-1 technical fall in the second period of his 132-pound match, and Port won 7-2 at 145.

Bellefonte advanced thanks to a 38-31 tournament-opening win over Staunton River High School (Va.). It then breezed past Arvada West (Col.) 41-13. The Red Raiders started Saturday with a 32-26 win over Kellam High School (Va.) to make it to the finals.

“We weren’t quite sure how some of these guys would respond to such a big environment,” Maney said. “We had a tough match before we left for this tournament. Hopefully, this will give our guys great confidence heading into the rest of the season and the postseason.”

This story was originally published January 9, 2016 at 11:11 PM with the headline "Bellefonte falls just short in Virginia Duals."