State College wrestling dropped by Central Mountain
When wrestling a team as talented as Central Mountain, the margin for error is razor thin. State College lived that reality Saturday at the State High North Building gym.
The Wildcats (9-0) won 10 of 14 bouts and amassed a 26-8 advantage in takedowns as they slammed State College (7-15), 42-16.
“I think the guys showed a lot of fight. I think it was maybe a little closer than the score showed,” State College coach Ryan Cummins said. “They’ve got a great team. We’ve just got to improve.”
“They definitely finished a lot better than our guys did. Our guys had opportunities and couldn’t capitalize so that’s something we’re going to have to work on this week.”
Central Mountain coach Biff Walizer sounded like he thought his team had some improvements to make, too.
“I can’t say from top to bottom I’m pleased. There were a couple weight classes in there I don’t think we performed as well as we could have,” Walizer said.
The match started at 106 pounds and the Wildcats benefited from a pair of forfeits at 106 and 126 to jump out to an 18-0 lead. In between the freebies, Central Mountain earned a pair of hard-fought decisions.
The Little Lions temporarily halted the Wildcats’ momentum with back-to-back wins at 132 and 138. Zach Price used a takedown and two-point nearfall in the first period and another takedown in the second to earn a 6-4 win over Logan Long at 132.
“Price has had a tough season up until now. He needed that win. It was definitely coming for him. That’s gotta boost his confidence,” Cummins said.
Ekdahl piled up a 13-2 lead through two periods and then coasted home to a major decision by the same score.
“Ekdahl, it was a great Senior Day win for him. He works hard in the room every day. He definitely deserved it,” Cummins said.
State College would have to watch Central Mountain reel off three consecutive wins before breaking through again. The Wildcats got a 9-0 major decision at 145, an 8-3 decision at 152 and a fall at 160.
The match at 170 was scoreless through two periods and the Wildcats’ Caleb Turner chose to start the third on bottom. Cole Urbas made him pay for that decision as he locked up a crossface cradle and got the fall at the 4:28 mark.
“Urbas is really tough. He’s a clutch wrestler. It was close and then he locked up his cradle and finished it. That was very nice. He’s got that wingspan so he can do that,” Cummins said.
Central Mountain sandwiched major decisions at 182 and 220 around the match of the day at 195, a showdown between returning state qualifiers Isaac Porter and Cory Dreibelbis.
The first period ended scoreless. The Lions’ Dreibelbis started the second on bottom, escaped and took down Porter for a 3-0 lead. Porter escaped later in the second to make it 3-1.
An escape and takedown with 27 seconds left in the third gave Porter a 4-3 lead. Dreibelbis fought out with five seconds to go to tie the match at 4-4 and send it into overtime.
Porter took advantage of a limping Dreibelbis, snapping him down and spinning behind for the winning takedown nine seconds into the overtime period for a 6-4 OT win.
“It was nice to see Isaac Porter get the advantage there as the match wore on and get that takedown in overtime,” Walizer said.
At heavyweight, Jack Vandevort hit a slick little duck under for the winning takedown with five seconds left and a 5-4 win.
“Jack kind of saved it until the end. It worked for him. Hopefully he’s able to capitalize a little earlier next match and not give us a heart attack,” Cummins said.
Despite the lopsided loss, Cummins saw a silver lining.
“It was great for us. We can show our guys what they need to do to compete at their level,” he said. “Hopefully, that will help show them we do need to improve. We have a lot of down time after this next match to work on things.”
Six seniors were honored before the match in Senior Day festivities: Dalton Barger, Bobby Bendik, Dreibelbis, Ekdahl, Vandevort and Colin Corbett.
This story was originally published January 30, 2016 at 10:20 PM with the headline "State College wrestling dropped by Central Mountain."