Boys prevail, 42-19; girls fall, 48-18
By John Lipez
MILL HALL, Pa. – It was a rare varsity wrestling double-header at the Central Mountain High School gym Thursday night, both girls and boys dual meets between Central Mountain and visiting Shikellamy. The evening ended a split one, the Lady Braves downing the Lady Wildcats by a 48-18 count, the CM boys coming out on top by a 42-19 score.
Coach Biff Walizer’s boys team moved to 2-0 on the young season with a come-from-behind win. CM trailed 10-8 after the 127-pound bout. That contest saw Wildcat Collin Bauman fall victim to a third period fall. He was injured as the bout ended and was taken from the gym on a stretcher for further treatment; later word was that the initial treatment was precautionary and Bauman will be okay.
When wrestling resumed after an extended delay, the Wildcats rolled off six straight wins to open a 36-10 lead. Patrick Tarantella scored a major decision, Hayes Donley with a 15-12 barn-burner, Alton Counsel with a key 6-3 win at 145, then three straight falls from Luke Garman, Aiden Kunes and Dalton McDermott; McDermott’s fall wrapped up the dual for CM. They added their final six points at 215 where sophomore Tanner McCall moved up in weight and recorded a first period fall. McCall was filling in for Todd Caris who was absent from the line-up.
Earlier wins came from Hunter Nace, a 9-7 win at 107 and Gavin Heverly with a 20-4 technical fall at 121-pounds. And even though heavyweight Hayes Henry (5-1) lost his first bout of the season by a 7-0 score to the Braves’ Brody Rebuck, the Wildcat sophomore gave Rebuck a good test for the full six minutes. Rebuck, a Lock Haven commit and ranked second in the state, had pinned Henry in the first period in last year’s dual meet.
Head coach Walizer liked the team effort from his Wildcats, and said the team is moving in the right direction. “That’s the best we’ve seen so far. Starting out winning some close matches at 107. Hayes Donely beat a tough kid, and he somehow found his way, kicked off of his back in a really tight predicament. And then guys like Tanner McCall, he had to gain weight after school so he could qualify to bump up to 215 and went out and got six points. So, you always hear about the adage of next man up, but that was really the case today.”
“Guys like Alton Counsel who, didn’t wrestle the last couple years, and he went out and got a win for us in front of a big crowd, you know, did the things that we preach in in the room about forward pressure on top, and he just kept his toes dug in and had a heck of a ride in that third period. So real happy with the effort tonight.”
Central Mountain will be back in action Friday and Saturday at the Penn Manor Tournament in Millersville. Coach Walizer said he did not know a lot about the field, other than teams from five states will be in attendance. “42 teams and 12 mats is a little scary, but we’ll be running around. But looking forward to a new experience.”
Things did not go as well for the Lady Wildcats in the opener. They were held to three bout wins in the 48-18 loss. Emma Scarborough-Perez picked up six points on a disqualification at 112 pounds; Austynn Falls, ranked eighth in the state, had a first period pin at 148 and Ashlyn Miller, ranked 12th, received a forfeit at 215.
Lady Wildcat coach Dylan Caprio said it was important for his squad to pick up some experience against a solid program. “A lot of the girls stepping out there either took a year off or have never been out there before and the whistle blew, and they were ready to get after it.”
Coach Caprio said the first match experience should help his squad “be able to get those jitters out before our tournament this weekend in Sugar Valley…overall, I was impressed with them being able to go out there and get that done.”
13 teams are expected in the Lady Phoenix Christmas Tourney starting at 10 a.m. Saturday.
A junior high meet preceded Thursday’s varsity double-header. The young Wildcats came out on top, 48-32.
CM boys match, Wildcat wrestlers in bold
107 – Hunter Nace dec. Austin Wolfe, 9-7
114 – Max Halllman major dec. Angelo Tarantella, 15-3
121 – Gavin Heverly 20-4 tech fall, 4:00 Bobby Felmy
127 – Braylon Chestnut pinned Collin Bauman, 4:25
133 – Patrick Tarantella major dec. Keatin Latimore, 10-1
139 – Hayes Donley dec. Ryder Borich, 15-12
145 – Alton Counsel dec. Drake Breyer, 6-3
152 – Luke Garman pinned Aydin Cox, 1:23
160 – Aiden Kunes pinned Connor Slear, 1:22
172 – Dylan McDermott pinned Dominic Mojica, 3:20
189 – Christian Boetsch pinned Brady Hockenberry, 1:57
215 – Tanner McCall pinned Carter Beaver, 0:58
285 – Brody Rebuck dec. Hayes Hunter, 7-0
CM girls match, Lady Wildcat wrestlers in bold
100 – No match (0-0)
106 – Hailey Evans won by forfeit (6-0)
112 – Emma Scarborough-Perez won by disq. over Olivia Bozeman, (6-6)
118 – Skyler Wiest pinned Sadie Caris, 2:21 (12-6)
124 – Rylee Campbell won by forfeit (18-6)
130 – Aubrey Rebuck pinned Kennedy Metzger, 0:50 (24-6)
136 – Ryleigh Ziants pinned Julia Hartman, 0:28 (30-6)
142 – Isabella Marlow pinned Alana Rhodes, 0:54 (36-6)
148 – Austynn Falls pinned Danielle Bottiger, 1:22 (36-12)
155 – Brianna Keller won by forfeit (42-12)
170 – Finley Boetsch pinned Kendall Wagner, 3:14 (48-12)
190 – No match (48-12)
235 – Ashlyn Miller
