Bald Eagle Area wrestling rallies late to top Penns Valley, remain undefeated
Thursday night’s Bald Eagle Area-Penns Valley wrestling match came down to the heavyweights.
However, it wasn’t in the usual spot of a dual.
The Eagles picked up the key victory with four bouts left in a 34-29 win over the Rams. The victory kept BEA perfect on the season at 6-0.
“It was a good match. Anytime you get Penns Valley and Bald Eagle together for a good old-fashioned rivalry match, it’s exciting,” Eagles coach Ron Guenot said. “It showed tonight with the score. We wrestle that match again, who knows what could happen. It could go the other way. Maybe we’ll see each other down the road at district duals.”
Penns Valley coach Joel Brinker added: “That’s a good high school wrestling match. When you see the score of that in today’s world, that’s a really good high school match. You don’t see too many high 20s low 30s wrestling matches. Kids were fighting and scrapping. You know it’s going to be fun with Bald Eagle Area.”
Both coaches agreed after the match that the 285-pound bout was the key in the dual.
BEA’s Gage Gardner stepped on the mat up a weight class after three straight wins had handed the Eagles their first lead of the match, 21-17. Gardner took on Landen Hess, who majored Gardner in last year’s dual and helped rally Penns Valley to a dual win.
The tables turned on Thursday night, but all of the action came late in the third period with Gardner tallying four points in 13 seconds.
Hess held a 1-0 lead to start the third period. He had a solid ride going until there were 25 seconds left.
Gardner slipped behind Hess for a reversal on the edge of the mat. They restarted with Hess securing an escape 3 seconds later to tie the bout, 2-2.
With 12 seconds left, Gardner slipped a headlock attempt from Hess to secure a 4-2 win.
“Those two have history. They wrestled last year a couple of times. We knew that was a toss-up match. It was good to see Gage get that win,” Guenot said. “He had a couple of tough losses at the Laurel Highlands conference tournament. We tell the kids, ‘Your time is coming. You’re going to have an opportunity to step up in the future. ’ That’s what he did today.”
Guenot said he and his staff breathed a sigh of relief after Gardner’s win because he wasn’t sure what was going to happen over the final four bouts.
The teams alternated winning the remaining bouts with bonus points scored in all four.
The Rams’ Conner Myers came out and wasted no time taking care of Michael Wesley. Myers flattened Wesley in 18 seconds to get his team to within one point at 24-23.
BEA’s Caden Judice received a forfeit at 114 pounds to extend the Eagles’ lead to seven again. Penns Valley’s Jack Darlington followed with another pin for the Rams in 1:16 of Gavin Guenot.
It was 30-29 BEA with the Eagles’ Lucas Fye taking on Joel Conklin at 127 pounds. Fye tallied four takedowns and added a reversal for a 10-2 major decision to close out the dual.
“Points are premium in this type of match. They came out on top. I figured they could do maybe some more moves (bumping wrestlers) than we could,” Brinker said. “They had a little more strategic ways. I thought once (Zach) Rummel did win, they could do what they did.”
The dual started off in favor of Penns Valley.
The Rams’ Colten Shunk got things off with a solid 13-5 major decision over Dawson Lomison at 133 pounds. Shunk was followed by that win from Rummel that Brinker mentioned.
The junior recorded a pair of takedowns in the second period and tacked on a reversal for good measure to win 6-2 over Connor Maney.
The teams traded pins at 145 and 152 pounds. Mason Reese earned the fall for BEA as Ty Watson had the pin for Penns Valley. It was Watson’s 74th career fall.
Watson’s teammate Ethan Fetterolf followed him with a 9-1 major decision over Gavin Bennett to give the Rams a 17-6 lead.
The Eagles then went on a run before Gardner won his match.
Cameron Dubbs, who wrestled up at 172 pounds, secured a 6-1 win over Robert Martin. Shawn Knepp followed by sticking Ty Steiger in 3:01.
Caleb Close needed 2:46 to flatten Brandon Corl at 215, which gave BEA its first lead of the dual.
“He moved up to (1)72, so he’s giving up some weight. He did what he had to do, wrestled smart and stayed after it,” Guenot said of Knepp’s victory. “We tell the kids, ‘Eventually, you stay on something, stay after it, eventually it’ll come to you,’ and that’s what he did tonight.”
Bald Eagle Area 34, Penns Valley 29
Thursday at Spring Mills
133: Colten Shunk, PV, major dec. Dawson Lomison, 13-5
139: Zach Rummel, PV, dec. Conner Maney, 6-2
145: Mason Reese, BEA, pinned Sawyer Fetterolf, 5:01
152: Ty Watson, PV, pinned Harrison Harter, 1:01
160: Ethan Fetterolf, PV, major dec. Gavin Bennett, 9-1
172: Cameron Dubbs, BEA, dec. Robert Martin, 6-1
189: Shawn Knepp, BEA, pinned Ty Steiger, 3:01
215: Caleb Close, BEA, pinned Brandon Corl, 2:46
285: Gage Gardner, BEA, dec. Landen Hess, 4-2
107: Conner Myers, PV, pinned Michael Wesley, :18
114: Caden Judice, BEA, won by forfeit
121: Jack Darlington, PV, pinned Gavin Guenot, 1:16
127: Lucas Fye, BEA, major dec. Joel Conklin, 10-2
Takedowns: BEA 14, PV 13
Records: Bald Eagle Area (6-0), Penns Valley (7-2)
JH: Penns Valley 42-15
Next match: Bald Eagle Area at Mid Winter Mayhem, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Friday, 10 a.m.; Philipsburg-Osceola at Penns Valley, Tuesday, 7 p.m.
