Penns Valley comes out on top of one-sided wrestling dual with Bellefonte
When it comes to a one-sided wrestling dual, there are opposite ends of the wrestling spectrum on display.
The team that’s on the winning side is riding on cloud nine, and feels like nothing can stop them. The losing team is looking for a spark and trying to focus on the tasks at hand.
Wednesday night was one of those duals between Penns Valley and Bellefonte.
The Rams had a “nothing can stop us” mentality in a 51-9 victory over the Red Raiders.
“I like what I saw. We’re doing things that we’re doing in the room with a lot of the younger guys,” Penns Valley coach Joel Brinker said. “I’m seeing the things we’re stressing and talking about. I just want to see progress throughout the season and slowly getting better. These guys (Bellefonte) are going to be fine. (Mike) Maney is a great coach. By the end of the year, they’re going to be a thorn in peoples’ sides.”
Bellefonte coach Mike Maney added: “We got a young group, and coming in (we have) a few guys out. We’re just trying to piece what we can together here. We knew Penns Valley was a good team. Coach Brinker does a great job year in and year out, having his guys ready. They did a lot of good things, so credit to them. We just got to get back to work, have the right mindset and try to close the gap.”
The Rams had a nice lead early as the first two bouts of the night were forfeits in their favor. They ended up collecting five more bonus-point victories — all pins — before the night was over.
Penns Valley’s Colten Shunk and Bellefonte’s Cameron Garcia were the first action of the night at 133 pounds.
Shunk came out and built up a 14-3 lead on Garcia, before sticking the Red Raiders’ wrestler in 2:29. The Rams senior had three takedowns, one being a slick duck under, in the first period and two sets of nearfall points.
In the dual of the night, Penns Valley’s Brayden Lisowski faced off with Bellefonte’s Noah Weaver at 145 pounds.
The pair jockeyed for position in the first period, with Lisowski coming out with a takedown with 46 seconds remaining. The second period saw Lisowski’s escape as the lone point of the period.
In the third period, Weaver was unable to escape from Lisowski’s ride until late, and didn’t have enough time to rally. Lisowski tallied a 3-1 win.
“Everyone knew that was the match of the night. He (Lisowski) wrestled a good and smart match,” Brinker said. “Weaver is a tough kid. Everybody knew it. It was just good to see two guys of that caliber go at it.”
Ty Watson (152 pounds) and Ethan Fetterolf (160) followed Lisowski’s victory with some more of those falls.
Watson had no troubles with Gavin Dufour, building up an 11-0 lead before putting Dufour on his back in 2:52. Fetterolf earned a defensive fall on Jack McHail in 3:17. McHail was riding tough on top, but was too high, and Fetterolf caught his head, and folded him right over.
It was 33-6 Penns Valley just over halfway through the dual.
After the Rams’ Robert Martin earned a 4-2 lead at 172 pounds, Shane Rimmey and Brandon Corl picked up back-to-back falls.
Rimmey was trailing 5-1 to Jeff Barnyak, when he reversed Barnyak for a pin with six seconds remaining in the second period. Corl picked up his fall of Logan Rarrick in 5:07 with the lone points scored being a Corl reversal in the second period.
Landen Hess was the final winner of the night for Penns Valley with a 5-2 victory over Ian Valimont at 285.
“No, I don’t think they expected that. I thought it could be tighter,” Brinker said about all the bonus points. “We had some matches there that were closely involved. We got some falls that maybe we weren’t planning, but guys just kept wrestling, which is what we stress because good things could happen.”
The Red Raiders had just two winners on the night in Ezra Swisher (139 pounds) and Wyatt Long (107).
For Swisher, he stepped on to the mat with his team trailing, 18-0, but that didn’t stop him from wrestling his match. He came out and took control of his bout with Zach Rummel right away, tallying a takedown 19 seconds into the match.
The sophomore turned Rummel to his back for nearfall points. Swisher readjusted his grip, and put Rummel on his back for good in 1:56.
Long was the final bout of the night.
For someone in his shoes, after seeing what his teammates just encountered, could’ve easily packed it in. Add the fact that he lost to his opponent, Conner Myers, last season, and that could’ve really affected his mindset.
Instead, Long put in the work to earn a 6-3 redemption win over Myers to close out the night.
“It was a match, where that guy pinned him last year, so we’re trying to get the positives. That’s one where we can take away, where he (Long) reversed that loss,” Maney said of Long and Swisher. “He’s (Swisher) been steadily consistent. He puts in a lot of extra work, so there’s not really any secret. The guys that are willing to do the extra have great success, so we just need to get more guys doing that and believing.”
Penns Valley 51, Bellefonte 9
Wednesday at Bellefonte
121: Jack Darlington, PV, won by forfeit
127: Joel Conklin, PV, won by forfeit
133: Colten Shunk, PV, pinned Cameron Garcia, 2:29
139: Ezra Swisher, B, pinned Zach Rummel, 1:56
145: Brayden Lisowski, PV, dec. Noah Weaver, 3-1
152: Ty Watson, PV, pinned Gavin Dufour, 2:52
160: Ethan Fetterolf, PV, pinned Jack McHail, 3:17
172: Robert Martin, PV, dec. Isaac Gall, 4-2
189: Shane Rimmey, PV, pinned Jeff Barnyak, 3:54
215: Brandon Corl, PV, pinned Logan Rarrick, 5:07
285: Landen Hess, PV, dec. Ian Valimont, 5-2
107: Wyatt Long, B, dec. Conner Myers, 6-3
114: No match
Takedowns: PV 9, B 5
JH: Penns Valley, 39-33
Records: Penns Valley (6-1), Bellefonte (4-2)
Next match: Penns Valley at Panther Holiday Classic, Mount Aloysius, Friday, 10 a.m.; Bellefonte at King of the Mountain, Central Mountain HS, 10 a.m.
