Bald Eagle Area wrestling prepares for first trip to PIAA dual championships in 18 years
Some members of this year’s Bald Eagle Area wrestling team weren’t even alive the last time the Eagles headed to Hershey for the PIAA dual championships.
The year was 2006, and it was the third straight season that BEA had been to the Class 3A championships. It was also the senior campaigns for current assistant coaches Kyle Wallace and Mike Cook, who competed for the team.
Wallace and Cook can’t be blamed for feeling deja vu as this year’s Eagles get ready to make the trip to the Giant Center for the first time in 18 years, where they’ll face Notre Dame Green Pond in the first round of the Class 2A championships at 4 p.m. Thursday.
They talked about how the first year — 2004 — was an absolute disaster as they got beat “by like 30-some points” to Upper Perkiomen. It was the only match they had that year since it was only single elimination at the time.
Wallace remembers the coaches being “furious” with the team, making them practice as soon as they got back. Still, he said the team bonded over the experience, even if it was a brutal practice that day and the day after.
“The next two years was more of a business trip,” Wallace said. “We won a couple of matches our junior year. Our senior year, we went down there and had an idea of what it was going to take. To me, it’s one of the funnest things you can do wrestling-wise as building bonds with your teammates. It’s so great for a program. Dual meet wrestling is a whole lot of fun.”
Cook remembered being in awe even though he and Wallace were subs on the 2004 team.
“We sat on the bench and we were like, ‘Are we really here?’ I’ll never forget that time,” he said. “It was such a great experience just to be there and not compete. We were kind of spoiled to make it back in ‘05 and ‘06.”
So how does this team compare to that 2006 team that finished fourth?
Cook pointed to some current wrestlers that reminded him of former teammates.
The combination of Tanner Guenot and Caden Judice is comparable to Grant Paswall and Quentin Wright, he said, except at lighter weights. Paswall and Wright, who went on to win two individual NCAA titles with Penn State, wrestled at 140-145 pounds, according to Cook.
“I see a lot of similarities with two kids (Guenot and Judice) that are training partners that are at the same weight. I see a lot of senior leadership out of Lucas Fye. I don’t want to compare myself to him,” Cook said with a laugh, “but there is someone who is ranked high in the state and Caleb Close too. You can’t let rankings bother you. You just got to go out and do your business. You have Landis Wright (from 2006 squad), who would go out and pin kids, and you have Mason Reese who is doing that as well.”
Cook went on to praise this year’s team in their ability to be coachable. He also feels that this experience will go a long way in the team’s individual postseason in a couple of weeks.
Eight years ago when head coach Ron Guenot and this staff took over the team, their major goal was to get BEA back to Hershey as a team.
They’ve always had plenty of success in the individual postseason, collecting a variety of medals from a state title by Gage McClenahan and a finals appearance by Seth Koleno, to Coen Bainey having three straight years on the podium, to Fye and Close each placing in the previous two seasons.
However, as a team the Eagles fell short time and again — until this year.
“I got a lot of text messages (Monday) and (Tuesday) from guys that we’ve coached the last eight years. For me, it’s been one of my biggest goals,” Wallace said, “because I know what the experience meant to me and I know what it’s going to mean to the 25 or so guys we are going to take down there. It’s a major relief to finally punch through and make it as a team.
“We do pretty well individually, but to be able to take all 25 down there plus the girls, and for them to be able to experience it is great.”
PIAA Class 2A Dual Championships
Who: Bald Eagle Area vs. Notre Dame Green Pond, First Round
When: 4 p.m. Friday through Saturday
Where: Giant Center, Hershey
Brackets: FloArena
Online: FloWrestling (Paid subscription)
Tickets: Online only
X: @byncobler
