Here are the Centre County high school wrestling leaders through Feb. 5
The dual portion of the high school wrestling season is coming to a close for Centre County’s schools.
The past week saw all five schools compete in the District 6 Dual Championships with three making it to championship day. However, none were able to secure their spot in the PIAA Championships in Hershey this week.
Bald Eagle Area, Bellefonte, Penns Valley and Philipsburg-Osceola all took part in the Class 2A first round and quarterfinals on Tuesday. The Red Raiders and Mounties had first round matches while the Eagles and Rams had byes into the quarterfinals.
Bellefonte topped West Branch, 33-30, before falling to Huntingdon, 33-28. P-O topped Juniata, 36-33, but fell to Penns Valley, 56-12. BEA made the semifinals by topping Forest Hills, 51-18.
State College was immediately in the Class 3A finals against Central Mountain on Saturday as Mifflin County and Altoona decided not to participate.
The Little Lions, Rams and Eagles all suffered losses on Saturday to end their dual postseasons. BEA topped Penns Valley, 32-31, in the consolation finals on Saturday.
Also, the Mounties squeezed in a dual win over Hollidaysburg, 60-12, on Thursday.
With the limited action this week, there wasn’t too much movement on the leaderboards, but let’s take a look
Wins
Several wrestlers had perfect weeks with most of them collecting three wins.
One of those wrestlers was the Eagles’ Caleb Close, who became the first county wrestler to eclipse 30 wins this year. All three of his wins came with bonus points.
Close’s 31 wins leads the county. His 30th win was a pin of Huntingdon’s Devin Brenneman in 3:14 of the District 6 semifinals dual on Saturday.
Bellefonte’s Gage Long is one win away from getting to 30 on the season. His 29 victories are good for second in the county.
The senior had a perfect week too, but only had two wins.
BEA’s Coen Bainey and the Mounties’ Caleb Hummel each had a perfect 3-0 week, while collecting bonus points in all three wins. They both have 28 wins on the season.
Others that had a perfect 3-0 week were: Penns Valley’s Ty Watson (27 wins), Colten Shunk (24) and Kollin Brungart (23), P-O’s Nate Fleck (24) and Ben Gustkey (21), and the Eagles’ Lucas Fye (22).
Here’s who were able to get to 20-plus wins this week:
Bald Eagle Area: Fye pinned Forest Hills’ Isaiah Shilcosky in 2:14 of the District 6 quarterfinals dual; Mason Reese (21) pinned the Rangers’ Nicholas Noon in 5:43 of the district dual
Penns Valley: Conner Myers (20) received a forfeit against the Eagles
Philipsburg-Osceola: Gustkey edged the Rams’ Max King, 3-2, in the District 6 quarterfinals dual
State College: Asher Cunningham (20) used a full third period rideout to sneak by Central Mountain’s Griffin Walizer, 1-0, in the District 6 championship dual
Here’s who were able to get to 10-plus win on the season:
Philipsburg-Osceola: Sam McDonald (10) received a forfeit against the Golden Tigers on Thursday
Pins
Gage Long remains at the top as he added another fall this week.
He stuck West Branch’s Reed Yingling in 1:25 of the District 6 first round dual. Long now has 25 falls in his 29 victories. He’s also recording bonus points in 93% of his wins.
All of Bainey’s and Fye’s wins during their perfect 3-0 week were by fall.
Bainey has 22 pins on the year, which is good for second in the county. He opened his week by sticking Forest Hills’ TJ Carroll in 45 seconds, which was his 20th of the year. On Saturday, the American commit stuck Huntingdon’s Ryan Yocum in 4:45, and Penns Valley’s Chase Fleshman in 1:41.
The senior now has 66 career falls.
Fye’s pins came quicker than Bainey’s. His win over Shilcosky was his 10th of the year.
Fye had two on Saturday, both in the first period. He flattened Huntingdon’s Jackson Bankert in 46 seconds. Then, Fye stuck the Rams’ Brayden Lisowski on his back in 1:09.
Here’s who was able to get to 10-plus pins:
Bellefonte: Addison Shawley (10 falls) stuck Huntingdon’s Trey Poorman in 5:41 of the District 6 quarterfinals match
Philipsburg-Osceola: Marcus Gable (11) took care of Juniata’s Charlie Telfer in 51 seconds in the District 6 first round match; Hummel (10) flattened the Indians’ Anthony Maradiaga in 3:01
State College: Hayden Cunningham (10) needed just 27 seconds to beat Central Mountain’s Carnell Noone
Major Decisions
One guy reigns supreme at the top of this list after grabbing two major decisions this week.
Fleck tallied a 14-4 victory over Fleshman on Tuesday. He followed that up by taking care of Hollidaysburg’s Jacob Brua, 12-1, on Thursday.
Fleck’s six major decisions leads the county by one over Close and Asher Cunningham.
Penns Valley’s Colten Shunk also had two major decisions this week to get him to four on the season.
Shunk’s came on Saturday when he topped United’s Michael Monty, 13-3, to start the day. Then, he racked up a 12-3 victory over BEA’s Alex Surovec.
Hummel also has four on the year as he took care of the Golden Tigers’ Carson Krupka, 13-1, on Thursday.
Technical Falls & Fastest Falls
There were just three wrestlers that recorded a technical fall this week.
Shunk racked up a 17-2 win in 3:30 over P-O’s Isaiah Smeal in the District 6 quarterfinal match. His four technical falls is tied for the county lead with Bellefonte’s Noah Weaver and State College’s Pierson Manville.
Hummel picked up his second technical fall of the year, when he shut out Penns Valley’s Myers, 16-0 in 5:53 of wrestling.
The Red Raiders’ Max Murray earned his first technical fall of the year by shutting out West Branch’s Nick Parks, 17-0.
Some wrestlers came close to adding a new time to the fastest falls list, but they came up just short.
Leaders
Wins
Name | School | Total |
1. Caleb Close | Bald Eagle Area | 31 |
2. Gage Long | Bellefonte | 29 |
T3. Coen Bainey | Bald Eagle Area | 28 |
T3. Caleb Hummel | Philipsburg-Osceola | 28 |
T5. Ty Watson | Penns Valley | 27 |
T5. Marcus Gable | Philipsburg-Osceola | 27 |
T7. Max Murray | Bellefonte | 24 |
T7. Ezra Swisher | Bellefonte | 24 |
T7. Jack Darlington | Penns Valley | 24 |
T7. Colten Shunk | Penns Valley | 24 |
T7. Nate Fleck | Philipsburg-Osecola | 24 |
T7. Pierson Manville | State College | 24 |
T7. Nick Pavlechko | State College | 24 |
Pins
Name | School | Total |
1. Gage Long | Bellefonte | 25 |
2. Coen Bainey | Bald Eagle Area | 22 |
3. Nick Pavlechko | State College | 20 |
4. Ty Watson | Penns Valley | 19 |
T5. Jeffre Pifer | Bald Eagle Area | 17 |
T5. Kollin Brungart | Penns Valley | 17 |
T7. Caleb Close | Bald Eagle Area | 15 |
T7. Max Murray | Bellefonte | 15 |
9. Mason Reese | Bald Eagle Area | 14 |
10. David Martin | Penns Valley | 13 |
Fastest Falls
Name | School | Total |
1. Max Murray | Bellefonte | :08 |
2. Brayden Lisowski | Penns Valley | :10 |
T3. Coen Bainey | Bald Eagle Area | :11 |
T3. Coen Bainey | Bald Eagle Area | :11 |
T3. Nick Pavlechko | State College | :11 |
T6. Gage Long | Bellefonte | :12 |
T6. Dylan Koptchak | Philipsburg-Osceola | :12 |
T6. Sam McDonald | Philipsburg-Osceola | :12 |
9. Max Murray | Bellefonte | :13 |
T10. Max Murray | Bellefonte | :14 |
T10. David Martin | Penns Valley | :14 |
Technical Falls
Name | School | Total |
T1. Noah Weaver | Bellefonte | 4 |
T1. Colten Shunk | Penns Valley | 4 |
T1. Pierson Manville | State College | 4 |
4. Hayden Cunningham | State College | 3 |
T5. Coen Bainey | Bald Eagle Area | 2 |
T5. Caleb Hummel | Philipsburg-Osceola | 2 |
T5. Asher Cunningham | State College | 2 |
T8. 12 wrestlers | 1 |
Major Decisions
Name | School | Total |
1. Nate Fleck | Philipsburg-Osecola | 6 |
T2. Caleb Close | Bald Eagle Area | 5 |
T2. Asher Cunningham | State College | 5 |
T4. Noah Weaver | Bellefonte | 4 |
T4. Jack Darlington | Penns Valley | 4 |
T4. Colten Shunk | Penns Valley | 4 |
T4. Caleb Hummel | Philipsburg-Osceola | 4 |
T8. Lucas Fye | Bald Eagle Area | 3 |
T8. Cameron Garcia | Bellefonte | 3 |
T8. Grady Garrison | Bellefonte | 3 |
T8. Jackson Long | Bellefonte | 3 |
T8. Max Murray | Bellefonte | 3 |
T8. Ezra Swisher | Bellefonte | 3 |
T8. Ben Gustkey | Philipsburg-Osceola | 3 |
T8. Hayden Cunningham | State College | 3 |