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

Bald Eagle Area’s Caleb Close leads the county with 31 victories.
Bald Eagle Area’s Caleb Close leads the county with 31 victories.

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

Bald Eagle Area’s Coen Bainey had three pins this week to get to 22 on year. He now has 66 for his career.
Bald Eagle Area’s Coen Bainey had three pins this week to get to 22 on year. He now has 66 for his career.

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

Philipsburg-Osceola’s Nate Fleck became the county leader this week when he got to six major decisions on the season.
Philipsburg-Osceola’s Nate Fleck became the county leader this week when he got to six major decisions on the season.

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.

Penns Valley’s Colten Shunk jumped into a three-way tie for the county lead with four technical falls this week.
Penns Valley’s Colten Shunk jumped into a three-way tie for the county lead with four technical falls this week.

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