The Tri-County Wrestling Tournament has been around since 1969. From the time the Bellwood-Antis wrestling team first entered the tournament a few years later, until 1998, there was a Blue Devil earn a championship in nearly every tournament, sometimes multiple winners- 42 individual champions over 28 seasons, with four team championships and another five runner-up spots in the team race. B-A never went two straight years without a champ Since ‘98 however, when heavyweight Vince Torsell won the second of two titles, no Blue Devil has won a Tri-County championship. Over the past weekend, that all changed.
Josh Ervine, off to one of the best starts ever by a Blue Devil wrestler at 9-0, breezed through his weight class to claim the 140-pound championship. That is his second tournament title of the season, having pinned his way through the Conemaugh Township Tournament to begin the season.
Ervine pinned Adam Oldham of Juniata Valley, in just 0:25, and Zach Hart of Northern Bedford, in 3:23 to get into the finals. There, Ervine dominated Tussey Mountain’s Waylon Corbin 10-3 with three takedowns and two reversals, while giving up just three harmless escapes.
“We saw a lot of good things this weekend,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Ron Wilson. “Josh winning at 140, was the biggest step in the right direction. He moved to 9-0 with that one, which is huge for us. We haven’t had a kid go 9-0 this late in the season for a long time. It’s nice to have a kid having that success.”
Teammate Eli Colyer (3-2) also wrestled into the finals, but dropped a 7-4 decision to Ryan Jacoby of Moshannon Valley. Colyer pinned Cameron Diamond of Tussey Mountain, in 1:26 and then gained some revenge on Dan Oberman of Northern Bedford, with a 13-8 win in the semifinals. Last Tuesday, in the B-A/ Northern Bedford dual meet, Oberman used two third-period takedowns to outpoint Colyer 10-6.
At 152, Ronnie Wilson (6-5) split four matches to finish fourth. Wilson pinned Portage’s Matt Randall in 3:42 before dropping by fall to eventual champ Jason Foor of Southern Huntingdon, into the consolation bracket. In the consi-semifinal, Wilson downed Matt Queen of Glendale, 9-4. In the third-place final, top seed Peter Westwood of Everett, pinned Wilson in 3:59.
Four Blue Devils wrestled in the fifth-place consolation finals, with two claiming fifth place finishes and two getting beat to take sixth.
Donnie Partner (2-6) fell by fall to Marc Godon of Moshannon Valley in 4:40 and Neil Stephenson of Tussey Mountain, in 1:23, but rebounded to deck Megan Ayers, one of three female wrestlers in the lineup for Juniata Valley, in just 0:24 for fifth place at 112. Brandon Beech (4-5) pinned Whitney Boyd of Juniata Valley, in 0:54 at 130, then was majored 16-5 by Daniel Knott of Claysburg-Kimmel, and pinned by Brian Faust of Everett, in 4:43. In the fifth-place consolation match, Beech shutout Ian Mitchell of Tussey Mountain 4-0, on a nearfall and escape. At 145, Dustin Harris edged Everett’s Josh Wilt 9-7 in overtime, then ran into three-time state champ Garrett Scott of Juniata Valley, who pinned Harris in 1:14. Kelsey Tarr of Glendale, decisioned Harris 13-7 and Miles Crawford of Northern Bedford in 1:44 in the fifth-place consi-final. B-A sophomore heavyweight Kris Morder (3-7) picked up his first two wins of his varsity career on the mat. Morder opened the tournament by decking Matt Harnish of Juniata Valley, in 2:58, then was pinned by eventual champ Andy Stine of Moshannon Valley, in 0:27. In the consolation rounds, Morder pinned Billy Carpenter of Claysburg-Kimmel, in 1:21, but was pinned by Portage heavyweight Travis Macidyn in 1:48 and by Glendale’s Robert Shomo in 0:49. Morder’s only previous win was by forfeit at Conemaugh Township.
Garett Wyland (2-5)) decisioned Corey Lombardo of Portage, 9-7 in the opening consolation round at 171, and Josh Keagy (1-4) pinned Frank Lombardo of Portage, in the pigtail round to begin the tournament in 2:45 at 189, to both go 1-2 in the tournament. Mike Ballard (160) and Cody Smith (215) were both 0-2 for the Tri-County.
Bellwood-Antis had no wrestlers at 103, 119 and 135.
“All the kids had good success this weekend,” said Coach Wilson. “I think we are getting better and if we keep on improving along this route, we’re going to have a pretty decent team.”
Northern Bedford breezed to the team championship with 230 points and three champs, Southern Huntingdon was second with 171.5 points and three champs, Tussey Mountain third with 143.5 points and one champ, Everett with 130 points and two champs and Claysburg-Kimmel (no champs) and Juniata Valley (one champ) tied for fifth with 120 points. The rest of the team race included Moshannon Valley with 196 points and one champ, Bellwood-Antis 95 points, Portage with 64 points and one champ and the host Glendale had 63.5 points and no champs.
At 145, Garret Scott of Juniata Valley, won his fourth Tri-County championship. Cody Myers of Southern Huntingdon, won his third title at 119, Ryan Jacoby (125) of Moshannon Valley, Jared Mellott (130) of Northern Bedford, David Sunderland (160) of Southern Huntingdon, and Adrian Ritchey (215) of Everett, all won their second Tri-County championship.
