The beat goes on for the Tyrone Area wrestling team. The season just over, 2004-05 was no exception as the Golden Eagle grapplers turned on the heat both individually and team-wise.
Tyrone opened the season with a loss to Indian Valley, with several key wrestlers just back from the District VI champion football team which played in the PIAA Western PA Regional final before being sidelined, then won 12 matches in a row before falling to AAA power Bald Eagle Area. Tyrone finished 16-5, for head coach Blair Packer, to set a new school record for wins in one season, breaking the old mark of 15-2 that was set by the 1984-85 team coached by Tony Yaniello, and featuring among others, Kenny Myers, the Eagles last PIAA state champ. Last that is, before Terry Tate accomplished the feat in 2005.
Included in that streak were five straight dual meet wins to power Tyrone to the Hanover Snacktown Duals and their second consecutive District VI Team Duals championship. Tyrone advanced nine wrestlers to districts from the Eastern Sectionals, held this year for the first time since 1989, and six to the regionals.
The Eagles also fared very well at individual tournaments as well. Tyrone was fourth out of a field of 33 AA and AAA schools at the tough King of the Mountain Classic at Central Mountain, won the 10-team Zeigler Blair/Huntingdon Counties Tournament and was fifth of 42 schools at the Eastern States Classic where the Eagles wrestled athletes from six different states, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Virginia and Massachusetts, as well as New York, where the tournament was held at Sullivan County Community College, in Liberty, New York.
Individually the starting and stopping place in 2004-05 has to be Terry Tate. A senior 275-pounder, Tate became the Eagles first state champion since 1985, compiling a perfect 47-0 record with 63 takedowns, 10 three-point nearfalls and a team-record 36 pins. A four-year starter for the Orange and Black, Tate also moved into the top spot on the Tyrone career-win list, finishing his high school career with a 149-24 record. Terry has registered an unbelievable 91-3 record over his junior and senior years at Tyrone with 64 pins. The Tyrone heavyweight has won championships at the Sheetz Holiday Tournament as a junior, King of the Mountain in 2004-05, and the Zeigler, Eastern States, District VI and Southwest Regional tournaments in each of the last two years. Tate was fourth at the PIAA state meet in 2004. Tate was 34-0 with 26 pins during the regular season, then pinned 10 more opponents in 13 matches, during the district, regional and state tournaments where competition gets much tougher. Tate has a school record 91 pins to his credit.
Tate is the 13th Eagle wrestler to win two district titles, the first to claim a pair of Southwest Regional crowns, and the 10th PIAA state champion. Gib Fink is the only Tyrone wrestler to win two state titles. District VI has gone to the Southwest Region Tournament since 1997.
Accompanying Tate to Hershey was fellow senior Brice Mertiff, who came home with a fourth-place medal. Mertiff (39-9) was leading the team in falls, when he was injured against Bald Eagle Area, but still managed to finish with 31 pins, 21 three-point nearfalls and 43 takedowns. Brice had a streak of 24 matches at the beginning of the season during which he was 23-1 with 21 pins, 19 of them in the first period. Mertiff won his 100th career match in the 160-pound consolation rounds at states and finished his high school career with a mark of 101-47.
David Miller led the Eagles in takedowns (87), three-point nearfalls (32) and total nearfalls (49), in addition to a 40-9 record with 21 falls and ended his high school career with a 116-44 record. Miller finished sixth at regionals at 135. Dave won his 100th match against West Branch and then proceeded to win 10 of his next 11 matches to end the regular season.
Sophomore T. J. Albright compiled a 32-10 record in 2004-05 and has a career mark of 70-26 after two years on the varsity. T. J. accumulated 20 pins, 51 takedowns, 17 two-point nearfalls and 19 three-point nearfalls and was an eighth place PIAA medalist as a freshman in 2004. Albright finished strong with 11 wins in his final dozen regular season matches.
Heath Walk had 16 falls and 43 takedowns to go with a 28-10 record as a junior. Walk has compiled a two-year mark of 49-18, despite being injured for portions of both years as a varsity wrestler. Junior Robert Waite (26-10) won at least 20 matches for the third straight year and has a 71-41 record at Tyrone. Waite recorded 15 pins and 41 takedowns in 2004-05.
Sam McCloskey (24) and Josh Hunter (23) were the team leaders in reversals. McCloskey (16-21) and Hunter (16-26) also had 49 takedowns between them with Hunter edging McCloskey 25-24. Jacob Smerekar was even in his first year on the varsity with a 19-19 mark as a sophomore. Smerekar registered 27 takedowns. Freshman Anthony Romano (17-13) had 31 takedowns in his first varsity season, in limited action at 103.
For 2005-06, Tyrone returns Romano, Albright, Smerekar, Hunter, Walk, Shayne Tate (10-24), Justin Schopp (16-20), Donnie Conrad (10-18), John Miller (4-11) and James Updike (9-18), who were all starters for the Golden Eagles in 2004-05. Romano, Smerekar, Schopp, S. Tate, Conrad, Miller and Updike will all benefit from their first year on the varsity, plus the Golden Eagles will get help from some of the junior high wrestlers, who won their fourth straight Blair County Junior High School championship.
