Although the Bellwood-Antis wrestling team didn’t come up with many wins during the 2004-05 wrestling, it wasn’t from a lack of effort. One of the largest distractions for the B-A wrestlers and head coach Ron Wilson was however a lack of warm and in some cases healthy bodies to fill out the lineup. The Blue Devils (3-12) generally won when teams gave up more forfeits than they did. Combining wrestlers with injuries, those with illnesses, and those who chose to give up the sport for something less strenuous, Bellwood-Antis regularly was forced to forfeit three or more weight classes. The Blue Devils found out quickly just how tough it is to attempt to overcome anywhere from 18 to 30 points a match, before any wrestlers appear on the mat.
“We were up against it going into everyone of our matches. We knew that,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Ron Wilson after the season opener at Huntingdon. “We were giving up 30 points from the very beginning, so we knew it was going to be ugly no matter what happened.” That was a scenario too often played out during the season as the reality rather than the exception for the Blue Devils. The final portion of the season found Bellwood-Antis with only one wrestler above the 160-pound weight class.
The District VI Class-AA schools were divided into two sections for the first time since the 1988-89 wrestling season, with Bellwood-Antis participating in the Eastern Sectional held at Tyrone, a week before the District VI Tournament was held also at Tyrone. Three B-A wrestlers placed in the top five at Sectionals to advance to the Districts. Seniors Ron Colyer and Dwayne Cherry each finished fourth at their respective weight class, while junior Josh Ervine placed fifth, defeating Tyrone’s Sam McCloskey for the third time this year by major decision to join his teammates at the Districts.
That one wrestler in the upperweights was senior Dwayne Cherry (18-11), who led the team in pins with 13, tournament record (6-2), at 189 or 215, and was one of three Blue Devils to win four matches in the postseason Sectional and District tournaments. A three-year letterman, Cherry completes his high school career with a 46-41 record and 132 team points.
Junior Josh Ervine (21-13) led the squad in total wins and dual wins (11), team points (58), major decisions (5)‚ and tech falls (2). Ervine was second in pins with 10 and match points with 62. Josh also won four matches in the sectional and districts, matching Cherry and prefaced that with wins in eight of his final 10 regular season matches. Ervine finished in fifth place at the Sectionals and has a career mark of 52-38 as a three-year starter.
Junior Eli Colyer (16-8), a two-year starter, led the Blue Devils in reversals (9), three-point nearfalls (9) and match points (79), while following Ervine in team points with 56 and in takedowns with 10. Colyer went 10-5 in dual meets and 6-3 in tournaments, but was injured for the postseason tournaments.
Ronnie Colyer entered the Eastern Sectionals as a decided underdog with a 7-17 record and proceeded to lead the Blue Devils with four wins along the way to a fourth-place finish that included three pins. Colyer led the Blue Devils in reversals with seven and tied his younger brother Eli Colyer for third place on the team in falls with nine.
Ronnie Wilson started slowly with just one win in his first dozen matches, but came on at the end of his first varsity season with seven pins and forfeit to finish the season 10-18. Senior Josh Hanna (5-7) had just recovered from an automobile accident during the season last year and was on his way with four straight wins by fall, when his season was abruptly ended when he had more surgery.
After wrestling several junior varsity exhibition matches, junior Liam Flynn (1-0) finally got a varsity start in the final dual meet of the season and responded with a win by pin.
In Tri-County duals, Ervine led the team with an 8-1 record, dropping his only TCT match to three-time state champ Garrett Scott of Juniata Valley. Cherry, Eli Colyer and Brandon Beech were each 7-3 and Ricky Shawley was 6-3. Shawley also led the Blue Devils in two-point nearfalls with four and finished 11-11 during the regular season in his first varsity experience.
