The Tyrone wrestling team started out looking a bit sluggish in their bid to become the winningest squad in the history of the Tyrone wrestling program. You would have thought that the roles were reversed. Altoona (0-11) was the definite aggressor, while Tyrone (15-2) in search of their 16th victory to push them past the 15-2 mark compiled by the 1984-85 Eagles, seemed to be just going through the motions.
The Golden Eagles got their usual boost through the heavyweight and lower end of the lineup and then continued their push by nailing all of the final nine weight classes, with no match at 103. Tyrone improved to 16-2 with a 54-15 win
The match began at 160, where Tyrone sophomore Justin Schopp shook off a 4-2 deficit after one period to take command in the last two stanzas for a 10-4 win over Chris Servello. Schopp (14-15) moved to within one victory of the .500 mark with his sixth win in his last nine matches. A three-point nearfall in the second period and reversal and back points in the third period sealed up the win to get Tyrone on the scoreboard first, 3-0.
Altoona then took the next three straight weight classes to stake the Mountain Lions to a 15-3 advantage. At 171, James Updike (7-13) fell behind Josh Bender 7-1, then staged a comeback with a reversal and back points late in the match. Updike ran out of time however, to fall 7-6 to Bender. John Balliet pinned Donnie Conrad (9-13), while leading 6-2 in the second period at 189. John Miller opened the scoring at 215, with a first-period takedown, but Brant Clouser came back with a penalty point, reversal and nearfall to go into the second period up 6-2, then added an escape and takedown and finally pinned Miller at the 3:08 mark.
“Tonight, it appeared we were a bit flat,” explained Tyrone coach Blair Packer. “But we’ve got a big weekend ahead of us and I know that’s on their minds. I was hoping we wouldn’t overlook them (Altoona) and I don’t think we did. I just think we got our minds on something else. Those kids up top for Altoona in those three weights aren’t bad. I think we might have wrestled differently at those weights if we weren’t going somewhere this weekend. I’m not disappointed the way we wrestled up top. I would have liked to have won them all, but we did OK.”
Although the fans were beginning to feel a bit uneasy, the Orange and Black wrestlers would soon put everybody’s minds to ease.
Dependable veteran Terry Tate (31-0) began the process with a first period fall over Altoona heavyweight Jeremy Calderwood in 1:39 for his 24th pin of the year. After neither school was able to put a warm body out on the mat at 103, T. J. Albright (27-5) tied the team score by pinning Brandon Potts in 3:41, at 112. Albright seemed in a hurry, but managed to take Potts down twice in the first period, but couldn’t turn him. Albright finally caught Potts for his 17th pin of the year. Robert Waite (21-4) tried practically every move he had in his arsenal, but didn’t seem to stick with anything long enough to get results, but finally decked Matt Wombacher in the second period in 2:40 to give Tyrone a 21-15 lead they just kept building on.
“I think Albright got a little frustrated, “ said Packer. “He just needs to settle down, know what he has to do and do it. He needs to get over that and find ways to get past when kids block him and stop him.”
In one of the pivotal matches of the dual, Tyrone freshman Shayne Tate (6-21) went after Adam Pelligrino with a vengeance, scoring the opening takedown, then pursuing Pelligrino until he decked him at the 1:05 mark for the quickest fall of the night. At 130, Josh Hunter continued the dominance by notching a 5-0 shutout win over Pete Cassarly. Hunter (12-20) scored a first-period takedown and second-period escape and takedown to post the win.
“Josh said before the dual he was concerned about his kid,” said Packer. “I just told him he needed to go out and wrestle like he knows how and settle the kid down and do the job.”
With the match out of reach, Altoona chose to forfeit three of the final five weight classes, giving freebies to Andrew Hiller (1-0) at 135, David Miller (32-3) at 140, and Jacob Smerekar (16-12) at 152.
In the final weight class wrestled on the mat, Sam McCloskey trailed Zack Bender 2-0 after the first period, but when Bender took the bottom position to begin the middle period, the Tyrone junior caught Bender and turned him for three back points to begin the middle period. Bender escaped and took Sam down to escape the second stanza with a 5-3 advantage. McCloskey (13-16) reversed Bender to his back for a pin midway through the third period at the 5:04 mark to complete his comeback.
“Northwestern Lehigh has about a half-dozen kids who are state ranked, with a solid lineup top to bottom,” explained Packer about the Eagles’ first opponent on Friday morning in the PIAA Team Duals at the Giant Center in Hershey. “We are kind of behind the eight-ball, again, with two starters out of the lineup. Our kids rose to the occasion on Saturday (to win the District Team Duals). We expect the same thing on Friday. We’ll take one match at a time. I think Northwestern Lehigh has earned their spot. I think we have earned our spot. We’ll see what happens.”
Seniors Andrew Hiller, David Miller, Brice Mertiff and Terry Tate were honored on Senior Night prior to the varsity match.
The Tyrone/Northwestern Lehigh match begins on Friday, at 8 a. m., with the winner getting top seed Reynolds at 12 Noon in a double elimination tournament.
Tyrone 54 Altoona 15
160 – Justin Schopp (T) dec. Chris Servello 10-4
171 – Josh Bender (A) dec. James Updike 7-6
189 – John Balliet (A) pinned Donnie Conrad 2:47
215 – Brant Clouser (A) pinned John Miller 3:08
275 – Terry Tate (T) pinned Jeremy Calderwood 1:39
103 – No match
112 – T. J. Albright (T) pinned Brandon Potts 3:41
119 – Robert Waite (T) pinned Matt Wombacher 2:40
125 – Shayne Tate (T) pinned Adam Pelligrino 1:05
130 – Josh Hunter (T) dec. Pete Cassarly 5-0
135 – Andrew Hiller (T) won by forfeit
140 – David Miller (T) won by forfeit
145 – Sam McCloskey (T) pinned Zack Bender 5:04
152 – Jacob Smerekar (T) won by forfeit.
EXH
189 – Brady Williams (T) pinned Jeff Miller 3:00
275 – Brandon Oswalt (T) pinned Aaron Wyland 5:09.
Junior High
Tyrone 57 Roosevelt 48
155 – Zack Bulow (R) pinned Jordan Berry 2:16
165 – Tyler Hopkins (R) pinned Nick Wilburn 2:47
185 – D. J. Zimmerman (R) won by forfeit
210 – Brad Spragle (R) pinned J. D. Gardner 1:29
250 – Nick Sota (R) won by forfeit
75 – Chase Weaver (T) won by forfeit
80 – A. J. Schopp (T) won by forfeit
85 – Ben Smerekar (T) won by forfeit
90 – Cody Weaver (T) pinned Trevor Dangle 0:51
95 – Alex Zimmerman (R) pinned Doug Rudy 2:17
100 – Matt Moore (T) dec. Nick Zimmerman 7-3
105-Donnie Hunter(T) pinned Tony Weakland 1:23
110 – Josh Potts (R) pinned Nate Kruis 3:24
115 – Josh Miller (T) pinned Kerry Bonsel 1:05
122-Bronson Pfahler (R) pinned Andrew Clark 1:15
130 – Chris Decker (T) pinned Dillion Squires 0:22
138 – Shane Emigh (T) Don Bell 0:24
145- J. P. VanAllman (T) pinned Chris Roberts 1:18.
