It was touch and go for a while at Mount Union on Wednesday evening for the Tyrone wrestling team. With eight weight classes, the once-beaten Eagles were trailing 21-19, their seven match win streak seemingly in jeopardy.
Never fear, the Tyrone muscle men won four of the final five weight classes to win going away 44-25 to extend their win streak to eight and their record to 8-1.
Dave Miller, who has led off the majority of the Eagles’ duals this year at 135, due to luck of the draw, found himself up with his teammates trailing by two points after Mount Union had just taken the two weights in front of him.
Miller (19-1) went out on a mission, tearing into Nick McConaughy for three takedowns and two sets of nearfall points before finally decking the Trojan wrestler at the 1:23 mark of the first period, his 13th pin of the season, extremely unlucky for McConaughy. The Golden Eagles were back in the lead for good 25-21.
The scoring wasn’t over however. At 140, Sam McCloskey repeated a big win over Eric Starr from the Zeigler Tournament on Saturday. For the second straight time, McCloskey (8-9) piled up the points, 14 in all on three takedowns and three sets of nearfalls over Starr, to get Tyrone four team points in the 14-0 triumph.
Jacob Smerekar (8-7) moved his record up over the .500 mark, but Mount Union 145-pounder Mike Harkless did manage to become the first Trojan in three matches to score a point. Harkless managed an escape for his single point, while Smerekar registered a pair of takedowns, an escape of his own and added two back points.
After Eric Hoffmaster repeated a 13-4 major decision over Justin Schopp, Brice Mertiff (19-1) made quick work of Bill Shives for his 18th pin of the campaign, including 17 in the first period, nailing Shives in just 1:43 after jumping on the Mount Union wrestler for two takedowns and a total of eight nearfall points prior to the fall.
Heath Walk (17-3) picked up a forfeit win to close out the dual.
Schopp (7-10) who lost an almost identical 13-3 match to Hoffmaster on Saturday at the Zeigler Tourney, trailed just 4-1 after one period, but Hoffmaster added an escape, takedown and nearfall points to jump his advantage out 11-2 after two stanzas.
The dual began at the 189-pound weight class where Trey Rogers, who switched to wrestling after being selected to the AP Class-A First Team All-State Defensive unit as a linebacker, gave Mount Union an early 6-0 lead by decking Tyrone sophomore John Markel (0-1) in 5:33, who was in his first varsity outing.
Donnie Conrad got half of that lead back when Trojan 215-pounder Mike Wilson was hit with his second stalling call with 17 seconds remaining in the first overtime period. Conrad (5-7) opened the scoring with a first period takedown, but was reversed and put on his back to end the opening two minutes down 5-2. In the middle period, Conrad piled up three bid nearfall points and yielded an escape to go into the third period down 6-5. In the third stanza, the only scoring was a Conrad escape to knot the score at 6-6 and neither wrestler was able to do much when Wilson was called for the second stall warning, giving Conrad a point and the 7-6 win.
Terry Tate (17-0) took Doug Hicks down and smothered him for the fall in just 0:16. This was Terry’s 13th pin of the year.
Mount Union picked up a forfeit at 103 to take 12-9 advantage as the two teams traded the lead five times before the Eagles took it on Miller’s pin and ran away with it for the dual victory.
At 112, Mount Union’s Kevin Ryan stayed with Tyrone’s T. J. Albright (16-3) for over four minutes longer than he survived at the Zeigler Tournament on Saturday, but the end result was the same. After pinning Ryan in 1:32 at the Altoona Fieldhouse, Albright built up a 12-4 lead in the third period , before finding just the right combination to deck Ryan in 5:42.
Robert Waite (12-1) gained a measure of revenge against Keith Ryan at 119. Ryan pinned Waite in 3:25 at the Zeigler Tourney, handing the Tyrone junior his first loss of the season. On Wednesday at Mount Union, Waite punished Ryan for two takedowns, two reversals, an escape and two sets of nearfalls in a 15-2 triumph.
Although Waite’s win gave the Eagles a 19-12 lead, Mount Union came back when Dave Grove downed freshman Shayne Tate (3-13) 7-1 and Phil Watson pinned Josh Hunter in 5:29 to give Mount Union a 21-19 lead that would be their last hurrah. Hunter is no doubt sick of seeing Watson walk onto the mat, the two wrestlers have faced each other three times since Saturday, with Watson holding all three triumphs.
Tyrone also won the junior high match, defeating Mount Union 54-36.
Josh Miller (110), Jeremy Barlett (115), J. T. VanAllman (145), and J. D. Gardner (210) won by fall for the Little Eagles. Andrew Clark (122), Chase Weaver (75) and Doug Rudy (95) each won by tech fall, Byron Sullins won a major decision and Matt Moore closed out the win by receiving a forfeit.
Tyrone will leave Thursday for the Eastern States Wrestling Classic at Sullivan County Community College in Liberty, New York. The tournament features 45 teams that come from six different states. Wrestling will begin at 10 a.m. on Friday morning and conclude with the championship finals which will start at 6 p.m. on Saturday evening. The Tyrone wrestlers will return home some time on Sunday.
Tyrone 44 Mount Union 25
189 – Trey Rogers (MU) pinned John Markel 5:33
215 – Donnie Conrad (T) dec. Mike Wilson 7-6 OT
275 – Terry Tate (T) pinned Doug Hicks 0:16
103 – Snuff Walter (MU) won by forfeit
112 – T. J. ALBRIGHT (T) pinned Kevin Ryan 5:42
119 – Robert Waite (T) maj. dec. Keith Ryan 15-2
125 – Dave Grove (MU) dec. Shayne Tate 7-1
130 – Phil Watson (MU) pinned Josh Hunter 5:29
135 – David Miller (T) pinned Nick McConoughy 1:23
140 – Sam McCloskey (T) maj. dec. Eric Starr 14-0
145 – Jacob Smerekar (T) dec. Mike Harkless 7-1
152 – Eric Hoffmaster (MU) maj. dec. Justin Schopp 13-4
160 – Brice Mertiff (T) pinned Bill Shives 1:43
171 – Heath Walk (T) won by forfeit
EXH
130 – Andrew Hiller (T) pinned Cody Hoover 3:54
135 – Chris Christiansen (MU) pinned Vince Campbell 3:00
Junior High
Tyrone 54 Mount Union 36
105 – Devon Smith (MU) pinned Nathan Kruis 1:25
110 – Josh Miller (T) pinned James Mitchell 1:22
115 – Jeremy Barlett (T) pinned Dave Walker 1:49
122 – Andrew Clark (T) tech Fall Cody Hockenberry 17-2, 4:30
130 – Keith Hoffmaster (MU) dec. Shane Emigh 6-1
138 – Jimmy Smith (MU) dec. Jordan Berry 8-4
145 – J. T. VanAllman (T) pinned Heath Himes 1:24
155 – Dustin Drake (MU) won by forfeit
165 – Byron Sullins (T) maj. dec. Zach Hicks 12-4
185 – Nick Wilburn (T) won by forfeit
210 – J. D. Gardner (T) pinned Doug Wilson 3:19
250 – Greg Moore (MU) won by forfeit
75 – Chase Weaver (T) tech fall Denny Ranck 15-0, 3:21
80 – Mike Younce (MU) pinned William Shauf 0:22
85 – Doltin Smith (MU) dec. A. J. Schopp 9-8
90 – Donie Rosensteel (MU) dec. Cody Weaver 3-2
95 – Doug Rudy (T) tech fall Chris Helickson 15-0, 4:30
100 – Matt Moore (T) won by forfeit.
