The annual Blue Devil Invitational junior high tournament was held on Saturday, Jan. 29, in the Bellwood-Antis Middle School gym. Both local teams participated among the total of 11 junior highs, with Tyrone edging Forest Hills for the team title, 182-178.5. The two schools reversed their positions from the 2003 and 2004 tournaments. Last year, the Forest Hills junior high out-pointed Tyrone 248.5-243.5 and had four individual champions in the first five weight classes.
This year, Tyrone sent Chase Weaver (75), A.J. Schopp (80), Cody Weaver (85), Matt Moore (100), Jeremy Barlett (115), Shane Emigh (130), and J. P. VanAllman (138) into the finals and Schopp, Cody Weaver, Barlett, Emigh and VanAllman won championships to fuel the team trophy.
Tyrone finished with 182 points, followed by Forest Hills with 178.5, Curwensville with 161, Glendale 139, Myersdale 130, Central Cambria 125, West Branch 102, Huntingdon 89, Bellwood-Antis 87, Southern Huntingdon 71 and Clearfield 39.
Schopp, the top seed, pinned last year’s 75-pound champ Shane Gallaher of Forest Hills, in 2:17 to open his round at 80, then shut out David Brothers of Central Cambria, 7-0 in the championship finals. Third seed Cody Weaver pinned Nathan Glass of Glendale, in 2:15, doubled up Nathan Mykut of Huntingdon, 4-2 and then hung a 7-0 shut out on top seed Chris Adams of Curwensville, for the title at 85. Weaver was the runnerup to Gallaher at 75, last year.
At 115, second seed Barlett downed Matt Hoffman of Southern Huntingdon, 8-4 and Shane Noye of Bellwood-Antis, 10-6 to reach the finals where he decisioned top seed Justin Johnson of Curwensville, 4-2. Emigh, the top seed at 130, pinned T. J. Byers of Bellwood-Antis, in 0:32, and edged Andrew Haney of Clearfield, 9-7. In the finals, Emigh won by disqualification, when second seed Ryan Moore of Myersdale, was called for four separate penalties, the final one causing the DQ. At 138, VanAllman pinned his way through the tournament decking all three opponents. J. P., the top seed, pinned Brock Shirk of Central Cambria, in 1:12, Southern Huntingdon’s Levi Snyder in 1:29 and third seed Mario Bebber of Glendale, in 3:32.
Host Bellwood-Antis claimed one championship in Troy Weyant at 75, and received a second place finish from Ben Martinez at 250.
Weyant pinned Greg Herring of Myersdale, in 0:21, and decisioned second seed Brock Gallaher of Forest Hills, 6-4, to reach the finals at 75. In the finals, Weyant, the fourth seed, reversed a 5-2 loss to top seed Chase Weaver of Tyrone, in the finals of the Blair County Tournament, by registering a takedown in overtime to win a 6-4 decision for the Blue Devils’ only championship.
Weaver had received a bye and pinned Dan Gillingham of Curwensville, in 4:24, to reach the finals.
Matt Moore improved from a sixth place finish in 2004, to runner-up in this year’s tourney at 100, for the Golden Eagles. Moore downed third seed Rusty Garlock of Southern Huntingdon, 10-4, and second seed Trey Mock of Bellwood-Antis, 7-4, to reach the finals. His title bid was blocked in the finals by top seed Shane Powanick of West Branch, who pinned Moore in 0:58.
Bellwood-Antis 250-pounder Ben Martinez also dropped his championship finals match to finish second. Martinez pinned third seed Correy Sheehan of Southern Huntingdon, in 1:53 and David Millward of Myersdale, who had upset the second seed, in 2:07, before falling by pin to top seed Sean Owen of Curwensville, in the finals in 2:02.
Each of the two local schools also had one wrestler place third and one finish fourth.
Tyrone 155-pounder Byron Sullins, the number two seed, pinned Jake Reid of Huntingdon, in 2:40 before getting decked in 3:53, by Justin Norris of Myersdale. In the consolation bracket, Sullins pinned Mike Hill of Clearfield, in 0:26 and Billy Dobo of West Branch, in 2:45 to take third place. Teammate Doug Rudy finished fourth at 95. Rudy downed Adam Herzberg of Southern Huntingdon, 7-4, but then was pinned by top seed George Roberts of Forest Hills. In the consolation bracket, Rudy shut out A. J. Greishaw of Clearfield 5-0, before dropping a 4-1 decision second seed Glen Hetz of Myersdale.
Shane Noye improved on a sixth place finish a year ago for Bellwood-Antis to claim a second place medal in 2005. Noye, the number three seed, pinned Royce Shroyer of Myersdale, in 1:48, before running into Barlett in the semifinals. In the consi-semi at 115, Noye pinned Dillon Hoffman of Forest hills in 0:52, and followed that with another pinjob in the third place consolation finals getting Cade McClellan of Glendale, in 0:50 for third place. Caleb Stevens was pinned by second seed Justin McIntosh of Central Cambria, in just 0:15 to begin his day at 165, but came back strong with a 7-1 win over Justin Ohlee of Myersdale, and a 3-1 decision over Southern Huntingdon’s Levi Bard to reach the consi-finals. There he ran into MacIntosh again with the same results, getting pinned in 0:49 for fourth place.
T. J. Byers (130) won three matches (3-2) and Nick Alley (138) went 2-2 for Bellwood-Antis, but failed to place, while Ben Smerekar (90), Donnie Hunter (105) and Cody Smith (122) each went 2-2 for Tyrone. Josh Miller (110) was 1-2 for the Eagles, while Trey Mock (100), Ryan Wolfe (105), Tim Collier (110) and Levi Hollen (145) were all 1-2 for the Blue Devils.
