For those of you sports fans who have more than a smattering of wrestling knowledge, you know a lot of the sport is actually mental. What weight class the dual meet begins at and whose choice it is to put his school’s wrestler on the mat first, have settled many close matches that could have gone the other way if the circumstances were different, yet the wrestlers remain the same.
B-A coach Ron Wilson wouldn’t use any of the answers to those questions as an excuse, but Central was able to shift their wrestlers to get the matchups they wanted, even after the above choices were recorded and the Dragons went home with a 37-35 win over Bellwood-Antis for their second win in 15 duals. Bellwood-Antis drops to 4-10.
The dual began at 145, where Central coach Don Knisely forfeited to B-A senior Dan Himes and moved his next three wrestlers up a weight.
For a while, it looked like the move backfired with the Blue Devils winning the first three matches to take a 17-0 lead in the early going.
Following the forfeit to Himes (5-4), Jared Ervine (16-9) parleyed five takedowns, a pair of escapes and five nearfall points into a 17-2 technical fall over Kevin Camerer to hike the B-A advantage to 11-0 after the 152-pound match. Dwayne Cherry (13-13) evened his record with a pin of Eric Hoover in 2:36. Cherry scored first with a first-period takedown, and led 5-3 at the time of the fall at 160.
Camerer weighed in at 145, Hoover at 152, David Douglas at 160 and Chase Richardson at 171, for the dual meet. In Tri-County Tournament action in December, Ervine majored Hoover 12-1, Cherry pinned Douglas and Richardson was pinned by B-A senior Derrick Miller, who is done for the year with an ankle injury.
Central began their comeback at 171, moving Douglas in and scratching Richardson completely. In a matchup that figured in points scored with time running out in each period, Mike Thomas hit a takedown with just 0:02 to wrestle in the first period and following a Thomas reversal, Douglas scored on a reversal of his own with only 0:06 remaining in the second period. Douglas took control of the third period with an escape and takedown to jump ahead 5-4, when Thomas (7-9) tied the scored with an escape in the last minute of the period to take the battle into overtime. Both wrestlers got their shots, but it was Douglas, who was successful with just 0:08 to go in the OT for an exciting 7-5 triumph.
The Dragons quickly nailed two first-period pins over inexperienced wrestlers at 189 and 275, sandwiched around a forfeit at 215. Travis Rhodes pinned Dustin Earnest (4-7) at 189, and Brian Burkett pinned Chris Carrier (3-16) at 275.
With Central in front 21-17, Doug Ritchey (14-1) and B-A 103-pounder Shane Evans faced off for the third time this season. In both the Tri-County and Blair/Huntingdon County Tournaments, Ritchey won by fall. On Tuesday night, Evans (8-13) fought off Ritchey’s attempts at pinning the B-A sophomore, falling by a 12-3 major decision, but saving two important bonus points.
At 112, Brent Meck pinned Mike McGeary (2-19) in 1:54 to give the Dragons a 31-17 lead.
Bellwood-Antis picked up forfeits for Will Edwards (14-4) at 119, and Josh Ervine (12-14), at 125 to draw to within 31-29 and there was no match at 130, which ultimately killed the Blue Devils. Had B-A had the option to make Central put their wrestler at 112 out on the mat first, coach Wilson could have moved McGeary, Edwards and Josh Ervine each up a weight to catch a forfeit at 130.
With two weights to wrestle, Ron Colyer gave B-A their last lead by pinning Vince Garlock in 2:44 at 135. Colyer (5-9) scored a takedown in each of the first two periods for a 4-1 advantage, when he worked a pinning combination as referee Larry Guenot slapped the mat for the fall.
At 140, Bellwood-Antis, who had no warm body, forfeited to Central’s Miles Lamborn to give the Scarlet Dragons the team victory.
“It was close,” reported coach Wilson, whose one strategy move was to move Carrier away from Brent Dodson, who had pinned the B-A senior at the Tri-County. “We have had a couple of these, that we have lost, that I think, we should have won. Our kids wrestled well enough to win, we just didn’t get the bouts matched up correctly. Sometimes that comes back to haunt you. They moved a couple of their kids around who picked up forfeits that helped them significantly. It worked in their favor this time. Maybe next time, it will work in ours.”
Bellwood-Antis senior cheerleaders and wrestlers were recognized before the varsity match. The dual meet was televised on the Public Access channel of the Charter Communications network.
Bellwood-Antis will wrestle their final dual Friday, Feb. 14, at Northern Cambria, with junior high wrestling set for six p.m. and varsity action set for seven p.m. The Northern Cambria dual was originally scheduled for Jan. 3, but was snoowed out and then resheduled for Thursday, Feb. 13, but has now been moved to Friday. Feb. 14.
The Bellwood-Antis junior high improved their record to 9-5, with a match at Northern Cambria left next Friday, defeating Spring Cove 72-15.
Don Partner (80), Ricky Shawley (90), Shane Noye (105), Brandon Beech (110) Dustin Harris (130), Trevor Latchford (145), Tyler Narehood (250) and Jordan Miller (75) received forfeits from then undermanned Little Dragons, but the B-A junior high actually won the seven matches contested on the mat 24-9.
Ronnie Wilson (115), Liam Flynn (138) and Willie Dukes (155) won by fall and Eli Colyer (100) and Caleb Stephens (185) won regular decisions.
Central 37 Bellwood-Antis 35
145 – Dan Himes (BA) won by forfeit
152 – Jared Ervine (BA) won by tech fall Kevin Camerer 17-2, 4:40
160 – Dwayne Cherry (BA) pinned Eric Hoover 2:36
171 – David Douglas (C) dec. mike Thomas 7-5 OT
189 – Travis Rhodes (C) pinned Dustin Earnest 1:23
215 – Brent Dodson (C) won by forfeit
275 – Brain Burkett (C) pinned Chris Carrier 0:49
103 – Doug Ritchey (C) maj. dec. Shane Evans 12-3
112 – Brent Meck (C) pinned Mike McGeary 1:54
119 – Will Edwards (BA) won by forfeit
125 – Josh Ervine (BA) won by forfeit
130 – No match
135 – Ron Colyer (BA) pinned Vince Garlock 2:44
140 – Miles Lamborn (C) won by forfeit
Junior High
Bellwood-Antis 72 Spring Cove 15
80 – Don Partner (BA) won by forfeit
85 – Mark Tomlinson (SC) dec. Joe Delmastro 7-5
90 – Ricky Shawley (BA) won by forfeit
95 – No match
100 – Eli Colyer (BA) dec. Brad Ritchey 7-6
105 – Shane Noye (BA) won by forfeit
110 – Brandon Beech (BA) won by forfeit
115 – Ronnie Wilson (BA) pinned Josh Feathers 1”23
122 – Luke Hammers (SC) won by forfeit
130 – Dustin Harris (BA) won by forfeit
138 – Liam Flynn (BA) pinned Matt Laughlin 3:31
145 – Trevor Latchford (BA) won by forfeit
155 – Willie Dukes (BA) pinned Wes Cuip 0:36
165 – Nate Detwiler (SC) pinned Andy Martinez 4:04
185 – Caleb Stephens (BA) dec. Jeremy Rhodes 8-3
210 – No match
250 – Tyler Narehood (BA) won by forfeit
75 – Jordan Miller (BA) won by forfeit
