The Bellwood-Antis wrestling team made the long trek to Spring Mills to wrestle host Penns Valley and West Branch on Saturday. The Blue Devils’ opponents didn’t make the trip back to Bellwood any nicer. Bellwood-Antis dropped both matches, falling to Penns Valley 42-27, and West Branch 64-15.
Josh Rosella at heavyweight, and Josh Ervine at 125, were the only Blue Devils to win both their matches.
Rosella (13-5) got behind in each of his matches, but was able to come back and pin both opponents. In the opening dual against Penns Valley, Colby Stover scored the initial takedown before Rosella countered with a reversal for a 2-2 score at the end of the first period. Rosella pinned the Penns Valley 275-pounder from the top in 2:25, when Stover chose the bottom position to begin the second stanza. In the West Branch dual, Rosella allowed a takedown to Jesse Gregory, the two heavyweights traded reversals and the B-A senior escaped to trail 4-3 after one period. Once again his foe took the bottom position to begin the second period and once again, Rosella rolled Gregory over onto his back for the fall at the 2:50 mark.
Josh Ervine (9-12) scored the final Bellwood-Antis points in both matches. Against Penns Valley, Ervine and Jud Brooker were locked in a 0-0 draw after a scoreless opening two minutes. Ervine came off the bottom for an escape to begin the second period, then took Brooker down to his back for a takedown and applied the pin in 3:14. This was the last match of the dual with neither school putting a 130-pounder on the mat. In his second match, Josh built up a 5-0 advantage courtesy of a first period takedown and three back points. In the second, Steve Sudik too the bottom position to start the second period and Ervine quickly turned the West Branch junior for the fall in 2:12.
Both duals began with the 135-pound weight class.
Penns Valley jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first dual. Ron Colyer was pinned by undefeated (14-0) Brett Gephart in 1:33, Preston Shawver decked B-A senior Padraig Flynn in 0:53, Penns Valley received a forfeit at 145 and Mike Wise moved up to 152, to edge Jared Ervine 8-6.
Ervine jumped out to a 4-1 lead with two first-period takedowns, before Wise cut the deficit to 5-3 with a reversal and Ervine escaped for what was all the scoring in the middle period. In the final period, Wise escaped and then took Ervine down twice in the final 40 seconds to eke out the victory.
Dwayne Cherry (10-11) got the only Bellwood-Antis points in the first nine weights wrestled by pinning senior Adam Packer at 160. Cherry opened up a 7-1 first-period lead with two takedowns and a three-point nearfall. Used a reversal in the second period to stay in front 9-4 and finally was able to put Packer away for the fall at the 4:47 mark of the third period.
Derrick Miller was pinned by Alex McNitt in 3:40 at 171, and Chris Carrier was pinned by Kendall Ridenour in 0:21 at 215. In between, Mike Thomas (5-6) dropped a 6-0 decision to Dave Korman.
Rosella’s fall over Stover began a mini Blue Devil comeback with four B-A wins in the final five weight classes wrestled.
At 103, B-A sophomore Shane Evans (6-10) trailed 2-0 after one period, then turned Jesse Marlett for three back points and rode the Ram 103-pounder the entire second stanza to take a 3-2 lead. Marlett scored two takedowns in the third period, but Evans countered that with a pair of escapes and the scored on a reversal with 10 seconds left in the match to pull out the 7-6 win.
Greg Myers pinned the Blue Devils Mike McGeary in 0:37 at 112.
Will Edwards (12-3) had a takedown in the first period against Ben McNitt at 119 for all the scoring, then pinned McNitt midway through the second period at the 3:10 mark from the top when the Ram 119-pounder took bottom to begin the period.
West Branch came out ready for bear in the second dual, winning seven of the first eight to lead Bellwood-Antis 42-3 after the 215 match.
Nathan Owens pinned Ron Colyer (2-8) in 0:55 at 135, Teddy Little pinned Padraig Flynn (2-11) in 4:56 at 140, Justin Wilkinson picked up a forfeit at 145, Dwayne Cherry was pined in 2:23 by State placewinner Jared Ricotta at 160, Derrick Miller (4-13) was forced to default when he injured his ankle against Matt Lawrence at 171, Mike Thomas lost by fall to Zach McDowell in 4:43 at 189 and Chris Carrier (2-12) was pinned by Colt Vidic in 0:39 at 215.
The only Blue Devil to break through the West Branch onslaught was B-A senior Jared Ervine at 152. Ervine (12-8). Ervine took Tim Tice down to begin the match at 152, and with a Tice escape led 2-1 after the opening period. Ervine started the second period on the bottom, worked an escape and registered a second takedown for a 5-1 cushion after two periods. Tice reversed to cut the deficit to 5-3, but there was no further scoring.
Rosella pinned Gregory at 275, and Josh Ervine pinned Sudik at 125, for all the other scoring outmatched Bellwood-Antis could muster against the Warriors.
Shane Evans was pinned by Brandon LeFort in 0:28 at 103, Mike McGeary (1-16) was pinned by James Yingling in 2:42 at 112, freshman Donnie Clark majored Will Edwards 10-0 at 119, and Scott Ellis picked up a win by forfeit at 130.
“This was a tough day,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Ron Wilson, “but I say every match, that we have some bright spots. We don’t have a solid team right now. We will have one of those matches where all those bright spots come together and everything will work out for us. In the first match against Penns Valley, there were a couple matches we could have won. West Branch didn’t quite go so well, but you have days like that. We just have to keep working to get better and hope everything comes out in the end.”
Penns Valley 42 Bellwood-Antis 27
135- Brett Gephart (PV) pinned Ron Colyer 1:33
140 – Preston Shawver (PV) pinned Padraig Flynn 0:53
145 – Bobby Thompson (PV) won by forfeit
152 – Mike Wise (PV) dec. Jared Ervine 8-6
160 – Dwayne Cherry (BA) pinned Adam Packer 4:47
171 – Alex McNitt (PV) pinned Derrick Miller 3:40
189 – Dave Korman (PV) dec. Mike Thomas 6-0
215-Kendall Ridenour (PV) pinned Chris Carrier 0:21
275 – Josh Rosella (BA) pinned Colby Stover 2:25
103 – Shane Evans (BA) dec. Jesse Marlett 7-6
112 – Greg Myers (PV) pinned Mike McGeary 0:37
119 – Will Edwards (BA) pinned Ben McNitt 3:10
125 – Josh Ervine (BA) pinned Jud Brooker 3:14
130 – No match
West Branch 64 Bellwood-Antis 15
135 – Nathan Owens (WB) pinned Ron Colyer 0:55
140 – Teddy Little (WB) pinned Padraig Flynn 4:56
145 – Justin Wilkinson (WB) won by forfeit
152 – Jared Ervine (BA) dec. Tim Tice 5-3
160- Jared Ricotta (WB) pinned Dwayne Cherry 2:23
171 – Matt Lawrence (WB) won by injury default Derrick Miller 1:29
189 – Zach McDowell (WB) pinned Mike Thomas 4:43
215- Colt Vidid (WB) pinned Chris Carrier 0:39
275-Josh Rosella (BA) pinned Jesse Gregory 2:50
103-Brandon LeFort (WB) pinned Shane Evans 0:28
112-James Yingling (WB) pinned Mike McGeary 2:42
119 – Donnie Clark (WB) maj. dec. Will Edwards 10-0
125 – Josh Ervine (BA) pinned Steve Sudik 2:12
130 – Scott Ellis (WB) won by forfeit
