The Bellwood-Antis wrestlers proved to be rude hosts on Tuesday night sending both the Juniata Valley varsity and junior high home with losses. The B-A junior high won demolished Juniata Valley 78-15 behind 10 forfeit wins and the varsity swatted the Hornets 48-35. It was the first win of the season for both Blue Devil wrestling squads. Both schools wrestled in the inaugural Blair/Huntingdon County Tournament on Saturday at the Altoona Fieldhouse and there were several rematches as a result.
The varsity dual meet began at the 215-pound weight class. First-year wrestler Chris Carrier registered the first takedown and led 5-3 after one period, before his inexperience caught up with him and Brian Boone pinned Carrier at the 3:35 mark. Although Carrier (0-9), a senior, eventually lost his match, the early aggressiveness set the tone and was to play a significant part in the Bellwood-Antis win.
Josh Rosella (11-4) made quick work of Darin DeVore at 275, notching a takedown and working for the fall in 1:21 to tie the team score at 6-6 and Shane Evans (3-9) received a forfeit at 103, to push the Blue Devils into their first lead of the night 12-6.
Juniata Valley then came through the strength of their lineup with a fall by Tim Dickson over Mike McGeary (1-11) at 112, a forfeit at 119 to Garrett Scott and a 20-5 tech fall at 125 by Garrett’s older cousin Brock Scott over Josh Ervine (6-10) to retake the lead 23-12.
With the lead going back and forth in the early going, Bellwood-Antis then took command of the dual by winning six of the final eight matches, and getting maximum bonus points in each.
Will Edwards, back in the lineup after missing the Blair/Huntingdon County Tournament over the weekend, received a forfeit when Hornet coach Brad Boyd moved Tom Ayers away from Edwards (9-1) at 130. Ron Colyer (1-5) then took Ayers down and wrapped up a fall in 1:19 at 135, to push B-A into a 24-23 lead, a lead they would never surrender. Padraig Flynn (2-7) scored a pair of takedowns for a 4-1 first period lead over Tom Phillips at 140, then reversed Phillips in the second period and pined him at the 3:34 mark, repeating a win by pin over Phillips in the Ninth/place consolation final on Saturday at the Blair/Huntingdon County Tournament. Jared Ervine (10-6) played with Jim Diggins, running up an 11-0 advantage at 152, with a takedown, reversal and three sets of nearfall points before wrapping him up for the second-period fall in 2:40. Ervine decked Diggins in 3:07 on Saturday at the Altoona Fieldhouse. At 160, Dwayne Cherry (7-9) used a takedown and six back points to jump out to a 10-0 lead after one period, then took Toby Erb down once more and pinned him in 3:06. The six-point team win out the dual meet out of reach for Juniata Valley in the battle of two winless schools with the Blue Devils walking off with the win.
“We were tense tonight,” said B-A coach Ron Wilson. “Give Juniata Valley credit. They wrestled a solid match, they have some good kids. We are still a little bit banged up, we haven’t had all of our starting lineup in a match yet. We are hoping to get everybody back into the lineup and ready to go before the end of the month.”
With Derrick Miller still not 100%, coach Wilson forfeited to Wayne Irvin of Juniata Valley at 171, and moved Mike Thomas, who along with Miller had weighed in at 171, up to 189. Thomas (2-4) scored on a first-period takedown, nearfall and reversal for a 6-3 lead when he pinned David Bartlebaugh in 1:43. When the two wrestled in the Blair/Huntingdon County Tournament on Saturday, Bartlebaugh emerged the14-10 winner.
“We wouldn’t have had to forfeit (Derrick) Miller’s match at 171, but he has been nursing some illness type situations. The kids wrestled pretty well. It was nice to get a couple wins there from kids who haven’t won a lot of matches yet, so it was nice to pick up wins there. For Ron Colyer and Pad Flynn and Mike Thomas to go out and get three pins tonight was huge. It was really important for those guys to come up with big wins for us.”
Dustin Hoffmaster repeated a Tournament win over B-A sophomore Travis Ehredt at 145, pining Ehredt (0-5) in 3:33.
Bellwood-Antis won the 10 matches actually wrestled 42-17.
In a dual that began at the 155-pound weight class,the Bellwood-Antis junior high won the end matches. Dan Pielmeier opened the dual with a fall for the Blue Devils at 155, and Boe Latchford closed the dual at 145, with another fall for Bellwood-Antis.
The next action for both junior high and varsity is a triangular meet at Claysburg on Saturday with junior high wrestling set to begin at 10 a.m. Bellwood-Antis will wrestle Southern Huntingdon and Tussey Mountain, but will not wrestle the host Claysburg-Kimmel on Saturday.
The Blue Devil-Northern Cambria dual that was wiped out by the weather has been rescheduled for Thursday, Feb. 13 at Northern Cambria.
Varsity
Bellwood-Antis 48 Juniata Valley 35
215 – Brad Boone (JV) pinned Chris Carrier 3:35
275 – Josh Rosella (BA) pinned Darin DeVore 1:21
103 – Shane Evans (BA) won by forfeit
112 – Tim Dickson (JV) pinned Mike McGeary 1:41
119 – Garrett Scott (JV) won by forfeit
125 – Brock Scott (JV) won by technical fall Josh Ervine 20-5, 4:26
130 – Will Edwards (BA) won by forfeit
135 – Ron Colyer (BA) pinned Tom Ayers 1:19
140 – Padraig Flynn (BA) pinned Tom Phillips 3:34
145 – Dustin Hoffmaster (JV) pinned Travis Ehredt 3:33
152 – Jared Ervine (BA) pinned Jim Diggins 2:40
160 – Dwayne Cherry (BA) pinned Toby Erb 3:06
171 – Wayne Irvin (JV) won by forfeit
189 – Mike Thomas (BA) pinned David Bartlebaugh 1:43
Junior High
Bellwood-Antis 78 Juniata Valley 15
155 – Dan Pielmeier (BA) pinned Rick Ruffing 1:56
165 – Josh Heaster (JV) pinned Willie Dukes 0:35
185 – Josh Foster (JV) pinned Caleb Stephens 0:31
210 – No match
250 – Tyler Narehood (BA) won by forfeit
75 – Jordan Miller (BA) won by forfeit
80 – Don Partner (BA) won by forfeit
85 – Ricky Shawley (BA) won by forfeit
90 – Joe Delmastro (BA) won by forfeit
95 – Carl Weiser (BA) won by forfeit
100 – Eli Colyer (BA) won by forfeit
105 – Brandon Beech (BA) won by forfeit
110 – Willis Sneath (JV) dec. Ricky Tilley 8-1
115 – Ron Wilson (BA) won by forfeit
122 – No match
130 – Dustin Harris (BA) won by forfeit
138 – Liam Flynn (BA) won by forfeit
145 – Boe Latchford (BA) pinned Matt Harnish 0:45
EXH – Andy Martinez (BA) pinned Josh Potts
