Bellwood-Antis was one of eight teams involved in the 11th Annual Tyrone-Pepsi Invitational on Saturday, January 4, 1992. The Blue Devils and host Tyrone Golden Eagles were joined by Cameron County, Curwensville, DuBois, Glendale, Moshannon Valley and Southern Huntingdon. Referees who officiated the tournament were Jim Campbell, Galen Claar, Craig Dutrow, Chris Grove, Paul Packer and Dick Wood.
DuBois walked off with the team title with 178 points and five champions to outdistance Tyrone in second with 121 points and one champ and Bellwood-Antis in third, with 117.5 points and two champs for head coach Darrell Claar and assistant Pat Detterbeck. Curwensville was fourth with 99 points and two champs, Mo Valley fifth with 95 and one champ, followed by Glendale 90 points and no champs, Southern Huntingdon 84.5 and one champ and Cameron County 41.5 and no champs. DuBois also walked off with the Pin Award given to heavyweight Dennis Wykoff who managed three falls in a combined 5:27 and the OW Award given to Joel Gilbert the 171-pound champ.
Tony Montanaro was the Blue Devils first champion at 119. Montanaro byed through the opening round and then pinned his way to the title. Tony, the top seed, decked Eric Irvin of Southern Huntingdon, in 1:11 and then got Jason Miller of DuBois, in the finals at the first period buzzer for a 1:59 fall.
At 130, second seed Vince Shank opened the tournament by pinning Mike Bair of Southern Huntingdon, in just 0:17, and put DuBois’ Sam Petrucci away in 5:34 to reach the finals. In the championship match, Shank and Moshannon Valley’s Aaron Dugan went head-to-head, until Dugan was called for stalling the second time causing a penalty point for Shank, who squeaked by for a 5-4 win.
Montanaro and Shank were joined in the finals by teammates Ben Weber (112), Devon Desch (135) and Karl Montanaro (171), but each was stopped in his title bid to finish in second place.
Ben Weber pinned Eric Balestino of Glendale, to begin the tournament at 112, then pinned second seed Mark Irwin of Southern Huntingdon, in 1:21 to earn a berth in the finals. There, Weber ran into Jason Parks of Tyrone, who advanced with a pin and a 2-1 victory. In the championship match, Parks emerged the victor by a 14-7 score.
At 135, Devon Desch won a pair of close matches to get to the finals, edging Darin Shaffer of Curwensville, 2-1 in the quarterfinals and Dan McMonagle of Tyrone, 2-0 in the semifinals. In the finals against DuBois’ Matt Pernesky, Desch was forced to default at the beginning of the second period (2:04) when he pulled a shoulder muscle.
Tony Montanaro’s older brother Karl Montanaro had the misfortune to be in the same weight class as Gilbert. Karl received a bye in the opening round and pinned Loren Petrof of Glendale, at the 5:13 mark to reach the finals at 171. Against OW Gilbert, Montanaro dropped a 13-4 major decision to settle for second place. Karl Montanaro went on to place fourth at Regionals, becoming the last Blue Devil to qualify for the State Tournament in Hershey.
Bellwood-Antis also had a pair of wrestlers place fourth.
Eric Aposhian dropped a 9-4 first-round verdict to Shawn McCleary of DuBois, to fall into the consolation brackets. Aposhian pinned Justin North of Glendale, in 0:34 and majored Chuck Johnson of Cameron County, 13-4. In the consolation final, Aposhian met McCleary again, falling 15-4 for fourth place at 135.
Comanche Garcia played out the same scenario at 140, dropping two matches to Tyrone’s A.J. Cannistraci to finish fourth. Garcia dropped an 18-8 major decision to Cannistraci in the quarterfinals. Then Comanche won by a 17-1 technical fall over Scott Lyons of DuBois, and pinned Brett Mansfield of Cameron County, in 2:51. In the finals, it was Cannistraci by a much closer 9-5 margin.
Joe Highduch opened the tournament with a fall over Shawn Dideo of Cameron County, in 5:04, then exited with a losses by tech fall and pin, at 145. Matt Strong pinned Sam Heiney of Southern Huntingdon, in 3:38 at heavyweight, then was pinned by Wykoff and Curwensville’s T. J. Wingard. Dan Martin (103), Randy Mielnik (152) and Rich Miller (160) went 0-2.
