Bellwood-Antis opened the wrestling season on Tuesday night by hosting Tri-County League foe Northern Bedford. The Blue Devils dropped a 58-10 decision to the Panthers, one of the preseason favorites for league honors as well as a host of individual battle-tested veteran wrestlers who return from last year.
The varsity match began at the 275-pound weight class, due to one of several new rules this year, which features a rotating start with the first weight wrestled determined by a drawing at the weigh-in and then the meet proceeding in regular order through the rest of the weight classes.
B-A senior heavyweight Josh Rosella rolled around with Northern Bedford’s Brandon Weyandt before pulling away for a 14-5 major decision to get the Blue Devils off to a 4-0 team start.
Rosella yielded the first points to Weyandt on a takedown, then immediately put five points on the scoreboard with a reversal and three nearfall points. Weyandt garnered an escape and then began the second period with another takedown to temporarily tie the match at 5-5. Rosella again put Weyandt on the bottom and turned the Panther heavyweight for three more back points.
Leading 10-5 after two periods, Rosella chose the bottom position to start the third period and notched his third reversal and third nearfall, this one for two points and the 14-5 victory.
Northern Bedford received the first of two forfeits at 103 to jump past B-A into the team lead, 6-4, and Matt Mellott pinned Blue Devil 112-pounder Mike McGeary to push the Northern lead to 12-4.
At 119, Will Edwards stopped the Panther momentum with a 7-5 overtime win over Jared Mellott. Edwards jumped out to a 4-0 first-period lead on a takedown and two back points, then fell victim to a second-period nearfall and third-period reversal as Mellott tied the score at the end of regulation. Edwards needed only 30 seconds to score a takedown for the win.
The Blue Devils last win was at 160, where sophomore Dwayne Cherry gained his first varsity win by edging Tyler Lynn 9-8. Cherry used a pair of takedowns and an escape for a 5-2 advantage after one period, before a five-point move on a reversal and nearfall by Lynn tied the score after two. In the third period, Cherry scored a reversal midway through the two-minute period and gave up just a late escape to hold on for the win.
At 130, freshman Josh Ervine scored a second-period reversal, but couldn’t muster any other points in a 9-2 loss to the Panthers’ Chris Pannebacker. Ron Colyer was trailing 6-3 at 135, when Brandon Detwiler attempted a double-leg takedown. Colyer’s head bounced off the mat and the B-A sophomore was unable to continue. The injury default stretched Northern’s lead to 27-7.
Padraig Flynn dropped a 13-4 major decision to James Yorke at 140, Derrick Miller was pinned at 171, Dustin Earnest was decked by Shane Suter at 189 and Chris Carrier was pinned at 215 by Kevin Brennan.
At 152, B-A senior Jared Ervine gave Dustin Swindell all he could handle before dropping a 7-5 decision in his first match in Pennsylvania after the Ervines transferred from New York. Jared trailed 6-2 after two periods then came on strong with an escape and takedown.
B-A forfeited at 103 to Dan Oberman, 125 to two-time state qualifier Brandon Reasy and 145 to Craig Kilgore.
In the only junior varsity action, B-A junior Mike Thomas came back from a 7-2 deficit to pin Dustin Poet at the 3:34 mark.
“The score was bad,” said B-A coach Ron Wilson. “But I don’t think it was indicative of everything that went on out here tonight. Our kids came to wrestle. We’ll get better as the season goes on. We wrestled a good quality team tonight, one of the best we will wrestle all year. In quite a few of the individual matches we were right there till the end. I’m not displeased what they did out there. They gave me effort, they wrestled six good minutes and they will improve as the season goes on.
Tuesday’s meet was the first varsity experience for both Ervines in Pennsylvania as well as for Cherry, Colyer, Earnest and Carrier
Junior High
The Bellwood-Antis junior high wrestlers gave a valiant effort before falling to the Northern Bedford junior high 60-40.
The junior high match started with the 185-pound weight class with Northern jumping out to a 12-0 before 250-pounder Tyler Narehood opened the scoring for Bellwood-Antis with an 8-0 major decision. Don Partner received a forfeit at 80, Ricky Shawley followed at 85 with a fall, Eli Colyer edged his opponent 4-2, at 100, Brandon Beech registered a takedown inn overtime for the win at 105, Josh Hanna pinned his man at 138 and Boe Latchford registered the Blue Devils final win with a fall at 145.
The junior high also wrestled four exhibition matches prior to the start of the junior high match. Shane Noye pinned his man in 1:16 at 105.
Northern Bedford 58 Bellwood-Antis 10
275 – Josh Rosella (BA) won by major dec. Brandon Weyandt 14-5
103 – Dan Oberman (NB) won by forfeit
112 – Mike Mellott (NB) pinned Mike McGeary 0:44
119 – Will Edwards (BA) dec. Jared Mellott 7-5 OT
125 – Brandon Reasy (NB) won by forfeit
130 – Chris Pannebacker (NB) dec. Josh Ervine 9-2
135 – Brandon Detwiler (NB) won by Injury def. Ron Colyer 1:57
140 – James Yorke (NB) won by major dec. Padraig Flynn
145 – Craig Kilgore (NB) won by forfeit
152 – Dustin Swindell (NB) dec. Jared Ervine 7-5
160 – Dwayne Cherry (NB) dec. Tyler Lynn 9-8
171 – Richard Oldham (NB) pinned Derrick Miller 2:46
189 – Shane Suter (NB) pinned Dustin Earnest 0:15
215 – Kevin Brennan (NB) pinned Chris Carrier 3:12
Junior Varsity
171 – Mike Thomas (BA) pinned Dustin Poet 3:34
