Tuesday night recap 12-18-12

It was a pretty full schedule in the area and it didn’t disappoint. Tuesday night’s matches delivered the dual meet of the year, one of the best matches I’ve ever seen and at least a few jaw-dropping results.

Chestnut Ridge 39, Bedford 32

120-Sam Shank, CR, pinned Kyle Mehle, :32.
126-Ryan Easter, B, maj. dec. Derrick Claar, 12-2.
132-Garrrett Thomas, B, dec. Trent Crouse, 5-3 (SV).
138-Toby Brett, B, pinned Colby Hillegass, 3:40.
145-Dustin Bence, CR, dec. Kenny Collins, 11-8.
152-Tanner Williams, B, pinned Ben Clark, 1:44.
160-Caleb Grimes, B, dec. Kyle Winegardner, 6-1.
170-Connor Buttry, CR, pinned Niklas Wendt, :37.
182-Bradie Bollman, CR, pinned Michael Brett, :19.
195-Tyler Dibert, CR, forfeit.
220-Dan Albright, CR, pinned Chance Williams, 3:56.
285-Austin Buttry, CR, pinned Nate Shoemaker, 1:34.
106-Jonathan Gabriel, B, pinned Aaron Burkett, :25.
113-Jake Warren, B, maj. dec. Dustin Ickes, 13-0.

Records: Chestnut Ridge 2-0; Bedford 1-1.

Analysis: This was, in my mind, the dual meet of the year in my coverage area, and it lived up to the hype. A last minute schedule change allowed me to attend it and cover it for The Tribune-Democrat, and boy am I glad I did!

It was a great atmosphere, featured a stunningly quick pin and one match alone that was worth the 90-minute round trip drive to Bedford. You can read my story on the match here.

I won’t rehash all of it here, but the major surprise of the match was Bradie Bollman’s 19-second fall over Michael Brett at 182 pounds. That was the focus of the match for newspaper, but for the more wrestling-savvy audience that I have here, I’d like to focus on the 132-pound match.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TAMI KNOPSNYDER
Garrett Thomas of Bedford lifts Trent Crouse during the
overtime period of their match on Tuesday night.Thomas
secured the takedown and a 5-3 victory.

I try not to fall into hyperbole too often, but I would have to say this is one of the best bouts I’ve ever seen in a dual meet. I’ve seen guys with better credentials meet, but very rarely have I seen two very good wrestlers go at it for six minutes-plus like this.

“What a fun match, huh?” he said. “That was worth the price of admission all to itself. From the beginning, it was like two heavyweight fighters just brawling.”

The action was intense from the opening seconds, when Garrett Thomas got in deep on a double, lifted Trent Crouse into the air, but couldn’t finish as Crouse funked him. That was just a sign of things to come. With the large crowd at a fever pitch, Thomas again got in deep during the first period but couldn’t score. It was scoreless after one period and 1-0 – thanks to a Crouse escape – in the second, but the lack of scoring wasn’t due to a lack of effort. It’s hard to imagine better flurries at this level of wrestling than what Thomas and Crouse provided.

Thomas started on bottom in the third and was able to hip over for a reversal 30 seconds into the period. Crouse came close to a Peterson a few times but had to settle for a sit-out-turn-in and a 4-3 lead with 39 seconds remaining. A stalling call on Crouse with 26 seconds remaining gave Thomas a restart, but he couldn’t take advantage of it. A second stalling call with just seven seconds left in the third sent it to overtime.

Not surprisingly, it also infuriated the Ridge fans.

“Not real happy about the call, with 15 seconds to go,” Ridge coach Greg Lazor said. “A stall call on your butt – that’s one of the first times I’ve seen that. But it is what it is, and you move on and you keep going.”

I’m won’t say that it was a bad call by official Doug Fogel, as Crouse wasn’t making any effort to turn Thomas in the closing seconds, but Thomas seemed spent and wasn’t trying to score either, but I certainly wouldn’t have had the guts to make it in that situation.

Thomas found knew life in the overtime and took advantage of it, as he got in deep on another double, lifted and – this time – was able to finish for the 5-3 victory.

Some other items of note:

·         I still didn’t get to see much of heralded freshman Jonathan Gabriel. He needed just 25 seconds to pin previously unbeaten Aaron Burkett in a low-leg cradle.

·         Ryan Easter looked good in a major decision over Derrick Claar that featured a pair of defending District 5 champs.

·         Kenny Collins dominated Dustin Bence on his feet – scoring four takedowns to none – but lost his cool and the match. Collins gave up four points thanks to the new system that mixes stalling points with other violations, then refused to shake his own coach’s hand after the match.

Westmont Hilltop 50, Cambria Heights

106-Austin Lawson, WH, pinned Mark Zabinski,:54.

113-Drake Dorian, WH, tech. fall Michael Dautlick, Michael, 15-0 (5:36).

120-Dan Yost, WH, pinned Chris Poutrain, 1:49.

126-Nick Mical, WH, forfeit.

132-Joe Davis, CH, dec. Logan Blackburn, 9–5.

138-Steven Zipf, WH, dec. Michael Zabinski, 9–2.

145-Mark Barbera, WH, pinned Raymond Niebauer, 5:08.

152-Mike Walsh, WH, dec. Levi Niebauer, 13-9 (SV).

160-TravisYahner, CH, pinned Seth Ray, 3:41.

170-Colin Barron, WH, dec. Dalton Waksmunski, 6-4.

182-Riley Schropp, WH, pinned William Hoover, 3:26.

195-Tyler Crawford, CH, pinned Jake Buck, :17.

220-Don Shovestull, WH, pinned Anthony Mezzello, Anthony, :49.

285-Aaron Gill, CH, pinned Christian Roman, 2:38.

Records: Westmont Hilltop 2-0; Cambria Heights 1-1.

Analysis: I need to eat a bit of crow on this one. Last week, I said that Cambria Heights was the best team in Cambria County. Boy was I wrong. I’m not sure if I overestimated the Highlanders or underestimated Westmont Hilltop – probably a bit of both – but this one wasn’t even close. Yes, Cambria Heights was without one of its top wrestlers in Brad Thomas (not sure why at this point), but that wasn’t the difference. Even if Thomas gives CH a fall instead of a forfeit at 126, that still only makes the team score 44-27.

Matt Beaujon and his coaching staff deserve a ton of credit for finding ways to win matches. The junior high program has struggled for a few years at Westmont, and I thought it would finally catch up with them. But Beaujon finds a way to field a competitive team, no matter what he has to work with. This is far from his most talented team, but he gets improvement out of kids, whether they’re first-year wrestlers or experienced ones. He’s also one of the best in our area at anticipating matchups in dual meets and how to take advantage of them. Whether or not he can find a way to knock off a Bedford team coming to the Hilltop on Friday … that’s a different story.

It looks like there were a couple of really good bouts here. Joe Davis, a District 6 AA runner-up at 120 last year, beat Logan Blackburn, a D6-AAA champ at 106, at 132 pounds. Also of note was Mike Walsh’s 13-9, sudden victory decision over Levin Niebauer at 152.

Berlin Brothersvalley 51, Somerset 18

182-Logan Eller, S, pinned Shane Pepper, 3:08.

195-Jacob Nickelson, S, forfeit.

220-Stewart Trulick, BB, forfeit.

285: Mitchell Walker, BB, forfeit.

106-Emil Kiesnowski, BB, forfeit .

113-Garret Foster, S, dec. Tommy DeArmitt, 12-10.

120-Joey Swank, BB, pinned Tyler Walker, 5:53.

126-E.J. Custer, BB, dec. Sheldon Wagner, 6-4.

132-Chris Miller, BB, pinned Bailey Phillips, 3:10.

138-Braden Fochtman, BB, dec. Jon Fabian, 7-3.

145-Mike Laue, S, dec. Eric Darr, 5-1.

152-Blake Miller, BB, pinned Daniel Talley, :42.

160-Bryce Fochtman, BB, dec. Landon Lohr, 5-2.

170-Trevor Moore, BB, forfeit.

Records: Berlin Brothersvalley 2-0; Somerset 0-3.

Analysis: No major surprises here. Berlin, fresh off a thumping of Conemaugh Township and a Sheetz Holiday Classic title last week, is a team on the rise while Somerset is really struggling.

The Golden Eagles gave up four forfeits and got one, meaning the team score was 26-12 on the mat.

There were a few good matchups, with the highlights for me involving the young Fochtman brothers. Braden Fochtman, a freshman, beat Jon Fabian – who won 22 matches a year ago – at 138. Meanwhile, Bryce Fochtman, a sophomore, beat Landon Lohr 5-2 in a matchup of returning District 5 placewinners.

Somerset’s best win came at 113, where Garret Foster beat Tommy DeArmitt 12-10.  

Note: The following dual meets also were on the docket for Tuesday: 

• Richland at Forest Hills, 7 p.m.
• Penn Cambria at Greater Johnstown, 7 p.m.
• North Star at Ligonier Valley, 7 p.m.
• Marion Center at Portage, 7 p.m.
• Blairsville at United, 7 p.m.
• Conemaugh Township at Shade, 7:15 p.m.

I’ll post results and analysis as my schedule permits.