Thursday night recap

There were a ton of interesting developments on Thursday night. I wish I had time to get into all of them, but even my days off seem to be jam-packed right now.

Here's a quick rundown.

Blairsville beat Westmont Hilltop 36-31 in an intriguing District 6 match. I'd say that both teams rank behind West Branch, Huntingdon, Central, Cambria Heights and Mount Union in the D6 pecking order, but they are still pretty decent. The western half of the district is definitely stronger this year after a couple of down seasons. Sounds like there was a little bit of controversy in the dual and that it could have easily gone the other way.
Not mentioned in the article, but something I hope to follow up on shortly is that Blairsville picked up its 599th career victory on Thursday night. Coach D.J. Doak tells me that the Bobcats would become just the third team in District 6 history to hit the milestone and first in Class AA. Bald Eagle Area and State College are the others to reach the 600-win mark.
The highlight of the dual, aside of the controversial call, looks like it would have been Anthony Walters' 5-4 victory over Nick Pecze at 170. Pecze has been improving and really pushed the freshman. Will be interesting to see if we get a rematch at districts.

Berlin Brothersvalley rallies to beat North Star 35-33.  The Daily American had a quick recap of it, although there are no quotes. I went back and forth on this, as I noted in an earlier post, thinking that North Star might be a better dual meet team than Berlin. They were on the mat Thursday night, as Berlin won on the strength of forfeits at 113 and 120.
North Star got a big victory at 220, as Hunter Connor pinned Shane Pepper, avenging an 8-2 loss at the WestPAC tournament.
A match that did have the same result as the WestPAC tournament was at 126, where North Star's Brady Gardner again pinned Austin Lee. Their previous match was an exciting one that was close and went from almost a fall for Lee to one for Gardner. While I would have given Gardner the edge again, I wouldn't have guessed it would be by fall. Full credit to Gardner, his cradle has become a feared weapon and he's one of the most improved wrestlers that I've seen this season.
While it didn't necessarily impact the dual, North Star could be hurt in the future by the loss of Shawn Costa. The 138-pounder has been impressive this season, but a source tells me that he could miss significant time with an injury. After an injury-plagued career, I hope that he's able to get back on the mat in this, his senior season.
Berlin wrapped up the victory with decisions by Bryce Fochtman and Taylor Cahill in very good matchups. Still no Braden Fochtman for Berlin, which makes it seem unlikely that he'll wrestle this season.

Some other local scores, with matches that caught my eye:
Bellefonte 40, Bald Eagle Are 33
Cambria Heights 63, Richland 15 - The early version of the box I received had some errors. Richland's Stephen Rouser beat CH's Michael Dautlick 8-2 at 126.
Central Dauphin 46, Mifflin County 18 - Zach Elvin edged Trent Hidlay, 7-6, at 138.
Central Mountain 52, Mifflinburg 15
Chestnut Ridge 55, Northern Bedford 9 - Ridge rolls, but Jared Helsley gets impressive win over Morgan Deremer at 132; Lions counter with Luke Hobson's OT win over Trey Childers in final bout.
Claysburg-Kimmel 50, Everett 22 
Forest Hills 49, Greater Johnstown 15 - Only eight contested matches; Travis Templeton pins Ameer Connor at 152.
Huntingdon 53, Hollidaysburg 30
Newport 54, Juniata 27
Penn Cambria 59, Central Cambria 15 - Max Murin beats Nolan Link 5-3 in sudden victory in best match of night.
State College 60, Harrisburg 13
Tussey Mountain 42, Bellwood-Antis 39 - Only eight matches contested.
United 52, Conemaugh Township 28 - Still no Aaron Griffith in Conemaugh Township lineup, as he is out with an injury and hopes to avoid surgery.