Weekend recap 1-5-2014

There were some interesting developments over the weekend, so let's take a look back at what happened.

Chestnut Ridge 39, Berlin Brothersvalley 25: What was supposed to the match of the year was a big disappointment to me, although I'm sure it was anything but to Lions fans. I did live updates from the match, which served as a sort of instant analysis.
I thought a lot about it over the past couple of days and kind of crystallized some thoughts on it.

• Chestnut Ridge was the better wrestling team. It seems obvious, I know, but it's the simple truth. I still think Berlin has more talent, but the Mountaineers certainly didn't show it on Friday night. The Lions did the things that good teams do. They scored points at the end of periods, scored on the edge of the mat, got off their backs when put on there (mostly) and picked up a fall when they put a Berlin wrestler on his back.
• The Chestnut Ridge upperweights, which I thought were the weak point in this year's team, came up big, with two huge falls. The first, by Ben Clark at 170, set the tone for the night and played a huge role in the end result.
• Berlin didn't respond in a positive manner at all after Clark's win or Conner Buttry's pin of Toby Cahill at 195. The Mountaineers looked disinterested at times. Definitely not the type of fire you'd expect to see from a championship-caliber team.
• Chestnut Ridge was, as a team, in much better shape. The Mountaineers held second-period leads in four of the eight matches they lost.
• The Lions had five falls. Four of them came the first time a Chestnut Ridge wrestler put a Berlin opponent on his back. In all, the Lions only had one set of nearfall points in the dual - Austin Buttry's first-period set against Anthony Collins at 285. In every other instance they turned a pinning combination into six points. The Mountaineers, on the other hand, had seven sets of nearfall points out of nine pinning combinations. Only Stew Trulick and Bryce Fochtman capitalized by picking up falls. Some of that can be chalked up to technique, but mostly it was about heart. Chestnut Ridge simply fought harder to not get pinned.
• By my calculations, Chestnut Ridge scored nine points in the final 15 seconds of a period. Berlin didn't score any. That could be skewed slightly, because I don't always write down times when points are scored, but there is no doubt that the Lions were better late in periods.
• As bad as Berlin looked, the Mountaineers still could have won the dual. Trevor Moore could have easily gotten a fall call over Ben Clark in the opening match, negating Clark's opportunity to be the hero. I'm not saying that it was a bad non-call by any means, but I don't think Ridge would have argued too much if the pin had been called. Instead, trailing 9-2 in the second, Clark took advantage of a sloppy cradle attempt, reversed Moore and pinned him. If, and I know it's a big if, Moore gets the fall instead the team score becomes 33-31. And if Toby Cahill gets decisioned by Conner Buttry instead of pinned - it was tied at 2 in the third period before Buttry got a reversal and a pin - than Berlin wins 31-30. Again, I know those are two huge ifs, and the dual might have played out differently if those results changed, but when you look at from that perspective, you realize that Ridge might not have been as dominant as it felt.
• I have to eat my words, not just on the prediction that Berlin would win by 10 - I was way off on that one - but also in my comment that either team would match up well with the best in District 6. I don't mean to make light of Chestnut Ridge after such a big win, but I don't know if the Lions or Mountaineers would fare well against West Branch, Huntingdon or Mount Union.

Best of the best: Want to see how I rank the top seven teams in Cambria and Somerset (as well as a couple in Bedford, Indiana and Westmoreland) counties? Pick up a copy of Monday's Tribune-Democrat. We've launched a new feature where we pick the top basketball and wrestling teams from our coverage area. I'm glad we didn't start doing the rankings prior to Friday!

Century club: Congratulations to Bedford's Garrett Thomas, who became the latest District 5 wrestler to hit the 100-win milestone. Thomas pinned Steven Pennington in the Bisons' rout of Central Cambria. While Thomas made the TV highlights with the victory, the ones that most wrestling fans will take notice of were at 113 and 132. I'm a little surprised that Ian Ostrowski kept it so close to Jon Gabriel in an 8-2 loss at 113. I've been impressed with Ostrowski, but would have expected more of a gap with someone of Gabriel's caliber. On the flip side, I would have guessed that Tom Opdenhoff would have given Ryan Easter a decent match at 132. Instead, the Bedford senior turned in a 17-2 tech fall in less than five minutes. Judging by the score, Easter must have turned him quite a few times.


Bedford 61, Central Cambria 14
106-Max Murin, CC, pinned Noah Baughman, 4:44.
113-Jon Gabriel, B, dec. Ian Ostrowski, 8-2.
120-Kyle Mehle, B, pinned Dylan Borsuk, 1:30.
126-Jake Warren, B, pinned Coltin Makin, 3:31.
132-Ryan Easter, B, tech. fall Tom Opdenhoff, 17-2 (4:56).
138-Garrett Thomas, B, pinned Steven Pennington, 3:42.
145-Toby Brett, B, pinned Kerry Kirsch, 2:29.
152-Ryan Wertz, B, pinned Kevin Bednar, 2:59.
160-Bryce Thompson, CC, tech. fall Uriah Costal, 15-0 (4:56).
170-Daniel Brett, B, tech. fall Cordale Kline, 18-2 (4:07).
182-Chance Williams, B, pinned Jake Myers, 1:36.
195-Tom Howell, CC, dec. Brayden Crawley, 8-3.
220-Matt Kline, B, pinned Brendon Smith, 4:07.
285-Nate Shoemaker, B, pinned John Branick, 2:28.
Records: Bedford 3-1; Central Cambria 4-4.

How do the Hilltoppers do it?: Westmont just got its dual-meet season underway, but the Hilltoppers have already pulled off a bit of a surprise. United might not be the biggest name in the area, but the Lions certainly have some quality in their lineup. Westmont, on the other hand, has few household names other than Logan Blackburn, but Matt Beaujon's team somehow managed to pull out a victory. No huge surprises, but Colin Barron getting an injury default victory over Anthony Michaels was probably the biggest bout in terms of the outcome. Mark Barbera's win over Brent Mack and Nick Mical's close win over Grant Ingalls also made a difference, although in a dual this close you can credit everyone that didn't give up bonus points or got them.

Westmont Westmont Hilltop 34, United 33
106-Caleb Walls, U, dec. Braden Rosemas, 8-1.
113-Noah Walls, U, dec. Devon Gilbert, 7-6.
120-Trent Blackburn, WH, pinned Levi Walls, 2:54.
126-Logan Blackburn, WH, pinned Kolt Jarvis, 2:17.
132-Drake Dorian, WH, maj. dec. Warren Lowther, 13-4.
138-Devon Walker, U, dec. Lawrence Cernansky, 7-1.
145-Nick Mical, WH, dec. Grant Ingalls, 5-4.
152-Tyler Mack, U, pinned Kyle Geibig, 1:35.
160: Mark Barbera, WH, dec. Brent Mack, 4-2.
170-James Griffin, WH, pinned Josh Young, 3:59.
182-Colin Barron, WH, inj. def. Anthony Michaels.
195-Tyler Oliver, U, pinned Jake Buck, 1:37.
220: Seth McLendon, U, forfeit.
285-Andrew Deitman, U, pinned Christian Roman, 2:24.
Records: Westmont Hilltop 1-0; United 1-1.