Bald Eagle Area stays alive, heads to Hershey in team dual action

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: February 4, 2024

By Kenny Varner

WINGATE – Round two!

It was a solid day for the Bald Eagle Area wrestlers Saturday as they went 2-1 in the District 6 Class AA team duals to advance to the next round of duals action.

Bald Eagle defeated Penns Valley 43-18. They fell in the second round to eventual D6 champ Bishop McCort 58-15, and rebounded to earn their way to the next round topping Huntingdon 37-30.

It was the lightweight combination of Tanner Guenot and Caden Judice that had clutch pins that would secure a spot in the PIAA state team Duals

“At the end we had to do what we thought was best bumping Tanner and Judice. They have strong for us all year,” said Bald Eagle Area’s coach Ron Guenot. “When you have a couple guys you can end a match with, it’s a good feeling. Most of the time you’re in a good position if you have them ending a dual for you.”

With the District 6 Class AA Team Duals headed into its second day of competition with Bald Eagle Area hosting as the number one seed.

Bald Eagle, Penns Valley, Bishop McCourt and Huntingdon came to the event looking for the chance to advance to states and be crowned D6 champions.

The day started off with a rematch of longtime foes between Bald Eagle Area and Penns Valley. In their previous meeting early in the year, the Eagles and Rams put on a thriller with Bald Eagle muscling out a late 34-29 victory.

In the rematch, the Eagles bookended a strong morning, dropping the Rams en route to a berth in the championship match, 43-18.

Starting at 114, Bald Eagle’s Caden Judice used five point second period and was never challenged after that as he took control over Eric Carlile 10-0.

Penns Valley took the lead at 121 as Jack Darlington scored the early pin over Liam Purcell , :47.

The action was hot and heavy in 127. Dawson Lomison opened with the early take down in the first and a reversal in his decision over the Rams’ Tripp Watson, 4-2.

At 133, Bald Eagle’s Lucas Fye successfully worked on the leg of Colton Shunk for most of the match, going onto the 9-3 decision.

Connor Maney took care of 139 for the Eagles pinning Zach Rummel at 2:58.

Bald Eagle notched its second consecutive pinfall at 145. Mason Reese pinned Brayden Lisowski (in the second period to take home the 3:13 pinfall.

Penns Valley got back in the win column at 152. The Rams Ethan Fetterolf battled to take home a 6-1 decision over Alex Surovec, 6-1.

160 – Ty Watson continued the Rams winning ways as he was able to pick up the pin over Gavin Bennett at 2:11.

In the night’s closest match of the night 172 – pounder Ethan Fetterolf muscled out a hard fought victory over Cameron Dubbs, 4-3.

Dubbs started as he was able to takedown Fetterolf in the first. Fetterolf was able to break Dubbs’ hold and picked up an escape in the process, cutting it to a 2-1 lead. Fetterolf tied things in the second and then notched a take down after a Dubbs escape.

At 189, Shawn Knepp got the Eagles back on track as he posted another second period pin over Robert Martin at 3:11.

215 – pounder, Caleb Close helped secure the victory for the Eagles pinning Brandon Corl at 1:11.

At the heavyweight, 285 – pound weight class Gage Gardner came back in the last seconds of the third, picking up a timely reversal with 20 seconds lifting him to a 2-1 decision over Landon Hess.

In the final match of the morning, 107- pounder Tanner Guenot pinned Conner Myers late in the second for the 3:57 pinfall.

Bishop McCort 58, Bald Eagle Area 15

In the Championship round, the Eagles ran into a buzzsaw of state ranked Bishop McCourt wrestlers as they defeated the Eagles 58-15.

Picking up wins for the Eagles were Tanner Guenot (107) and Caden Judice (114) both by forfeits.

The other Bald Eagle Area’s victory came at 189 as Caleb Close won by decision over Jordan Butler (BM) 13-6.

Bald Eagle Area 37, Huntingdon 30

But the Eagles day wasn’t quite done as the team had to play a final match to determine a true second place finisher and most importantly a spot in the PIAA state duals.

Their opponent was Huntingdon who had topped Penns Valley in a close 35-33 contest.

Needing a win to keep their state hopes alive, the Eagles got clutch performances late by Tanner Guenot and Caden Judice. Trailing 30-25,

Guenot was cool under pressure as he was able to notch a pin against Degan Brown only 40 seconds into the match, taking back the lead for the Eagles at 31-30.

In the final match of the day with everything in the line Judice also shined large as he took care of his competition at 121 pounds. Judice held the early advantage controlling his opponent Gavin Bilich. But in the second after a couple of nearfalls Judice was able to hook in and picked up the win in 1:39, clinching the berth to the next round.

Others picking up wins in the match were Lucas Fye (127) , Dawson Lomison (133), Mason Reese (145), Gavin Bennett (152) and Caleb Close (215).

Bald Eagle will host the opening round Monday against Quaker Valley.