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Mifflin County sends four wrestlers to Hershey

 By BRIAN CARSON

 

ALTOONA And then there were four.

 

Four Mifflin County wrestlers survived the second ladder of the tournament trail punching their tickets to states by placing in the top three at the Northwest Regional Class 3A tournament on Saturday.

 

Trey Kibe (170) captured his second regional title with Nic Allison (106) placing second. Ethan Kauffman (145) and Blaine Davis (285) took third. Kyler Everly (138) and Anson Wagner (152) came in fourth, just missing out on a trip to Hershey.

 

I’m proud of the kids that worked their way through and qualified. I love their grittiness and they still have a lot of work to do because it gets tougher at states,” Mifflin County coach Kirby Martin said. “I’m so proud of the whole group and the way they competed this weekend.”

 

Kibe (35-2) tore through the competition on day two with a 17-5 major decision over Central Mountain’s Caleb Porter in the semifinals and a 10-2 major over Lance Urbas of State College in the finals. The victory over Urbas marked the fifth time the Little Lion junior lost to Kibe.

 

“He’s wrestling well right now and we need him to be peaking at this point in the year. We want him to be ready for the state tournament, so we’re thankful for how well he’s wrestling,” Martin said. 

 

The Husky junior opened the scoring with a ferocious double leg for the 2-0 lead. A reversal in the second made it 4-0 before Kibe ran away with the match with three takedowns in the third.

 

I wanted to score early on him and I knew if I could score early he would get frustrated,” Kibe said. “It was a good tournament and I thought I wrestled well, but next week will be very different. It’s a lot tougher, but I’m ready to go.”

 

Allison (32-3) came up short in his quest for a second regional crown, falling to Erie Prep’s Jacob VanDee 7-3 in the finals. VanDee scored three takedowns, one in each period, and limited Allison to only three escapes.

 

Once he got the first takedown he was wrestling his match and I knew I would have to change up something. I was down coming into the third and I was still trying to figure out something I could change to get that takedown, but I couldn’t figure that out today,” Allison said. “The only reason we’re here is to get to states. If someone wins states, they are not going to care where they placed in districts or regionals. It all leads up to next week.”

 

Kauffman (26-10) earned his second trip to states and first since his freshman year with a 6-2 victory over Roman Morrone of Williamsport. The Husky senior picked up a takedown in the first, an escape and takedown in the second and a penalty point in the third for the win.

 

I’m pretty happy but I’m not satisfied. The goal is to get to states and place,” Kauffman said. “I wrestled pretty well. I had that tough loss, but shook it off and did what I had to do.

 

Davis (32-7) earned his second trip to the Giant Center in as many years with a 9-2 tiebreaker win over Trevor Manley of Altoona. Manley scored a takedown in the first with a lateral drop for the 2-0 lead. Escapes in the first and third by Davis forced overtime.

 

After a scoreless sudden victory session, Manley chose bottom and Davis turned him for two. In the second tiebreaker, Davis reversed Manley to his back for a five-point move and the win.

 

I’m excited to get back there. I think I have a little more to show than I did last year,” Davis said. “He really scared me in the first period with the takedown. That opened my eyes a little bit. I knew I could recover if I just kept my head together. He puts himself in a bad position at times during matches and I knew that, so I was more or less looking for the reversal.”

 

Everly (30-12) lost in his rubber match with Clayton Leidy of State College by a 5-0 score ending his sophomore season. Wagner (26-12) beat Clearfield’s Mark McGonigal on Friday, but couldn’t repeat the result, falling to the Bison sophomore by a 5-2 decision.

 

That’s the nature of the beast with post-season matches. We lost close matches. It’s a tough pill to swallow,” Martin said. We took four, which is great, but we had a chance to take a bunch more and that will be a sticking point for those who didn’t make it.”

 

Juniata’s Casey Smith (106) and Cameron Sweigart (120) saw their seasons end with losses in the consolations.

 

We are very happy with the season both underclassmen had. They had a good weekend. We got to see their best wrestlinghere at the end of the season which means they peaked at the right time,” Juniata co-coach Adam Barrick said. “Both guys wrestled tough all weekend battling through the loser’s bracket.Hopefully, this sets the tone for them and the rest of our young team. They have a bright future on the mat.”

 

Smith (28-11) won his first two consolation bouts of the day before being pinned by Central Mountain’s Geno Serafini in 4:05 of their consolation quarterfinal match.

 

“Casey wrestled tough all season. I believe he weighed in at around 94 pounds, so he was giving up 16 pounds, almost 20 percent of his body weight,” Barrick said. “He toughed it out and consistently won matches all season as the smaller wrestler. We will work on getting him up to size for next season. Casey as a full-size 106-pounder will be very dangerous to anyone.”

 

Sweigart (28-10) won his secondround consolation bout before losing a tough 4-3 decision to Westin Chess of Meadville in the consolation quarterfinals.

 

Cameron stepped up this weekend. We got to see a lot more of what we suspect from the sophomore with three solid wins and two tough losses,” Barrick said. “I believe he had his best performance this weekend. We saw him do the little things right that we’ve been trying to correct all season. All of his losses except one were by decision. We have to take those close matches.”

 

Hunter Johnson (113), Derek Burk (120), Trey Shoemaker (160), Brycen Hassinger (182), Jacob Krepps (195) and Haydn Crum (220) saw their season end for the Huskies with consolation losses.

 

Mifflin County finished third in the team race with 146 points. Bellefonte won the team race with 184.5 points. Erie Prep came in second with 166.5 points.

 

The PIAA championships begin Thursday morning at 9 a.m.with Class 2A. Class 3A kicks off at 4 p.m.

 

Northwest Class 3A Regionals

(Mifflin County and Juniata Results)

 

First Round Consolations

 

106: Casey Smith, Juniata major dec. Gage Sonnie, DuBois, 12-0.

 

Second Round Consolations

 

106: Casey Smith, Juniata dec. Jacob Goldber, Allderdice, 8-3.

113: Hunter Johnson, MC pinned Khalil Collins, Obama Academy, :44.

120: Derek Burk, MC dec. Aiden Gaugler, Selinsgrove, 7-5.

       Cameron Sweigart, Juniata dec, Isaac Dellaquilla, Saint Marys, 5-2.

160: Trey Shoemaker, MC dec. Joey Arnold, Warren, 3-2.

182: Brycen Hassinger, MC pinned Troy Petterson, McDowell, 1:47.

195: Jacob Krepps, MC pinned Jack Sroka, McDowell, 3:57.

220: Haydn Crum, MC won by forfeit.

 

Semifinals

 

106: Nic Alison, MC pinned Cael Nasdeo, Williamsport, :28,

138: Chandler Ho, DuBois dec. Kyler Everly, MC, 1-0.

145: Cade Balestrini, Shikellamy dec. Ethan Kauffman, MC, 6-1.

152: Marques McClorin, Erie Prep pinned Anson Wagner, MC, :22.

170: Trey Kibe, MC major dec. Caleb Porter, Central Mountain, 17-5.

285: Oliver Billotte, Clearfield dec. Blaine Davis, MC, 6-3.

 

Consolation Quarterfinals

 

106:  Geno Serafini, Central Mountain pinned Casey Smith, Juniata, 4:05.

113: Hunter Johnson, MC dec. Brendan Orr, DuBois, 3-2.

120: Carter Stanley, Cranberry dec. Derek Burk, MC, 3-2.

       Westin Chess, Meadville dec. Cameron Sweigart, Juniata, 4-3.

160: Kelyn Blossey, Erie Prep dec. Trey Shoemaker, MC, 2-1.

182: Collin Almond, Altoona dec. Brycen Hassinger, MC, 5-2.

195: Jacob Krepps, MC dec. Rhoan Woodrow, Meadville, 9-2.

220: Haydn Crum. MC pinned Xavier Barton, Cranberry, 1:12.

 

Consolation Semifinals

 

113: Philip Stark, Erie Prep inj. def. Hunter Johnson, MC, 2:16.

138: Kyler Everly, MC dec. Ben Tirpak, Erie Prep, 4-2.

145: Ethan Kauffman, MC pinned Lane Porter, Central Mountain, 1:33.

152: Anson Wagner, MC major dec. Aaron Sleeth, Hollidaysburg, 10-1.

195: Ryan Aument, Selinsgrove dec. Jacob Krepps, MC 4-3.

220: Adam Young, Shikellamy pinned Haydn Crum, 3:37.

285: Blaine Davis, MC dec. Charles Crews, Williamsport, 7-3.

 

Third Place

 

106 –

Hayden Cunningham, State College dec. Cael Nasdeo, Williamsport, 3-0

113 –

Vincen Rinella, Meadville major dec. Philip Stark, Erie Cathedral Prep, 13-1

120 –

Jamale Crockett, Erie Cathedral Prep dec. Caleb Butterfield, Erie McDowell, 4-3

126 –

Taylor Weaver, Central Mountain dec. Damion Finnegan (Altoona), 5-4

132 –

Owen Woolcott, State College dec. Alex Coppolo (Bellefonte), 1-0

138 –

Clayton Leidy, State College dec. Kyler Everly (Mifflin County), 5-0

145 –

Ethan Kauffman (Mifflin County) dec. Roman Morrone (Williamsport), 6-2

152 –

Mark McGonigal (Clearfield) dec. Anson Wagner (Mifflin County), 5-2

160 –

Campbell Walls (Hollidaysburg) dec. Gauge Gulvas (DuBois), 7-3

170 –

Trent Tidball (Meadville) pinned Hayden Kovalick (Clearfield), 4:14

182 –

Garrett Starr (DuBois) dec. Derek Sunafrank (Bradford), 6-2

195 –

Ryan Aument (Selinsgrove) major dec. Ty Price (State College), 11-2

220 –

Adam Young (Shikellamy) dec. Max Barrier (Bellefonte), 9-4

285 –

Blaine Davis (Mifflin County) dec. Trevor Manley (Altoona), 9-2 TB2

 

Finals

 

106: Jacob VanDee, Erie Prep dec. Nic Allison, MC, 7-3.

113: Derek Keen, Central Mountain dec. Aidan O’Shea, Bellefonte, 7-1.

120: Lane Aikey, Bellefonte dec. Carter Weaver, Williamsport, 5-0.

126: Jude Swisher, Bellefonte major dec. Kaeman Smith, Erie Prep, 17-4.

132: Matt Sarbo, Altoona technical fall Trenton Donahue, DuBois, 20-4 (

138: Riley Bower, Williamsport dec. Chandler Ho, DuBois, 1-0.

145: Paniro Johnson, Erie Prep dec. Cade Balestrini, Shikellamy, 3-2.

152: Ed Scott, DuBois pinned Marques McGlorin, Erie Prep, 3:16.

160: Ethan Richner, Bellefonte dec. Coy Bastian, Selinsgrove, 9-1.

170: Trey Kibe, MC major dec. Lance Urbas, State College, 10-2.

182: Ethan Rossman, Bellefonte dec. Griffin Buzzell, Meadville, 7-0.

195: Nikolas Miller, Central Mountain pinned Tyler Benner, Bellefonte, 2:20.

220: Dorian Crosby, Erie Prep dec. Nate Schon, Selinsgrove, 6-5 SV

285: Thomas Pollard, Meadville dec. Oliver Billotte, Clearfield, 5-1 SV.

 

Team Standings

 

1. Bellefonte 184.5

2. Erie Prep 166.5

3. Mifflin County 146

4. Central Mountain 118.5

5. DuBois 114.5

 

 

 

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