Centre County fairs well at King of Mountain

By rscaife
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Updated: December 16, 2017

LOCK HAVEN – In every wrestling season there are barometers to judge a wrestlers skills on the mat and compare their abilities against their peers.
An early barometer for some of “ the best of the best” in Pennsylvania were on tap at the King of the Mountain tournament held by the Central Mountain Wildcats.
The event that brought the 32 teams to Lock Haven were represented strongly by local talents of Central Mountain, Williamsport, Bellefonte and Bald Eagle. All of which had strong showings as the end of the Day came around. Most of which advanced to day two of the massive tournament.
Going into the second day if competition Central Mountain is sitting in fourth place while Bald Eagle Area sits and 14.
“Overall we are pretty pleased. The effort is there. To bring 12 guys back for the second day we have to be pretty pleased,” said Central Mountain coach Doug Buckwalter. “It just gets tougher from here. The longer you stay alive the It gets so they have to come out and be prepared and ready for every match like they are expecting a battle.”
Rounding out the locals are Bellefonte at 18 wile Williamsport sits at 29th.
Numerous players from all four teams will advance to the second day of action with a chance for a third place finish or better.
“This day was tough. It was up and down. We looked a little sluggish in some areas and we’re playing in our first competition of the year. We come in with a young group and we are looking for the best competition we can get. That’s why we come here,” Bellefonte coach Mike Maney said. “You come to find the things you need work on and look to fix so it was kind of an up and down day.”
In the opening round of play at 106, Bald Eagle’s Cooper Gilham pinned Aaron Edwards from Burrell to advance to the second round.
Central Mountain’s Anson Zimmerman also moved on via a pin, defeating Abi Sweger of Big Springs in 64 seconds.
Zimmerman fell into the losers bracket in second match of the night, falling 10-2 to Andrew Brest of General McLane.
Bellefonte’s Aaron Little defeated Williamsport’s Austin Stuger 6-0.
Little suffered a loss in his second match.
Bald Eagles’ Garrett Giedroc picked up a fall in his first match at 113 as he defeated Caleb Martz of South Western by pin 1:26.
Giedroc fell into the consolation bracket after his second match.
Central Mountain’s Johnny Shreffler received a bye.
In the second round, Schreffler moved on as he defeated Dylan Chappell of Seneca Valley 2-1.
At the 120-pound weight class, Bellefonte’s Alex Coppolo won a hard fought 6-3 win over Keefer Goodspeed of Warrior Run.
Coppolo fell in his second match.
Central Mountain’s Dalton Bechdel also picked up a win, 4-3 over Franklin Regionals Mario Sarnic.
But fell in second round action.
Cole Stewart, from Bellefonte, moved on in the 126-pound weight class with a pin of South Western Nicholas Ridenour.
Stewart made it a perfect 2-for-2 defeating Jack Cunningham of Bishop McDevitt by fall with 3:39 off the clock.
Ryan Smith continued Bellefonte’s winning ways at 132, defeating Brenden Fox of Phillipsburg 3-0.
However, Smith fell in the second round to Jason Guyer of Seneca Valley 6-1.
Rounding out the locals was Central Mountain’s Seth Andrus as he notched a 12-4 victory over Christian Good of Muncy.
Andrus had a good showing in the second round as he pinned Adam Lieb of South Western at 2:28 mark.
At 138, Bald Eagle Seth Koleno was victorious in his match against Ty Mullen where he picked up the pin at 1:47.
Though it took a few more minutes in his second match, Koleno did the same to Cam Dickey of Williamsport, 3:24.
Williamsport Dickey won by tech fall, 20-3 over Mifflin County’s John Retherford.
Central Mountain’s Cody Coleman won by fall overLine Mountain’s Griffin Smeltz.
Coleman fell in his second try, falling to Mitch Wagner of Northern York in a pin at 3:20.
BEA’s Garrett Rigg picked up a fall in the 145-pound weight class defeating Williamsport matman Anthony Robinson.
Rigg dropped his second match, losing by decision to Eric Woloshyn from Council Rock South 8-3.
Returning State qualifier Gage McClenahan from Bald Eagle moved on in the 152-pound weight class with a fall of Chase Guildin from Exeter, :52.
In his second match of the night McClenahan defeated Ethan Richner Bellefonte by a major decision, 17-4.
In his first match, Richner defeated Williamsport’s Alec Dickey 4-2.
In the 160-pound weight class, Central Mountain’s Asher Corl pinned Saegerstown’s Mason McClure in 1:56.
Corl advanced in his second match, narrowly defeating Noah Gush of Muncy.
Bellefonte’s Ethan Rossman picked up the pin at 170, over Line Mountain’s Chance Hackenburg at 3:14.
But Rodman ran into trouble in his second match, falling by pin to one seeded Jared McGill.
Central Mountain got a win from Tanner Weaver as he pinned Cavin Sullivan at 1:06.
Weaver took his second match with a 16-2 major decision over Chase Bower of Williamsport.
Bower advances the first round with a bye.
Andrew Howe from Bellefonte went up against Central Mountain’s Eric Confer. Confer came out the winner 7-1 in the 182-pound weight class.
Confer fell in the second match by pin from John Bachar from Penn Trafford at 2:34 mark.
At 195, Tanner Riggle led the Wildcats to a pin over Dimitri Alberti of General McLane at 2:10.
Riggle was strong in his second match up of the night, pulling out a 5-0 decision over Seneca Valley’s John Siwiak.
Bellefonte’s Max Mondy had a bye while Bald Eagle’s David Close pinned Riley O’Mara at 2:48.
In his second match, Mondy lost a heartbreaking 1-0 decision to Bald Eagles’ David Close.
Close win his first match as well, defeating Boiling Springs Colby Paige by fall at 4:28.
In the 220-pound weight class, Bellefonte’s Andrew Davidson defeated Bald Eagles’ Rilee Bechdol 5-2.
Central Mountain’s Mahlik Houtz picked up a bye.
Houtz defeated Davidson in the second round by fall at 1:30.
Rounding out the first round advancers.
Williamsport heavyweight Ethan Williamson and Central Mountain’s Jacob Edwards got a bye at 285-pounds.
Williamson fell in the second round to Wyalusing’s Randy Wildrick, 6-1.
The second day will get started at 8:45 for the weigh ins and conclude Saturday night back at Central Mountain High School with the crowning of the champions in each weight class.