Bellefonte tops BEA in annual Mat rivalry

By Kenny Varner Jr.
- Tweet
- Pin It
Updated: January 23, 2019

By Kenny Varner

BELLEFONTE -The rivalry continues.

Two longtime rivals met Tuesday night for bragging rights.

Bellefonte hosted Bald Eagle Area in the mats.

In front of a packed house at the Bellefonte high school, the Red Raiders jumped out to a 26-0 advantage and never looked back, taking the Bald Eagles 49-18.

“Overall I thought it was a solid performance. It wasn’t our best effort we lost some close matches,” Bellefonte coach Mike Maney said. “There are some technical things and some positional things we need to work on. But anytime you beat Bald Eagle you have to be satisfied. Up and down the line up I thought we had good effort we just to correct a few technique things.”

Coming in with a stellar 14-2 record, Bellefonte started the match at the 145-pound mark.

Cole Stewart picked up win 106 when he opened by pinning Drew Koleno, 43 seconds in the first.

At 152, Bellefonte got its second pin of the night when Logan Simpson put Kaden Bittenger on his back at the 1:24 mark of the first, making it 12-0.

Ethan Richner posted the Red Raiders third win at 160 as he outlasted Richard Taylor in a 17-0 tech fall that was finished on back points in the third period.

Bellefonte’s Andrew Howe kept the points coming as he picked up a 3-2 victory over Brady Proctor. The match was decided on an escape early in the third at 170.

The Red Raiders’ Tyler Benner got his hand raised at 182, picking up a forfeit to give his team a 26-0 advantage.

Bald Eagle Area picked up its first win at 195. Dylan Bisel outlasted Bellefonte’s Kyle Myers, 10-6.

“We knew it was going to be a tough task to knock them off in their own gym. We just asked the kids to go out and fight hard for six minutes and show a lot of heart and whatever happens, happens. We did that in some places and other places we didn’t,” said Bald Eagle coach Ron Guenot. “The scoreboard shows that and Bellefonte has a nice team.”

The Red Raiders got back on the scoreboard at 220. Ethan Rossman pinned Chandler Burns at the 1:07 mark of the first.

Bald Eagles’ David Close took the 285-weight class as he picked up a 13-5 major decision over Max Barrier, cutting it to 32-7.

But Bellefonte would extend its lead to 38-7 when 106-pounder Aidan O’Shea got the forfeit win, upping it to 38-7.

Bald Eagle refused to go down without a fight and at 113, the Eagles Cooper Gilham picked up a third period tech fall over Aaron Little, winning 21-2.

In the nailbiter of the night, Bald Eagles’ 120-pounder Garret Giedroc took Lane Aikey into three overtime’s before escaping with a 3-2 victory.

Bellefonte continued its aggressive attack. At 126, Alex Coppolo pinned Alex Holt at the 5:43, upping the Red Raiders lead to 44-15.

Teammate Ryan Smith took the 132-pound weight class as he won by a 15-0 tech fall over Drake Holderman, giving his team a 49-15 lead.

Wrestling for pride in the 138-pound weight class, Bald Eagles’Noah Foltz defeated Dylan Dann 6-3, finishing the match with a 49-18 score.

With the win, Bellefonte improves to 15-2 while Bald Eagle drops to 7-6.