Huntingdon finishes strong at Juniata Duals

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: January 6, 2019

By BRIAN CARSON

MIFFLINTOWN – Huntingdon dominated the field at the Juniata Duals on its way to a third straight title on Saturday.

The Bearcats went 5-0 on the day, including a 53-20 win in the finals over previously unbeaten Danville. Huntingdon (9-0) out-scored its opponents 318-63 with wins over Greencastle-Antrim (75-3), Glendale (42-33), Tulpehocken (84-0), West Perry (64-7) and the Ironmen.

“I’m really pleased with the effort. The guys wrestled well all day long,” Huntingdon coach Jon Mykut said. “We knew Glendale would be a tough match. They have a great program up there and they’re getting better. Coming in, we had that one circled. We knew it was going to be a barn burner.

“We preach every day in the locker room to get bonus points and not give up bonus points and we did that, for the most part, today, except the Glendale match,” Mykut continued. “We have up too many bonus points there. Our guys were working for bonus and that’s key when you’re wrestling in dual meets. We have a lot of work to do yet. We have to stay healthy and keep working. We’re going to take it one match at a time, get after it and see what happens.”

Southern Huntingdon went 3-2 including a 48-34 win over West Perry for fifth place. The Rockets (6-5) also beat Hughesville 37-36 and Juniata 45-28. Losses came at the hands of Danville (50-24) and Susquenita 35-33.

Juniata went 1-4 and finished ninth place after getting its lone victory against Tulpehocken 36-18. The Indians (2-7, 0-4) opened with a 57-15 loss to Susquenita in a Tri-Valley League meet, dropped a 63-17 decision to Hughesville, fell 66-15 to Danville and lost to Southern Huntingdon in pool play.

“The guys that we had battled and they battled each match. We had some consistent winners and I can honestly say even the guys that walked away with two or three losses, they battled hard, so I give them a lot of credit,” Juniata coach Mike Robinson said. “We had some seniors who moved up a weight class to actually try and make a difference. They did it for the team. Overall, looking at the day, a lot of teams with full rosters we competed against and we put some points on the board.”

Freshman Cameron Swigart (9-3), Tyler Wileman (13-1) and Noss (8-1) all went 5-0 on the day. Wileman had three falls while Noss finished with four falls and a technical fall. Gilson was 2-3 and Tye Jabs, Miller and Albert Heister went 1-4, and Tanner Weiand was 0-1.

“Let’s face it, as far as the dual meet season is concerned, we’re not going to be successful, but we are going to have some successful individuals,” Robinson said. “Each match is gaining confidence to those individuals for the postseason. We’ve had a lot of great individual teams at Juniata, but it’s just one of those years where we don’t have the numbers. We’re looking to have a good postseason showing with the individuals we currently have.”

Juniata Duals Results

First place: Huntingdon 53, Danville 20

Third place: Glendale 56, Hughesville 24

Fifth place: Southern Huntingdon 48, West Perry 34

Seventh place: Susquenita 48, Greencastle-Antrim 28

Ninth place: Juniata 36, Tulpehocken 18