Mifflin County advance 10 to regionals; Juniata sends four

By Kenny Varner Jr.
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Updated: February 25, 2019

By BRIAN CARSON

ALTOONA – Mifflin County advanced 10 wrestlers and Juniata four into the regionals at the District 6 Class 3A championships at the Altoona Fieldhouse on Saturday.

Advancing to the Northwest Regionals for the Huskies were district champions Nic Allison (106), Christian Fisher (120) and Trey Kibe (160). Ethan Kauffman (132) and Blaine Davis (285) placed second, Derek Burk (126), Kyler Everly (138), Trey Shoemaker (145) and Brycen Hassinger (170) came in third, while Anson Wagner (152) took fourth.

“That’s what I’m most happy with. We have ten kids moving on. In the back of my mind I thought if we could get 10, we had a good tournament. I’m really proud of this group,” Mifflin County coach Kirby Martin said.

The Indians got a second from Tyler Wileman (160) and fourth-place finishes from Tanner Weiand (138), Albert Heister (145) and Parker Noss (170).

“We’re certainly pleased with the performance. To get four out of seven through. The guys showed up to wrestle and that’s what it takes,” Juniata coach Mike Robinson said. “We tell these guys every match is important. One of the biggest things in wrestlebacks is keeping your head on straight after losing in the winner’s bracket. We are looking forward to advancing and keeping it on the winning side.”

Fisher (29-7) became only the eleventh wrestler in county history to win three District 6 titles with a tough 3-2 tiebreaker win over Lane Aikey of Bellefonte.

The Husky senior had another barnburner with the Red Raider sophomore. After a scoreless first period, Fisher chose bottom and reversed Aikey for the 2-0 lead. Aikey escaped with six seconds left in the middle period and tied it up with an escape in the third, sending it into overtime. After going scoreless in sudden victory, Fisher rode Aikey out in the first rideout and got the winning escape in the second rideout. Fisher beat Aikey 4-3 in the district duals finals.

Kibe (34-1) captured his second district title in as many years with a dominate performance in a 9-3 win over Tyler Wileman of Juniata, who placed fourth in the state in Class 2A a year ago.

After going heavy hands on each other for most of the first period, Kibe struck for a takedown with only three seconds left in the first. Kibe took a 3-0 lead into the third after a second-period escape. The third belonged to the Husky sophomore with Kibe scoring three takedowns to cruise to the victory.

Allison (31-3) bested Altoona’s Luke Hileman 9-5 in a battle of freshmen wrestlers. Allison chin-whipped Hileman to his back for the 5-0 advantage and appeared to be in cruise control. Hileman responded with a late reversal in the first and an escape in the second to make it 5-3 heading into the third. Allison chose down, escaped before Hileman hit a single leg for two, cutting the deficit to 7-5. Allison salted the match with a nice deep double leg late in the period.

Kauffman (22-11), down 2-1 in the third, surrendered five points to Bellefonte’s Ryan Smith in the third and fell 7-1. Davis (24-8), was reversed to his back for a five-point move in the second period as Nate Simmers of Altoona went on to a 7-3 victory.

Burk beat Alex Coppolo 6-5; Everly defeated Weiand 6-4 in overtime, Shoemaker pinned Heister in 2:01 and Hassinger won a 10-3 decision over Noss in their third-place matches. Wagner dropped a 9-2 decision to Campbell Walls of Hollidaysburg for third.

Central Mountain won the team race with 211 points. Bellefonte came in second with 197 points followed by the Huskies with 184.5.

The Northwest Regional championships begin Friday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. at the Altoona Field House