Bellwood-Antis traveled to Claysburg in Blair County, on Saturday to wrestle Southern Huntingdon and Tussey Mountain, two teams from Huntingdon County, as part of a double dual meet, with Claysburg-Kimmel wrestling the same two teams. The Blue Devils took early leads in both their matches, but came home with a pair of losses to drop their overall record to 2-5, falling to Southern Huntingdon 41-25 and to Tussey Mountain 42-36.
In the first match against the Southern Huntingdon Rockets, it was the Blue Devils who jumped out to a 19-6 lead, but then were able to score just once after the 135-pound weight class, and that was a forfeit as the Rockets seven of the final eight matches to win going away.
With the Southern Huntingdon meet beginning with a no match at 103, when neither team could field anyone in that weight class, PIAA state qualifier Cody Myers gave Southern the early lead with a fall over Donnie Partner in 0:55.
B-A freshman Timmy Collier (3-7) sliced the deficit in half with a first-period takedown and third-period reversal to wrap up a 5-2 decision at 119, over Matt Hoffman, and a forfeit to Eli Colyer at 125, gave Bellwood-Antis a 9-6 lead.
Brandon Beech (10-8) recorded four takedowns and a three-point nearfall along the way to a 12-2 major decision over Allen Seibert, and another forfeit to Ricky Shawley enabled the Blue Devils to increase their margin to 19-6.
Southern Huntingdon jumped back into the lead when Eli Snyder pinned Dustin Harris (6-11) at 140, and then trotted out the strongest part of their lineup in the next four weight classes with each wrestler winning in convincing style to put the meet on ice.
Justin Berrier used pure strength to turn B-A senior Josh Ervine twice in the second period for three-point nearfalls. on the way to a 12-2 major decision at 145, Jason Foor pinned Ronnie Wilson (9-11) in 1:40, at 152, David Sunderland decked Mike Ballard (2-10) in 2:37, at 160, and Tyler Mansberger won by an 11-3 major decision over Garett Wyland (3-13) to raise the score to 32-19, Southern. In the second round of the Zeigler Tournament a week earlier, Berrier prevailed just 1-0 over Ervine with an escape in the middle period, the only scoring by either wrestler.
At 189, Josh Keagy (3-11) picked up the Blue Devils’ final points with a forfeit, before Landon McElrath shut out Cody Smith 3-0, at 215, and Chris Lyons pinned Kris Morder at heavyweight.
In the second match against Tussey Mountain, Donnie Partner (8-10) registered a takedown for the only scoring in the first period at 112, against Neil Stevenson, then added two escapes and a penalty point. Stevenson, who pinned Partner at the Zeigler Tourney, came back with takedowns in both the second and third periods, but Partner emerged with the 5-4 victory.
After the Titans’ Tim Fockler pinned Timmy Collier with just three ticks left in the first period at 119, Bellwood-Antis ran off four straight wins to take a 27-6 advantage.
Eli Colyer (11-3) began the run by pinning Cameron Diamond in 1:5 for his sixth fall of the year at 125. Colyer dominated Diamond through the first period, leading 12-4 at pin time on a takedown, two reversals and two sets of back points. Brandon Beech picked up his sixth win in a row by decking Kris Jamison at the 2:40 mark, while leading 9-2. Beech opened the match at 130, with a five-point move taking Jamison down and turning him for three nearfall points and then trading reversals. The B-A senior started on the bottom to begin the second stanza, reversed Jamison to his back and applied the pin.
At 135, Ricky Shawley (13-3) led 2-0 after one period against Ian Mitchell, then chose neutral with both wrestlers on their feet to staqrt the second period. Shawley took Mitchell down and was able to wrap up Mitchell for the fall in 3:47. Josh Ervine made it four wins and four pins in a row at 140 to move the Bellwood-Antis team lead to 27-6. Ervine (14-4) scored a takedown and two back points in the opening period, then registered another takedown and showed Waylon Corbin the lights in 2:23.
Tussey Mountain came right back to get five pins of their own to jump into a 36-27 lead.
Zane Bussard pinned Dustin Harris in 3:56, at 145, Josh Eichelberger pinned Mike Ballard in 3:08 at 152, Robby Foster pinned Ronnie Wilson in 1:57 at 160, Matt Wilkins pinned Garett Wyland in 3:27, at 171, and Dustin Hess pinned Josh Keagy in 0:58 at 189.
Bellwood-Antis won the final two matches to be wrestled on the mat to knot the team score at 36-36, but D. J. Brown received a forfeit at 103 to give the Titans the 42-36 victory with Bellwood-Antis minus a 103-pounder all year.
At 215, Cody Smith (2-13) was taken down by Matt Marcella, but reversed and pinned the Titan in 1:07, the first varsity fall for the B-A freshman. Then at 275, Krtis Morder (4-9) scored a second-period takedown when Tony Marcella chose to start the period neutral, for the only scoring in a 2-0 win.
“We won some matches today at both ends of our lineup that were very benificial for us,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Ron Wilson. “We also lost some ones that we probably should have won too. The kids wrestled pretty well, but we’re giving up too many bonus points. We are in a situation where we are giving up pins and we if we don’t do that, then we could have won some of the matches which we lost this year. All we can do is go back to the drawing board, keep working at it and get ready for Everett on Wednesday.”
Blue Devil Notes: Eli Colyer (125), Brandon Beech (130) and Ricky Shawley (135) were the only Blue Devils to win both matches….In other action at Claysburg, Tussey Mountain defeated Claysburg-Kimmel 48-30 and Southern Huntingdon knocked off Claysburg-Kimmel 36-18….Bellwood-Antis travels to Everett on Wednesday. The junior high match will begin at 6 p.m.
