Bellwood-Antis traveled to Mount Union for a wrestling match on Friday evening. The short-handed Blue Devils gave up five forfeits and only received one. The free 24 points made most of the difference in the Trojans 54-20 win that upped Mount Union’s record to 6-7, while dropping Bellwood-Antis to 1-9.
The match began at 145 with Mount Union’s Mike Harkless (10-8) pinning Dustin Harris in 4:17. Harris yielded three takedowns and a nearfall to Harkless to trail 9-4, and was on top when Harkless reached through his own legs and pulled Harris (6-16) to his shoulders and shifted his weight back for the pin. At 152, freshman Eric Hoffmaster (17-9) used a head-and-arms combination to turn B-A senior Ron Colyer for the fall in 2:56, with Colyer trailing 5-2 at the time.
Mount Union’s Bill Shives (5-7) picked up a forfeit at 160, and the Blue Devils’ Garett Wyland (1-4) picked up Mount Union’s only free ride of the night at 171.
In the feature matchup of the night, matching two football stars, Second Team All-State 189-pounder Trey Rogers edged Dwayne Cherry (11-5), B-A’s leading tackler and ICC and MAFC All-Star by a 2-0 count. The only scoring in the entire six minutes was a second-period reversal by Rogers (21-3), 18 seconds into the period.
Mike Wilson (5-9) and Doug Hicks (3-14) picked up forfeits for Mount Union at 215, and 275, respectively, as did 103-pounder Snuff Walter (24-1) when the two teams turned over the lineup to the lighter weights.
At 112, Donnie Partner (4-16) moved up a weight class and was pinned by freshman Kevin Ryan (19-8) with one second remaining in the first period. Ryan registered a quick takedown and three nearfall points and finally put Partner where he wanted him to beat the buzzer.
Down 39-6, Bellwood-Antis finally got a win on the mat at 119. Eli Colyer was able to hold off a late-charging Keith Ryan 9-8, after jumping out to a 9-2 advantage. Colyer (14-5) garnered a first-period takedown and wrapped up a cradle for three back points. A Colyer reversal 13 seconds into the final period increased the lead for the B-A junior to 9-2. Midway through the period, Ryan reversed Colyer and put him on his back for three nearfall points and received a fourth point when the match was stopped because Colyer couldn’t breathe. With a slim 9-8 lead, having already been called once for stalling, Colyer was able to hold off Ryan for the last minute to squeeze out the victory. Ryan pinned Colyer in 3:18 at the Zeigler Blair/Huntingdon County Tournament.
Mount Union’s Dave Grove (19-6) received a forfeit at 125, and Phil Watson bested the Blue Devils’ Brandon Beech (13-10) 7-2 at 130. Watson had a takedown, reversal and penalty point in the opening period and added two back points in the third stanza for the win.
Bellwood-Antis won the final two weight classes of the dual and claimed bonus points in each.
At 135, Ronnie Wilson (6-14) pinned Nick McConaughy (1-10) in 1:25 and at 140, B-A junior Josh Ervine (14-7) used a pair of takedowns, an escape and four sets of back points to tech fall Eric Starr, but couldn’t quite pin Starr (6-16), who gamely kept fighting off his back.
“The kids came together nicely tonight,” said Bellwood-Antis coach Ron Wilson. “It’s hard to go out there and wrestle, when you know you are giving away 24 points. We have to win every match we can, and tonight we didn’t do that. I am proud of our kids. Even in the matches we lost, our kids kept coming back, scoring points. Dwayne Cherry was in a real tight match against one of the toughest kids in the district at 189. Eli Colyer reversed a loss to the same kid at the Zeigler Tournament and Ronnie Wilson got us maximum bonus points with a fall.”
Mount Union won the junior high match 60-41.
Troy Weyant (75), Shane Noye (115 Dustin Pruznak (1220, Levi Hollen (145) and Cody Smith (210) won by pin. Trey Mock (100), and Tim Collier (110) won by technical fall.
The Blue Devils will wrestle at Portage on Tuesday, Feb. 1. Junior High wrestling will begin at 6 p.m. and the varsity will follow at 7 p.m.
Mount Union 54 Bellwood-Antis 20
145 – Mike Harkless (MU) pinned Dustin Harris 4:17
152 – Derrick Hoffmaster (MU) pinned Ron Colyer 2:56
160 – Bill Shives (MU) won by forfeit
171 – Garett Wyland (BA) won by forfeit
189 – Trey Rogers (MU) dec. Dwayne Cherry 2-0
215 – Mike Wilson (MU) won by forfeit
275 – Doug Hicks (MU) won by forfeit
103 – Snuff Walter (MU) won by forfeit
112 – Kevin Ryan (MU) pinned Don Partner 1:59
119 – Eli Colyer (BA) dec. Keith Ryan 9-8
125 – Dave Grove (MU) won by forfeit
130 – Phil Watson (MU) dec. Brandon Beech 7-2
135 – Ronnie Wilson (BA) pinned Nic McConaughey 1:25
140 – Josh Ervine tech fall Eric Starr 17-0, 6:00
Junior High
Mount Union 60 Bellwood-Antis 41
75 – Troy Weyant (BA) pinned Denny Ranck 4:07
80 – Mike Younce (MU) pinned Tyler McCracken 4:25
85 – Dalton Smith (MU) pinned Kyle Davinsizer 0:42
90 – Donnie Rosensteel (MU) won by forfeit
95 – Chris Hendrickson (MU) pinned Jeremy Isenberg 0:56
100 – Trey Mock (BA) won by forfeit
105 – Devon Smith (MU) pinned Ryan Wolfe 0:34
110 – Tim Collier (BA) tech fall Mitchell 2:18
115 – Shane Noye (BA) pinned Adam Crouse 4:02
122 – Dustin Pruznak (BA) pinned Hockenberry 1:05
130 – Keith Hoffmaster (MU) pinned T. J. Byers 0:45
138 – Jimmy Smith (MU) pinned Tyler Norris 0:27
145 – Levi Hollen (BA) won by fall 2:41
155 – Dustin Drake (MU) pinned Jerry Stouffer 1:12
165 – Zack Hicks (MU) pinned Caleb Stevens 0:54
185 – No match
210 – Cody Smith (BA) won by fall 1:07
250 – Greg Moore (MU) pinned Ben Martinez 0:50.
