Although the varsity Blair County Tournament with the six teams that feature a wrestling program has ceased to exist after the Blair County schools joined with the four Huntingdon schools to form the Ziegler Chevrolet Tournament with 10 teams, the junior highs of Blair still hold a county tournament.
The way wrestling has gone, you can order the trophy for the next couple years and save time by engraving Tyrone’s name on it.
The Golden Eagles junior high claimed their fourth straight BCJHT team trophy on Saturday, Jan. 15. Tyrone outscored second place Keith by a 15-point margin 2-5,5-195.5, with Roosevelt third followed by Hollidaysburg, Bellwood-Antis, Claysburg-Kimmel and Spring Cove.
Tyrone moved nine wrestlers into the finals and five claimed championships. Chase Weaver (75), A. J. Schopp (80), Cody Weaver (90), Josh Miller (110) and Jeremy Barlett (115) won titles for the Little Eagles. Doug Rudy (95), Shane Emigh (130), J. P. VanAllman (138) and Byron Sullins (155) finished second.
In addition, Ben Smerekar (85), Nathan Kruis (105) and Nick Wilburn (185) finished third and J. D. Gardner finished fourth to give Tyrone 13 place winners. The Eagles had no representatives at 210 or 250, so they placed in the top four in 13 of the 16 weight classes they had a wrestler in.
Chase Weaver started things off with a flourish for the Little Eagles at 75, by pinning Brandon Over of Spring Cove, in 3:44 and winning a 5-2 decision over Troy Weyant of Bellwood-Antis, in the finals.
At 80, A. J. Schopp made quick work of the rest of the field by pinning Ben Dodson of Claysburg-Kimmel, in 0:37 and Tyler McCracken of Bellwood-Antis, in 2:37 for his title.
Cody Weaver pinned James Dalgarn of Hollidaysburg, in 3:49 and then in the finals at 90 pounds, majored Chris McCathy of Keith, 14-2.
At 110, Josh Miller pinned his way through the tournament to win the top prize. Miller decked Claysburg-Kimmel’s Tyler Claar in 0:32, and Kerry Bonsel of Roosevelt in 2:03. In the finals, Miller pinned Jared Stiffler of Spring Cove in 1:13.
Jeremy Barlett completed the title run for the Eagles at 115, pinning Matt Norotsky of Spring Cove, in 2:05, to start his way through the bracket. Barlett then shut out Luke Ickes of Claysburg-Kimmel, 5-0 and completed his championship run by doubling up Shane Noye of Bellwood-Antis 6-3.
Doug Rudy decisioned Roosevelt’s Alex Zimmerman 6-1 at 95, but dropped the championship tilt to Dave McCloskey of Keith. Shane Emigh won his first match 6-4 over Rob Kyle of Keith, but was defeated 10-3 by Hollidaysburg’s Evan McCaffrey in the finals at 130 by a 10-3 count. J. P. VanAllman opened with an 18-1 technical fall over Allen Harker of Hollidaysburg, in 3:58, then was edged 3-2 by Rob Capriotti of Keith in the finals at 138. Byron Sullins pinned Shawn Flaugh of Hollidaysburg, in 1:08 at 155, then dropped a 6-4 decision in the finals to Roosevelt’s Zach Bulow.
At 85, Ben Smerekar was pinned in 2:24 by eventual champ Vince McCracken of Keith, in the opening round. Smerekar then won twice in the consolation rounds to finish third, pinning Dillion Fornwalt of Spring Cove, in 0:56 and edging Damion Lascoli of Hollidaysburg, 2-1. Nate Kruis wrestled four times at 105 and all involved pins. Kruis pinned Cameron Kyle of Keith, in 2:47 before Tim Collier of Bellwood-Antis decked him in 4:20 to send him into the wrestlebacks. Kruis then pinned Anthony Weakland of Roosevelt, in 1:02 and Derek Heisler of Hollidaysburg, in 1:17. Nick Wilburn was pinned by A. J. Alexander of Keith, in 4:08, then had the quickest pin of the tournament getting Jesse McCandless of Hollidaysburg, in just 0:11.
J. D. Gardner placed fourth for Tyrone losing to D. J. Zimmerman and Steve Fry of Keith, in a weight class with four wrestlers.
Bellwood-Antis had five wrestlers in the finals, but drew a blank when all five were defeated.
Troy Weyant (75), Tyler McCracken (80), Trey Mock (100), Shane Noye (115) and Cody Smith (210) were runner-ups for the little Blue Devils, Kyle Shawley (100) and Kris Morder (250) finished third and Dustin Pruznak finished fourth.
Troy Weyant shut out Barry Shannon of Keith, 13-0, then dropped a 5-2 decision to Chase Weaver of Tyrone. Tyler McCracken pinned Joey Klock of Spring Cove in just 0:20, but got pinned in the 80-pound finals by Tyrone’s A. J. Schopp. Trey Mock pinned Nick Zimmerman of Roosevelt, in 2:11, but lost a 4-0 decision to Hollidaysburg’s Steffan Housom at 100.
Shane Noye began his tournament with a takedown in overtime to defeat Roosevelt’s Josh Potts 9-7 in sudden death, at 115, and defeated Chad Steinbugl of Keith, before dropping a 6-3 decision to Jeremy Barlett of Tyrone. Cody Smith defeated Tyler Frederick of Keith but lost to Brandon Lackey of Claysburg-Kimmel at 210.
Kyle Shawley lost a 5-4 decision to Mitch Colombo of Keith, in the first round, then defeated Roosevelt’s Kerry Bonsel and then beat Colombo again to earn third place at 110. Kris Morder lost to Jeremy Rhodes of Spring Cove and then came back to down Shane Wilkins of Keith, in the third place consolation final. At 122, Dustin Pruznak had the busiest day for either Bellwood-Antis or Tyrone wrestling four matches to finish in fourth place. Pruznak decisioned Clifton Smith of Hollidaysburg 11-5 in the opening round, then fell to Bonson Pfahler. In the consolation bracket, Pruznak doubled up Tyrone’s Andrew Clark 4-2, but lost his consi-final match to finish fourth.
Bellwood-Antis 138-pounder Nick Alley went 1-2, but didn’t place. Tyrone’s Matt Moore (100), Andrew Clark (115) and Jordan Berry (145) and the Blue Devils’ Jeremy Isenberg (90), T. J. Byers (130) and Jerry Stouffer (155) were all 0-2.
