Each team won seven matches in the Tyrone-Penns Valley dual on Thursday at Spring Mills. Penns Valley won the final two to post a 39-33 win over the Orange and Black.
With the dual beginning with a fall by Penns Valley 145-pounder Preston Shawver over Matt Lauder (0-23), the Eagles trailed the first 11 matches before taking a brief 33-30 lead when Dane McCloskey worked Ben McNitt for a quick fall at 130.
In the premier matchup of the evening at 135, however, the Rams’ Brett Gephart used a first period takedown and middle period reversal to build up a 4-0 lead over Tyrone senior Thad Westley and held on for a 4-3 win to tie the team score at 33-33. With nobody to wrestle at 140, a Tyrone forfeit gave the win to Penns Valley.
“We thought about moving Thad up and giving Gephart a forfeit before the match,” explained Tyrone coach Blair Packer. “But we felt we could win. We knew it would be a tough one, but when you have the number one ranked kid in the state, we figured we could take our chances and come up with a win.”
Westley (27-3) reversed Gephart to begin the third period and picked up a penalty point when Gephart was warned for stalling for the second time, but could get no closer.
At 152, Brice Mertiff trailed 5-1, when he registered a takedown and put the Ram wrestler on his back for three nearfall points to pull out the slim one-point win.
Jeremy Ridenour pinned Eagle sophomore Tyler Updike (0-2) at 160, but Heath Walk (16-5) battled Dave Korman into the sudden death rideout before notching an escape for 3-2 win at 171 to narrow the team score to 12-6 in favor of the Rams. The first and third periods and the first overtime period were scoreless, with Korman scoring a takedown to a pair of escapes for Walk in the second period.
Justin Clark (7-16) was pinned by Kane Bjalme at 189 and Robert Emigh (0-12) was pinned by Colby Stover at 215.
Tyrone then went on a run of three in a row and five of six to get to the final two weight classes with their only lead of the dual.
Terry Tate (30-1) scored two takedowns in the early portion of the first period before decking Derek Auman in 1:25 at 275. T. J. Albright (27-9) kept up the pressure on 103-pounder Kelly Strouse with two takedowns a nearfall and a reversal, before finally catching Strouse in a pinning combination for the fall in 5:07
At 112, Robert Waite (21-11) opened his match with Lucas Stover with a five-point move in the opening two minutes. In the second period, Waite reversed Stover, allowed him to escape then took him down to lead 9-1, the added two more takedowns for the 12-3 major decision.
Greg Myers temporarily stopped the Tyrone momentum by pinning Josh Hunter (9-14) at 119.
The McCloskey brothers then scored bonus points at both 125, and 130, to push the Eagles into a 33-30 lead.
“The McCloskey boys have been a shining light all season for us,” said Packer. “Sam has been a real surprise coming in untested from the junior high in his first year on the varsity and Dane has been a real leader all year.”
Sam McCloskey (15-12) added up points like a calculator in a 17-2 technical fall over Trevor Benner at 125. The younger McCloskey brother racked up a takedown, escape, reversal, penalty point and four separate sets of nearfalls for his five-point win.
Dane McCloskey (24-6) didn’t need to score many points. The Tyrone senior just went out and took Ben McNitt down and worked for the pin in 1:16.
“The kids have to take the loss for the decision I made. They wrestled well enough to win,” said Packer. “I will take the responsibility for that one. If things turn and we would have another chance I might have done something different. Penns Valley is a decent team that I feel should be one of the best teams in the district. This was one of those matches where we matched up well with them. It came down to the wire and as it turned out, my decision backfired.”
Tyrone travels to Philipsburg for the annual battle with the Philipsburg-Osceola Mounties for what is always a battle, then hosts Bellwood-Antis at 9 a.m. on Saturday and later on at 1 p.m. entertains Bald Eagle Area to finish out the regular season.
Varsity
Penns Valley 39 Tyrone 33
145 – Preston Shawver (PV) pinned Matt Lauder 3:18
152 – Brice Mertiff (T) dec. Bob Thompson 6-5
160 – Jeremy Ridenour (PV) pinned Tyler Updike 1:53
171 – Heath Walk (T) dec. Dave Korman 3-2 TB
189 – Kane Bjalme (PV) pinned Justin Clark 0:53
215 – Colby Stover (PV) pinned Robert Emigh 0:42
275 – Terry Tate (T) pinned Derek Auman 1:25
103 – T. J. Albright (T) pinned Kelly Strouse 5:07
112 – Robert Waite (T) maj. dec. Lucas Stover 13-2
119 – Greg Myers (PV) pinned Josh Hunter 5:46
125 – Sam McCloskey (T) tech fall Trevor Benner 17-2, 6:00
130 – Dane McCloskey (T) pinned Ben McNitt 1:16
135 – Brett Gephart (PV) dec. Thad Westley 4-3
140 – Luke Berkey (PV) won by forfeit.
