Two years ago, the Bellwood-Antis junior high wrestling team consisted of exactly six wrestlers. Last year, the B-A junior high posted one win and for at least the last two seasons have been consistently at or near the bottom of every tournament they entered.
In 2002-03, the B-A junior high is 8-5 and with duals against Spring Cove and Northern Cambria, has a good chance to win 10 matches. On Saturday, minus five starters due illness or injury and another who was ineligible due to grades, the Bellwood-Antis junior high went to Northern Bedford High School to wrestle in the annual Tri-County League Tournament. The Little Blue Devils still managed to put five wrestlers into the championship finals, and come home with two champs, eight placewinners in the top four at their respective weights and 142.5 points for a fourth place team finish, along with a lot of notice from other coaches.
Eli Colyer (95), Ronnie Wilson (115), Trevor Latchford (145), Brian Dougherty (210) and Tyler Narehood (250) all made it into the finals and Latchford and Narehood claimed championships.
Trevor Latchford pinned his way to the 145-pound title. Boe, the top seed, pinned Ben Kaiser of Tussey Mountain, in just 0:17 in the semifinals after drawing a bye in the opening round. In the finals, Latchford pinned second seed Mike Hughes of Northern Bedford, in 2:45.
At 250, Tyler Narehood drew a bye, then pinned Darren Eshelman of Northern Bedford, in a quick 0:20, then took just 0:30 to post a pin over top seed Andy Stine of Moshannon Valley for the championship. Just a week ago, Narehood lost to Stine by fall in the dual at Moshannon Valley.
Eli Colyer pinned Matt Hoffman of Southern Huntingdon, in 0:31 and trimmed No. Two seed Brad Sweitzer of Glendale, 4-2 to earn a berth in the finals, where he was shutout by Northern Bedford’s Brad Sollenberger 5-0. Sollenberger reversed a 4-2 win by Colyer in the season-opening dual at Northern Bedford for his 95-pound crown.
Ronnie Wilson opened the tournament with a fall in 2:45 over Everett’s Aaron Claycomb, then decisioned No. Two seed Justin Claar of Northern Bedford, 4-2 to get into the 115-pound finals. Wilson had his title bid halted by top seed Tyler Mansberger of Southern Huntingdon, 4-2. During the dual meet season, Wilson was pinned by Claar in 2:11, and Sollenberger in 2:05.
At 210, there were only two wrestlers in the tournament.1 Caleb Hagleberger of Northern Bedford, repeated a pin from the dual, over the Blue Devils’ Brian Dougherty in 2:33 to put Dougherty in second place.
Ricky Shawley (85), Dustin Harris (130) and Andy Martinez (165) each finished in fourth place for the Blue Devils.
Ricky Shawley got off to a bad start by dropping a 12-0 major decision to Northern Bedford’s Josh Mowery. Fighting through the consolation bracket, Shawley came back to challenge for third place. Ricky tossed a pair of shutouts, winning by a 16-0 tech fall over Logan Northcraft of Everett, and a 13-0 major decision over John Cody Hanley of Tussey Mountain. In the consifinal for third place, Shawley ran into Mowery again. This time Mowery won a much closer 4-0 squeaker.
Dustin Harris pinned Matt Henry of Glendale, in 1:56 to begin the quarterfinals at 130, then was decked by eventually champ Waylon Corbin of Tussey Mountain, in 1:40. In the consis, Harris pinned John Ziegler of Moshannon Valley, in 1:17, before dropping a 6-1 decision to Josh Williams of Northern Bedford, in the fight for third place.
Andy Martinez was pinned by Myles Crawford of Northern Bedford, in 0:35 of the quarterfinals to enter the consi brackets early. Martinez fought back with a fall over Wayne Mearkle of Everett, in 2:20 and doubled up Nate Detwiler of Spring Cove 4-2. In the consolation final for third place, Andy fell to Crawford again, 8-2 the second time around.
Caleb Stephens (1-2) won his first tournament victory for Bellwood-Antis, at 185, with a 5-1 decision over Jeremy Rhodes of Spring Cove, in the consolation rounds. Don Partner (0-3) and Dan Pielmeier (0-3) placed sixth at 75, and 155, respectively. Brandon Beech, who was seeded second at 105, suffered a cut over his eye and was forced to default in his first match and then forfeit his second to be sidelined from the tournament. T. J. Byers went 0-2 in his first competition of the year.
“We were very pleased with the kids we had here at the tournament,” said B-A junior high head coach Tim Andrekovich. “Ronnie Wilson did a nice job for us today. Ricky Shawley came back after a tough loss and Tyler wrestled well. He is starting to come along now. Boe Latchford wrestled a solid tournament and Eli wrestled into the finals. Dustin Harris did a good job, probably Dustin and Ronnie are the two kids who have improved the most this season. Dustin just gave up a five-point move in the consifinal and then outwrestled the kid for the rest of the match. Dan Pielmeier and Andy Martinez and Caleb Stephens are showing signs of improvement. Three other coaches from other schools mentioned to us about the improvement the kids are making. The fourth place team finish was double-edged. It was good to get the points and finish that high for the guys who we had here. However with all of our team here, we could seriously have challenged for second place.”
Northern Bedford ran away with the team title, putting the tournament championship away with several rounds still left to wrestle. The Little Panthers finished with 287.5 points five champs and 15 place winners in the top three. Glendale was a distant second with 195.5 points, Tussey Mountain third with 159, B-A with 142.5 and Southern Huntingdon rounding out the top five with 133. The bottom five included Everett 131, Moshannon Valley 91, Spring Cove 71.5, Claysburg-Kimmel 69 and Juniata Valley 61.5.
