Falcons remain undefeated on the mat
John F. Brothers/HeraldStandard.com
Waynesburg’s Eric Jones manuevers into position against
Connellsville’s Brandon Umbel to win the 145-pound bout, 6-2.
With 13 seconds left in the first period, Waynesburg's Shane Piper pinned Connellsville's Tyrone Brown.
Connellsville's Dale Provance battles Waynesburg's Chase Patton and takes the 160-pound bout with a 6-2 decision.
Connellsville's Matt Butler controls Waynesburg's Marcus Pizzi to win the 182-pound bout with a 18-4 major decision.
Ethan Kenney captured the 138-pound bout for Connellsville with a 15-7 major decision over Waynesburg's Tom Henderson.
Connellsville's Tanner Wiltrout holds on to score a 6-4 decision against Waynesburg's Bo Hampson to win the 152-pound bout.
CONNELLSVILLE — Connellsville went at it for a second straight night, overcoming an early deficit to stop Waynesburg, 51-15, to remain unbeaten in the dual meet portion of their schedule.
The Falcons (2-0, 3-0) fell behind 9-4, before running off seven straight wins. Those wins came despite a couple of moves by Waynesburg coach Joe Throckmorton trying to take some points against some of the younger Falcon wrestlers.
“Waynesburg is a well-coached team and are always in great condition,” Connellsville’s Tom Dolde said. “I think our young kids responded well to wrestling two good teams on consecutive days. We talked to them about focusing and preparing yourself the same way all the time. I wasn’t concerned about them going two days in a row. That’s something they’re going to have to do at tournament time. Sometimes you have to get up the next day after going five matches in a row.”
Thursday’s action started at 132 pounds where Shane Piper gave the Red Raiders (6-3) a quick lead, pinning Tyrone Brown in the first period. Ethan Kenney got four team points back for the Falcons with a 15-7 major decision over Tom Henderson. Waynesburg’s Eric Jones used two escapes and a takedown in the third period to gain a 6-2 decision over Brandon Umbel, giving Waynesburg a 9-4 lead.
“I have a lot of guys in the lineup for the first time and we lost some close matches we had to have but I’m seeing a lot of positives,” Throckmorton said. “We were missing a guy at 182 so we had to make some moves to get the right matchups. Hopefully by the end of the year we have all the weight classes filled. I’m happy with our effort. We took a lot of their good guys down to the wire and we’ll be better by the end of the season.”
The Falcons started their run at 152 with Tanner Wiltrout earning a 6-4 decision over Bo Hampson. Dale Provance followed with a 6-2 decision over Chase Patton, giving the Falcons a 10-9 lead.
Waynesburg forfeited to Jeremy Basinger at 170 and moved Marcus Pizzi up to 182 against Falcon freshman Matt Butler, who scored an 18-4 major decision that bloated the Falcon lead to 20-9.
Dru Barr got a 13-4 major decision against Jake Cumberledge at 195. Dylan Miller received a forfeit at 220, with Thad McGilten moving up to 285 against freshman heavyweight Gunnar Lynch. McGilten managed to get a 2-1 lead in the third period before Lynch caught him with a headlock and pinned him with ten seconds left in the match.
“We teach our kids to hang in there no matter what the score is,” Dolde said. “Gunnar did a real nice job of hanging in there and gave us a real spark.”
Austin Headlee broke up the Connellsville run at 106, pinning Daniel Leonard with the fall coming 1:31 of the first period.
Colton DeWitt, another freshman at 113, came back with a win for the Falcons, getting a second period pin over Stephen Koratich. Gaige Cramer received a forfeit at 120 and Nick Beneke held on for a 5-3 decision over Mike Heasley at 126 to end the match.
Both teams will take a couple of days for the Christmas holiday and prepare for the Powerade Tournament before heading back into section play.