Wildcats Win Regionals Sending Six to States
By Joe Walker
ALTOONA-The Central Mountain Wildcats defended their Northwest Regional Title, as six Wildcats made their way to the championship finals and earned a ticket to the PIAA CLASS AAA state championships on March 7, 8 & 9 in Hershey.
The Wildcats had six semifinal winners and then crowned four champions in the finals, as freshmen Gavin Heverly (107) and Aiden Kunes (121), along with seniors Luke Simcox (145) and Rocco Serafini (215) won titles, while Dalton Perry (139) and Griffin Walizer (152) took second place finishes.
The Wildcats finished with 177 points and the six qualifiers, while Mifflin County finished in second with 155 points and six qualifiers, as they had two runner-ups and four third place finishers. Shikallemy finished third with 153 points, four advancing and State College was fourth with 151 points and five state bound qualifiers.
Gavin Heverly (35-10) got the finals off to a big start at 107 as he pinned Noah Young (20-14) in 4:40 of their championship bout. Heverly was leading 4-3, when he took Young down in a cradle and recorded the fall. To get to the finals Heverly posted a 4-2 decision over Brayden Sidney (26-12) of Hollidaysburg in the semifinals.
Aiden Kunes (35-13) made it two freshmen and two titles, as he recorded a solid 6-1 decision over District 10 champ Brody Bishop (27-11) of Hickory in the finals. Kunes hit Bishop with a four point move in the first period and a second period takedown to lead 6-0 going into the final period. Kunes surrendered a penalty point for stalling late in the final period to set the final at 6-1. Kunes reached the finals with a solid 11-6 decision over Shikellamy’s Alex Reed in the semifinals, Reed later came back to place third.
The 139 pound final was a match-up of two standouts, as Wildcat junior Dalton Perry (31-3) faced undefeated Brock Weiss (30-0) of Jersey Shore. Perry had two takedowns to a Weiss escape to lead 4-1 after one period. Perry got a takedown in the second period, but during that takedown Weiss rolled thru and put Perry on his back for a five point move to take a 7-6 lead heading into the final period
In the final period, Perry left Weiss out to make it an 8-6 lead and then took Weiss down to tie it at 8-8 with 28 seconds to go in the bout. Perry decided to try to ride Weiss out but with 14 seconds remaining he left Weiss go for an escape, but could not get the takedown and Weiss won a 9-8 decision. Perry got into the finals with a fall over Davey Aughenbaugh (37-10) of DuBois in the semifinals, while Weiss won by fall in 44 seconds over Jacoby Thompson (23-9) of Meadville.
After the great match at 139 pounds, the crowd got treated to another big time match-up at 145 pounds, as state second ranked Luke Simcox (27-3) faced the states and country’s number one ranked wrestler in Pierson Manville (23-1) of State College. After a scoreless first period, Simcox got an escape in the second period to lead 1-0 going into the final period.
Manville then got an escape in the third period and with no wrestler getting a takedown it ended 1-1 after regulation. After a scoreless first overtime period, it was still 1-1 and in the first 30 second rideout period, Simcox escaped and took a lead 2-1 heading into the second 30 second period, which Manville promptly chose down and escaped to tie it again 2-2.
The match went to the ultimate tie breaker 30 second period and since Simcox scored the first offensive point with the second period escape, he had the choice of position and he chose down. Simcox escaped 11 seconds into the period for the deciding point for a 3-2 decision and the 145 pound title.
Wildcat senior Griffin Walizer (35-9) made it to the finals and ran into Luke Sipes (33-5) of Altoona, who had defeated Walizer in the District 6 finals by a 3-1 score. It was a close match again, as Sipes got an escape and a takedown in the final period to come away with a 3-0 win and the title at 152 pounds. Walizer got into the finals by recording a takedown with one second left to win his semifinal match by a 4-3 score over Parker Kearns (35-7) of Mifflin County.
In the 215 title bout, Wildcat senior Rocco Serafini (38-6) used a second period escape and then rode Brody Rebuck (31-6) of Shikellamy out the entire third period to come away with the 1-0 win and the championship. Serafini won a 12-0 major decision over Jarrod Bullington of Selinsgrove in the semifinals.
Wildcat junior Jacob Weaver (31-20) came one win short of getting a ticket to Hershey, as he dropped a 7-4 decision to Mitchell Baronner (27-13), trailing 5-4 in the 3rd place bout, Weaver made a last second attempt for a takedown, only to surrender a takedown to Baronner. Weaver had a good tournament, as going 1-1 on Friday night, he battled back through the consolations by winning three bouts to get to the 3rd place bout.
Bryce Brungard (32-19) took a fifth place finish at 189 pounds, as he dropped his semifinal bout to top seeded and eventual champ Tucker Teats (37-7) of Selinsgrove by a 10-3 score. In the consolation semifinals, Brungard dropped a 12-6 decision to Gavin Mickey (29-12) of Mifflin County, Mickey had defeated Brungard in last week’s District finals. Brungard then received a forfeit in the 5th place bout.
“We had a good day, getting the six wins in the semifinals was the biggest thing for us in both the team race and the kids getting to move on to Hershey. Then in the finals to have two freshmen go out and win to get us going in the finals was nice. But we got a lot of points from the other guys and as I have said before it was a team effort towards the team race” stated Head Coach Biff Walizer after the regional championship.
“In the finals you can take 10 seconds out of the match and Dalton looked really good and doing well, but Weiss is very good and he was able to catch Dalton and the five point move was big. But if Dalton wrestles as well as he has been doing overall, things will be fine for him at states. Then for Simcox to escape three times from Manville to get the win is impressive, because Manville is really tough on top and to beat the top ranked kid in the country is impressive as well,” added Walizer.
The Wildcats saw freshman Patrick Tarantella (127) and sophomore Hunter Donley see their season come to an end, as they both dropped their consolation matches, but finished with impressive seasons. Tarantella finished 24-20 on the season, while Donley finished with a 21-14 record.
Central Mountain Results
Consolation Second Round
127 – Patrick Tarantella won by forfeit
160 – Noah Moyer (Columbia Montour VoTech) WBF Hunter Donley, 4:39
172 – Jacob Weaver WBF Antonio Roa (Brasher), 1:36
Consolation Quarterfinals
127 – Gavin Ciampoli (Altoona) WBD Patrick Tarantella, 4-0
172 – Jacob Weaver WBD Antonio Tykear Davis (Altoona), 1-0
Championship Semifinals
107 – Gavin Heverly WBD Brayden Sidney (Hollidaysburg), 4-2
121 – Aiden Kunes WBD Alex Reed (Shikellamy), 11-6
139 – Dalton Perry WBF Dave Aughenbaugh (DuBois), 2:19
145 – Luke Simcox WBF Colby Seiler (Mifflin County), 3:27
152 – Griffin Walizer WBD Parker Kearns (Mifflin County) 4-3
189 – Tucker Teats (Selinsgrove) WBD Bryce Brungard 10-3
215 – Rocco Serafini WMD Jarrod Bullington (Selinsgrove), 12-0
Consolation Semifinals
172 – Jacob Weaver WBD Connor Kearns (Meadville), 5-1
189 – Gavin Mickey (Mifflin County) WBD Bryce Brungard, 12-6.
Consolations 5th Place
189 – Bryce Brungard won by forfeit.
Consolations 3rd Place
172 – Mitchell Baronner (Hollidaysburg) WBD Jacob Weaver, 7-4.
Championship Finals
107 – Gavin Heverly (Central Mountain) WBF Noah Young (State College), 4:41 114 – Eric Scriven (Hickory) WBD Braiden Weaver (Altoona), 4-2
121 – Aiden Kunes (Central Mountain) WBD Brody Bishop (Hickory), 6-1 127 – Keagen Oler (Cathedral Prep) WBD Brady Slicker (Hickory), 9-5
133 – James Whitbred (State College) WBD Jordan Rutan (Punxsutawney), 9-3 139 – Brock Weiss (Jersey Shore) WBD Dalton Perry (Central Mountain), 9-8 145 – Luke Simcox (Central Mountain) WBD Pierson Manville (State College), 3-2 UTB 152 – Luke Sipes (Altoona) WBD Griffin Walizer (Central Mountain), 3-0 160 – Asher Cunningham (State College) WTF Deakon Schaeffer (Mifflin County), 27-11, 4:41 172 – Connor Wetzel (Shikellamy) WMD Avery Aurand (Mifflin County), 9-1 189 – Tucker Teats (Shikellamy) WBF Nariq Burks (Williamsport), 1:45
215 – Rocco Serafini (Central Mountain) WBD Brady Rebuck (Shikellamy), 1-0 285 – Nick Pavlechko (State College) WBF Wyatt Maines (Hollidaysburg), :59
