Wrestling News & Views – Tom Elling January 9, 2025
Wrestling has been going hot and heavy despite the recent freezing and wintery weather. But, hey, this is Pennsylvania, afterall…home of some of the best wrestling found anywhere.
To start, a hearty congratulations to Steve Wiser, long time assistant football coach at Lycoming. In the fall Coach Wiser had the distinct honor of having the locker room dedicated in his name. Steve was a standout for Bald Eagle Area during his wrestling days.
Coach Roger Krebs and his Lycoming Warriors will host the 36th annual Budd Whitehill National Duals this coming Friday and Saturday at the Lamade gym. Sixteen teams will converge upon Williamsport for the exciting weekend of wrestling. They include defending champion Wisconsin (Eau Claire), and several PA colleges including Messiah, Steven Institute of Technology, Wilkes University, and York College. The tournament is named for the late Budd Whitehill, an outstanding athlete at Bellefonte High and later at Penn State and Lock Haven State. Budd served as head coach at Lycoming for 37 Years and amassed a W-L record of Record 376-173-5. His Warriors won ten MAC Championships. He was also named to the 3 NCAA Div. III Wrestling Hall of Fame.
Wrestling alum Rod Laub (former very successful head coach at Jersey Shore HS) is spearheading a reunion of sorts for wrestling alums,
Scott Moore’s LHU Bald Eagles took part in the Journeyman ArmBar Duals in NY on Sunday. After going through a brutal early-season schedule, The Bald Eagles found their wings and defeated Columbia (25-15), Binghampton (23-15) before dropping a 24-12 decision to Maryland.
The Bald Eagles have been bolstered by Ohio State grappler Gavin Hoffman. Originally brought into the program as a volunteer assistant, the brilliant minds of the LHU staff talked Hoffman into using his last year of elegibility to wrestle 285. Gavin’s father Jim Hoffman wrestled for Lock Haven High. Gavin was a 3-time PIAA champion for Montoursville High. He went 2-1 this ast weekend. T loss was a tough 3-1 SV to former Penn State Hwy Seth Nevills.
Wyatt Henson and Tucker Hogan went a perfect 3-0. Anthony Noto, Nick Stampoulos and Hoffman went 2-1. Hogan continues to impress. He reminds me of Jerry Swope, former LHHS two-time state champ and 3-time NCAA All-American.
This coming Friday they will travel to Lancaster for the David H. Lehman ’68 F&M Open. The host school is coached by Mike Rogers, former LHU All-American. Mike also served as head coach here at Bald-Eagle-Nittany and Central Mountain. He is married to the former Danielle Villello. Son Caden is a member of the Lehigh University wrestling team.
An aside, seeing the Columbia meet, I was reminded of former Bloomsburg star Ron Russo. Russo was an All-American at Bloom. He went on to coach at Columbia in 1973 and led the team to the Ivy League championship in 1980, ’81 and ’82. One of his wrestlers was Dr. John Bailey- a LHHS wrestler. ‘Jack’ is a well-respected orthopedic surgeon whose roommate at Columbia was George Stephanopoulos. BTW, Russo is also a key member of my Facebook Tom’s Wrestling Page.
A lot of you are aware of the bi-annual wrestling breakfasts (May and October). hosted by the Flemington First Church of Christ. The event draws close to 200 of many familiar names in various aspects of our wrestling community ( wrestlers, coaches, media, officials, etc). But did you know it also has drawn such legendary figures as Matt Millen, Ed Ott, Tom O’Malley? Millen has often said his biggest regret in athletics is that he didn’t wrestle in high school or college. His son Marcus wrestled at Easton HS.
Did you hear there is a football game tonight? Penn State and Notre Dame. Should be a good one. But did you know Notre Dame’s defensive co-ordinator Al Golden married a local girl- Kellie Hanna- daughter of Jim and Carol (Packer) Hanna. Al coached at Temple and Miami before landing at Notre Dame. ND’s head coach Marcus Freeman’s son Vinny is a wrestler at Penn High School in Mishawaka, Indiana. Former Ohio State star Mitch Clark, a summer visitor with Scott Moore, posted recently that Vinny has attended his wrestling camp.
High School Observations:
Once again, we hear all the complaints about the PIAA and why they don’t do something to rectify the inequity of private vs public schools. While I don’t deny the distinct advantage of the recruiting disparity, I would like to make perfectly clear that it is MANDATED by state statute that the PIAA MUST include parochial schools in their championships. To change this, the state legislature would have to modify or get rid of that statute altogether.
District 6 Team Rankings- I’ll be attempting to publish (hopefully weekly) the standings of the D6 Class AAA and AA teams. While I am not a programmer, I’ll ‘try’ to stay up with the teams involved. Points are awarded for wins only with Class AAA getting 100 for defeating another AAA team. The Class AA teams get 100 for topping another AA team but get 120 for beating an AAA team. To add to the complexity, additional 10 points are added for every win an opponent your team defeated. So BEA defeated Bellefonte the opening week. BEA gets 120 points plus 10 for all wins Bellefonte accumulates. As of this writing, Bellefonte has 5 wins, thus the BEA total for that win would be 170 points.
In the spotlight: Many older fans will remember Ralph Wetzel from his days as an assistant coach at Clearfield High under Jerry Maurey and Ron Park. Ralph later went on to coach at Hatboro-Horsham producing the outstanding Bill Vollrath. Ralph did so much good in District One that he now has a tournament named in his honor. He has also been a valuable member and contributor on the PA Chapter of the NWHoF Board. Bravo, Ralph.
Condolences to the friends and family of Don Leitzell. Don passed in late December and had always been a big supporter of wrestling. He coached junior high many yeats ago at State College.
The Danville at Sugar Valley meet that had been scheduled for this past Tuesday will now take place on February 6. But the Phoenix jumped back into action yesterday at the Mid-Penn Conference Duals at Montgomery. They will have to be at their very best to collect a win there. The host team along with Muncy and Sullivan County should be the top contenders.
Central Mountain hosts always-tough Selinsgrove tonight. As of this writing, the Seals were 2-0 but have not been ovenly impressive. They took on a rugged Line Mountain team Tuesday. Coach Seth Martin, an LHU grad, saw his team finish 7th at the Panther Classic and 10th at the Neil Turner Memorial. Then the Wildcats head to Indiana (IUP) for the Mid-Winter Mayhem on Friday and Saturday. CM thrashed Shamokin 71-5 on Monday. The ‘Cats have been avergaing 48.6 points per meet; allowing an average of 17.2.
BEA visited Philipsburg-Osceola on Tuesday and will join Central Mountain at the Mid-Winter Mayhem. In a District 6 AA showdown, at the LHAC, 189-pounder Caleb Close got by Tyrone’s star Kyle Scott, 6-1. Caden Judice was runner-up to one of McCort’s top wrestlers Jax Forrest. Tanner Guenot (127) took a 3rd; Dawson Lomison (139) a 4th.
Bellefonte took on Jersey Shore on Tuesday and will travel to the Southern Tier Memorial Tournament just over the border in NY state. The Red Raiders nabbed a 4th at the Laurel Highlands. They had two runners-up in Ezra Swisher, (152) and Noah Weaver (160). They also nabbed two 3rds.
Cameron Garcia (139) avenged an earlier round defeat toss to Dawson Lomison (Bald Eagle Area), with a 9-3 sudden victory win. Luke Hockenberry (189) was also a strong 3rd.
Jersey Shore, fresh off the Line Mountain Duals, as mentioned above, traveled to Bellefonte. then tonight make the trip to Coal Twp to face Shamokin, staying busy with a trip to Bloomsburg for the PHAC Championships (17 teams). Montoursville, Hughesville and Shikellamy will be the teams to beat. Warrior Run and Mifflinburg should also make some noise.
Congratulations to Don Adams and Eric Coleman for the recognition they received prior to the Shamokin meet. Both have had stellar careers as wrestlers and coaches. They are now in The Keystone Central (Wildcat) Wrestling Hall of Fame.
In my talking with Shamokin coach Jarrod Scandle, the question came up if he was related to Shamokin’s first ever PIAA champion Roland Scandle (115 in 1938). Jarrod proudly affirmed that Roland was his great uncle.
Some things that may go unappreciated. The amazing job that PA announcers such as Joe Miller and Jim Gardner do. Oft time, we in the broadcasting realm are not sure which wrestlers are on the mat. These two (and some others) make sure everybody is aware of the combatants.
Another thing often obscured is the outstanding effort and performance the officials in our area do week in and week out. Most recently, Eric Fortin, Randy Brungard and Mike Litzelman come to mind. Thanks, guys!
Among those following our streaming of Wildcat wrestling were former LHU Hwt Todd Ribovich, local baseball legend and Wildcat follower Fred Bechdel, and even someone from Florida. It truly is an effort that extends nationwide and even worldwide. Thanks to the many sponsors who make it all possible.
Score of Interest: Bethlehem Catholic 34, Notre Dame GP 24.
Other Happenings:
Mifflin County picked up four wins at the Grizzly Duals in Elizabethtown.
Central Mountain won the Coudersport duals (going 3-0).
Tournament Champs: Mifflinburg (Bo Wood Tourney); Saint Marys (Dist 9 League); West Allegheny (Ed Driscoll).
Bishop McCort won the Laurel Highlands. Clearfield was 2nd; Bellefonte-4th; Penns Valley 5th and BEA 6th. Sugar Valley RCS was 6th at the South Williamsport Invite.
