Wildcats Win Third Straight District Title, As Caris Gets Crucial Pin
By Joe Walker
MILL HALL – The District 6 Class AAA Dual Championship came down to the last bout and it was inexperience against experience and for the Central Mountain Wildcats, inexperience won, as freshman Todd Caris came up with a huge fall to secure the Wildcats third straight District title by a 39-28 score over the Mountain Lions of Altoona.
The Mountain Lions led 28-27 with two bouts to go and Wildcat junior Dalton McDermott (19-10) pinned Altoonas’ Caleb Darpino (9-13) at 172 pounds to give the Wildcats back the lead at 33-28 heading into the final bout at 189 pounds.
The Wildcats sent out freshman Todd Caris (5-5) against the Altoona junior Tykear Davis (11-13) in the deciding bout, as due to some line-up juggling, Caris was the only wrestler the Wildcats had weighed at 189 pounds. Everyone in the gym knew the Mountain Lions needed a fall to win it outright or a tech fall to win on criteria, anything less and the Wildcats would prevail..
Davis got the initial takedown, but gave up a penalty point and an escape to make it a 3-2 lead heading into the second period. They started in the neutral position in period two and Caris took Davis down to take a 5-3 lead. Davis later escaped, but Caris took him down again for an 8-4 lead after two periods.
Caris chose the top position for the third period and twice Davis almost caught him a headlock from the down position, but Caris looked like the veteran, as he cleared the hold both times and then put Davis onto his back and recorded the title winning fall in 51 seconds of the final period to send the home team and fans into a title winning frenzy.
Central Mountain (11-0) got into the championship match with a 44-18 win over State College (5-3) in a semifinal match that was a lot closer than the score might indicate, while the Mountain Lions (15-3) defeated the Huskies of Mifflin County (10-3) 36-26 in the other semifinal.
The championship match started at 215 pounds, where Wildcat senior Bryce Brungard (27-12) used a third period 5-point to come away with a 10-5 decision over Michael Colyer (19-12). Leading 3-0, the Wildcats went up 9-0 at 285, as sophomore Kai Fravel was bumped up a weight and he responded with a fall in 1:16 of the first period over Julian Pringle.
The Mountain Lions got on the scoreboard at 107, as Dominic Nardozza (20-12) lead 7-0 before recording a fall over the Wildcats’ Cael Dorman (14-11) with just 10 seconds left in the bout. The Wildcats also lost a team point after expressing their belief that Dormans’ shoulder was resting on top of Nardozzas’ shoulder and not touching the mat, thus it was now an 8-6 Wildcat lead.
Sophomore Gavin Heverly (26-7) put the Wildcats up 14-6 at 114 pounds, as he got the initial takedown and then pinned Nick Irwin (7-4) in 1:25 of the first period. Mountain Lion standout Braiden Weaver (32-6) brought the Mountain Lions back with two at 14-12 when recorded a fall in 1:04 of the first period over Wildcat junior Collin Bauman (15-14) at 121 pounds.
Wildcat sophomore Aiden Kunes (29-6) and Mountain Lion freshman Deklan Barr (25-8) were locked up in a scoreless match after two periods, but Kunes took command in the final period by out scoring Barr by an 11-2 count to come away with the major decision and upped the Wildcat lead to 18-12.
Patrick Tarantella (27-12) needed four back points in the final period to come away with a tough 5-0 decision over Philip Sarbo (11-13) and the Wildcat sophomore put the Wildcats up 21-12. The Mountain Lions cut the lead to 21-18 as Reese Hite (7-7) took a 7-0 lead and then pinned Wildcat freshman Hayes Donley (10-7) in 1:30 of the second period.
The Mountain Lions’ elected to forfeit to Wildcat senior Dalton Perry (30-2) at 145 pounds to put the Wildcats up 27-18. They bumped sophomore Gavin Ciampoli (27-8) up to 152 pounds and he used three takedowns to win a 10-1 major decision over the Wildcats’ Luke Ananea (25-9) and cut it to a 27-22 Wildcat lead.
The Mountain Lions took their first and only lead of the dual meet at 28-27, when three time state place winner Luke Sipes (33-4) took down and pinned Wildcat freshman Dakoda Packer in 40 seconds of the first period at 160 pounds. The win was Sipes 146th of his career and is now the all-time winningest wrestler in Mountain Lion School history.
That set the stage for the back to back falls by McDermott and Caris to pull out the win for the Wildcats, who will now advance to the first round of the PIAA State AAA Duals Championship on Tuesday night at the Central Mountain gym. The Wildcats, now 13-0, opponent and match time was not set at the time of this article, but will be announced once the info is released by the PIAA.
“We knew coming into today things would be tough and the match with State College was a lot closer than score might show, but we got the flip of the disc and was able to get most of the match-ups we wanted. There were a lot of close bouts, but the guys came through and won most of those to go along with the falls we were able to get.” commented a very happy and relieved head coach Biff Walizer after the wins.
“We did not get the flip of the disc against Altoona and that really hurt in the match ups we wanted to get, as we knew they matched up with us real well. I am just so happy for Dalton (McDermott) and Todd (Caris), as they were put into a real tough spot, but they came through huge for us today. Those two guys are not guys on the team that get a lot of recognition or have the credentials as some of the other guys, but they earned all of it today. To watch Todd (Caris) get that pin and then jumping into the arms of the whole team is something as a coach you never forget.” added Walizer.
As mentioned earlier the Wildcats got into the championship match with a 44-18 win over the Little Lions of State College. The Wildcats won 9 of the 13 bouts, while recording three falls and a tech fall, while also receiving two forfeits. The two teams split the two bouts that went into overtime and three were decision wins decided in the final period, with the Wildcats winning two of those.
In the semifinal bout, Allah Al-Sulaimani (7-12) used a takedown in over time to defeat Wildcat freshman Caris (4-4) at 189 pounds and then defending state champion Asher Cunningham (24-3) pinned sophomore Kai Fravel in 44 seconds at 215 pounds to give the Little Lions a 9-0 lead.
Wildcat senior Bryce Brungard (26-12) needed an overtime takedown to defeat Michael Troupe (6-12) to make it a 9-3 Little Lion lead. The Wildcats Cael Dorman (14-10) received a forfeit at 107 pounds and sophomore Gavin Heverly (25-7) recorded five takedowns enroute to a solid 19-3 tech fall in 3:08 at 114 pounds to give the Wildcats a 14-9 lead.
The Little Lions’ Jon Whitbred (9-9) used a last period reversal to come away with a 2-0 decision over Collin Bauman (15-12) at 121 pounds. Wildcat sophomore Luke Garman (16-13) was leading 6-1 in the final period at 127, when he got caught in a cradle and was almost pinned, but was able to get a reversal and come away with an 8-5 decision over Mason Sanderson (2-4).
Leading 17-12, the Wildcats won three straight bouts, as Aiden Kunes (28-6) pinned Jonathan Coates in 57 seconds of the second period at 133 and then fellow sophomore Patrick Tarantella (26-12) held on for a 5-4 decision win over Nick Berrena (6-13), as both wrestlers end up in the neutral position.
Dalton Perry (29-2) then led 9-2 before pinning Sam Davidson (3-14) in 1:15 of the second period to bump the Wildcats’ lead to 32-12 and with just three bouts to go, locked up the dual meet for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats forfeited 152 pounds to the Little Lions’ James Whitbred (11-3) at 152 pounds and bumped Luke Ananea (25-8) up to 160, where he took down and pinned the Little Lions’ Xavier Zeruth in 47 seconds of the first period to make it 38-18. The Little Lions then chose to forfeit to Dalton McDermott (17-10) at 172 and that set the final at 44-18.
