Wildcats Advance Five to States (Pairings Announced)
ALTOONA — Central Mountain wrestling coach Doug Buckwalter called his team’s performance at the annual Northwestern Regional Tournament a rollercoaster and said it ended on a high note when two Wildcat upper-weights pulled out their final matches to bring to five the number of CM wrestlers heading to the PIAA tourney starting next Thursday.
When the two days of wrestling ended Saturday night at the Altoona Field House the Wildcats had crowned one champion, Keanan Bottorf at 120 pounds; two seconds in Geo Barzona at 106 pounds and Gavin Caprio at 170 pounds and the two thirds produced by Isaac Porter at 182 and Loc Long at 195.
Their showing was part of an ultimate third place finish in the team race. District 6 foe Mifflin County came out on top, crowning four individual champions and piling up 140.5 points. District 10’s General McLane was next with 136.5 points, followed by the Wildcats with 127. General McLane led with seven state qualifiers, followed by CM and Mifflin County with five each.
Bottorf’s title match was one of the night’s most exciting. He piled up an early lead and held off District 10 champ Aaron Ehrgott for a 10-9 win. Bottorf, a senior, picked up his first district title last week and added his first regional crown. He’ll take a 31-7 season mark to Hershey with a current career victory total of 99.
Barzona (25-6) was edged by Altoona’s Cole Manley by a 1-0 score while ‘Toona’s D. J. Hollingshead took down Caprio (24-3) by an 11-3 score.
Porter (19-7) edged Warren’s Derick Reagle by a 3-2 score for his third place finish. Loc Long (27-10) avenged two earlier losses to Clearfield’s Travis Ogden in his state qualifying bout, including a 5-0 loss to Ogden Friday night. The two went back and forth Saturday before Long caught and pinned him in 5:28.
Jersey Shore qualified three for states: Hunter Zondory, third at 113 pounds, Hayden Swartwood, third at 152 pounds and Jake Huling, second at 220 pounds.
Bald Eagle Area crowned two champs in freshman Seth Koleno at 126 pounds and Josh Fye at heavyweight.
Pairings Announced for State Championships
HERSHEY – Pairings have been announced for the 2015 PIAA wrestling tourney starting Thursday at 4 p.m. at the Giant Center.
Central Mountain round of 16 matchups for the five Wildcats competing:
106 – Geo Barzona (NW2, soph, 25-6) vs. Job Chisko (SW2, Penn Trafford, fr, 29-8).
120 – Keanan Bottorf (NW1, sr, 31-7) vs. winner of pigtail bout between Derek Wilson (SC3, South Western, jr, 32-11) vs. Zeke Beatty (SW4, Laurel Highlands, sr, 21-9).
170 – Gavin Caprio (NW2, sr, 24-3) vs. Frank Guida (NE2, Parkland, soph, 27-9).
182 – *Isaac Porter (NW3, jr, 19-7) vs. Josh Bahr (SW4, West Allegheny, sr, 35-3).
195 – *Loc Long (NW3, sr, 27-10) vs. Steven McNeal (SC4, Central Dauphin, sr, 36-9).
* Pigtail Bout
The five Central Mountain qualifiers is the most for the Wildcats since the state championship team of 2010 advanced eight to the state tourney.
