WILDCAT GRAPPLERS LOOK TO RELOAD FOR 2025-26 SEASON

By Joseph Walker

MILL HALL – Winter’s cold weather is almost here and with that change of season, it means wrestling season is beginning and for the grapplers of Central Mountain High School it has the makings of another successful wrestling season for the Wildcats. The Wildcats have never had a losing dual meet record and the 2025-26 season looks to continue that streak.
“We have a lot of experience back for this season, it will be just a matter of getting some of them into separate weights, as we do have a bunch of guys back in the 133 thru 145 weight classes. We brought up a couple of ninth graders to help fill the 107 and 114 spots, but they are very capable of showing that they belong there,” commented Wildcat head coach Biff Walizer.
“We have some real good numbers on the roster and we have kids that wrestled limited varsity duals last season, but did get into some of the tournaments and they are pushing the guys that were regulars last season and that gives us depth and the opportunity to shuffle our line-up during dual meets when we need to,” added Walizer
“We will not be going to the Mid-Winter Mayhem tournament this year, as our Heartland Conference championships are the same weekend and we have to wrestle in that. That tournament doesn’t count against our competition points, so we got into the Penn Manor
Holiday Tournament. There are around 40 teams in that one and there are teams from out of state as well so we may get to wrestle kids that we do not see during the regular season,” added Walizer.
The Wildcats lost standouts Dalton Perry, Luke Ananea, Bruce Brungard and Jacob Weaver from last seasons’ squad, but return 10 starters and a host of wrestlers that received a lot of varsity experience from last seasons’ squad that posted a 14-2 dual meet record and captured their third straight District 6 team duals championship.
“District 6 is going to be tough again this season, as Altoona, State College and Mifflin County will all be tough again. Hollidaysburg has some tough young kids back this season and Bellefonte is back into the Class AAA level this year,” state Walizer.
Wildcat head coach Biff Walizer welcomes 29 wrestlers to this seasons’ squad including returning seniors Collin Bauman (21-19 last season), Dalton McDermott (20-15), Jaggar Pardoe (3-6), Jacob Nyman (7-8), Hayes Miller and Hunter Donley returns to the squad after missing last season due to injury, but was 21-14 as a sophomore. Seniors Josiah Allert and Jaden Curtis are senior newcomers on this years’ squad.
Juniors Cael Dorman (14-14), Gavin Heverly (31-11), Aiden Kunes (38-12), Luke Garman (17-15) and Patrick Tarantella (32-15) all saw regular duty last season. Tarantella won a district title, while Heverly and Kunes were district runner-ups last season. Returning juniors Brody Hockenberry and Brennan Rice are joined by junior newcomers Alton Counsil and Landry Miller.
The Sophomore class is led by District 6 runner up Hayes Henry (13-20) at 285, who is joined by Hayes Donley (13-10), Dakoda Packer (9-14), Tanner McCall (2-4) and Todd Caris (5-6).
Sophomores up from last year’s junior high squad are Ashton Falls, Jonathan Nyman, Thomas Tarantella and Walker Sylvan. Tarantella wrestled for the Bucktail junior high squad.
Three freshmen will compete on the varsity squad this year, as Hayden Hanley, Hunter Nace and Angelo Tarantella will all be welcome additions to compete at the lower weights for the Wildcats. Hanley and Nace both wrestled for the Wildcat junior high, while Tarantella was also on the Bucktail junior high squad and younger brother of Patrick Tartantella.
Head Coach Biff Walizer is entering his 11th season leading the Wildcats and has compiled a 127-22 record overall and a 50-2 record in the Heartland Conference. This will be Walizers’ 22 season as a high school head coach, as he previously was head coach for 11 seasons at Red Lion High School and has an overall career mark of 266-87 heading into this coming season. Walizer also served three years as an assistant at Millersville University.
Walizer served as an assistant to former Wildcat head coach Doug Buckwalter, but they flipped position and “Bucky” has been Walizer’s assistant the last 11 years. Buckwalter had a 186-31 record as Wildcat head coach, thus the duo has guided the Wildcats to a 313-53 mark over the past 22 seasons.
Joining Buckwalter as assistants are Steve Krouse, Mike Brown, Griffin Walizer and Dylan Caprio, as Caprio also is head coach of the Lady Wildcats squad. The Junior High squad will again be led by head coach Owen Wilkinson.
The Wildcats will again open their season at the Tom Best Top Hat Memorial Tournament in Williamsport on Friday and Saturday, December 5th and 6th. There will be 23 teams in the field, as joining the Wildcats are Central York, Clearfield, Conestoga Valley, Connellsville, Cumberland Valley, Daniel Boone, Derry Area, Emmaus, Halifax, Hazelton, Hempfield (Dist 7), Jersey Shore, Line Mountain, Mid Valley, Mifflinburg, Palisades, Saucon Valley, Scranton, Southwestern, Titusville, Tri-Valley and the host Williamsport.
They will open their dual meet season on Tuesday December 9th at home with the Mifflin County Huskies. They will comeback on Thursday December 11th and host the Braves of Shikellamy. They will again host the big King of The Mountain Tournament on December 19th and 20th to round out the month.
As mentioned earlier the Wildcats will be in the Penn Manor Holiday Tournament on December 12-13th at Penn Manor High School in Millersville. The Penn Manor Tournament also runs a JV Tournament along with the varsity tournament.
To start off the new year on Saturday, January 3rd with another new addition to the schedule, as they will be at the Rage in the Cage Duals Tournament at Garnet Valley High School in Glen Mills outside Philadelphia. This Duals tournament replaces the Coudersport Duals from lastyear.
On Saturday, January 10th, the Wildcats will be in the Heartland Conference Championships Tournament at Bloomsburg University. The tournament has all 19 members of the Heartland Conference, both AA and AAA entered in the event.