Wildcat Balance Trumps Mifflin County in December Showdown
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – Mifflin County had its nucleus of state-ranked wrestlers but Central Mountain had balance and that proved to be the difference in the Wildcats’ pulsating, come-from-behind 37-32 win over the visiting Huskies Saturday night.
It was a dual meet that saw five lead changes before the Wildcat upper-weights swept the final three bouts to turn a 32-22 deficit into a 37-32 win.
Mifflin County had trailed 22-10 when the dual meet hit the Huskies’ strength beginning at 152 pounds. Falls from Hayden Hidlay, Trent Hidlay and Noah Stewart turned that 12 point deficit into a 28-22 lead and when Husky veteran Brandon Wilson picked up a major the score was 32-22 with three bouts remaining.
The Wildcats would take those final three convincingly to the post the win. Isaac Porter started the comeback with a first period fall over Austin Haubrick who was filling in for injured Husky state place-winner Trey Hartsock. Hunter Weaver followed with a second period fall over Christian Smith to put Central Mountain back up 34-32. Teammate Bryce Bitner clinched the victory with a solid 6-0 win over Gavin Erb, sending the partisan home crowd into a frenzy and the Mifflin County fans towards the exits.
The win did not come easily. It took a three-bout run by three Wildcat sophomores to help turn a 10-9 hole into an 18-10 lead. Seth Andrus and Logan Long won regular decisions and Asher Corl picked up a huge pin in just 52 seconds. When junior Colton Weaver followed with a major, it was 22-10 the Wildcats and the stage was set for the Mifflin County four-bout run followed by Central Mountain’s concluding three-bout sweep.
Junior Geo Barzona was the other Wildcat winner, picking up a first period pin at 113 pounds. The Wildcats won 8 of the 14 bouts and had a 14-8 edge in takedowns.
The Wildcats wrestled without junior Caleb Turner at 170 pounds; he is week-to-week with a mid-section injury. Mifflin County, in addition to Hartsock, was without Jonah Kyle and Noah Myers, the latter yet to wrestle this year because of injury.
The two teams could very well meet again in early February at the District 6 team duals in Tyrone. The win left the Wildcats at 1-0, the loss put Mifflin County at 6-2. Central Mountain’s next action will be next Tuesday at Bald Eagle Area.
The Wildcat junior high team won its opener over their MC counterparts by a score of 61-30.
If you missed attending the match or our live video stream of all the action and post match comments from coach Walizer, click here: Huskies and Wildcats Wrestling Live Video Stream to view the archived video.
| Dec. 19, 2015 | TOTAL |
| MIFFLINBURG | 32 |
| CENTRAL MOUNTAIN | 37 |
106 – Christian Fisher, Mifflin County, major dec. Dalton Bechdel, Central Mountain, 9-0.
113 – Geo Barzona, Central Mountain, pinned Andrew Weaver, Mifflin County, 1:26.
120 – Joey Taptich, Mifflin County, pinned Cody Coleman, Central Mountain, 1:19.
126 – Seth Andrus, Central Mountain, dec. Kyle Smith, Mifflin County, 5-2
132 – Logan Long, Central Mountain, dec Logan Wise, Mifflin County, 6-2.
138 – Asher Corl, Central Mountain, pinned Kirchhoff, Mifflin County, 0:52.
145 – Colton Weaver, Central Mountain, maj dec Brandon Fultz, Mifflin County, 13-5
152 – Hayden Hidlay, Mifflin County, pinned Tanner Weaver, Central Mountain, 1:36
160 – Trent Hidlay, Mifflin County, pinned Brandon Miller, 3:25.
170 – Noah Stewart, Mifflin County, pinned Andrew Petruzzi, Central Mountain, 0:57
182 – Brandon Wilson, Mifflin County, maj dec Greg Stahl, Central Mountain, 11-2.
195 – Isaac Porter, Central Mountain, pinned Austin Haubrick, Mifflin County, 1:14.
220 – Hunter Weaver, Central Mountain, pinned Smith, Mifflin County, 3:22.
285 – Bryce Bitner, Central Mountain, dec. Gavin Erb, Mifflin County, 6-0.
