Wildcats Down Bald Eagle Area on Historic Night

BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP – The Lock Haven/Mill Hall area’s strong wrestling heritage was honored Friday night when the undefeated teams from Bald Eagle-Nittany, four of them, and Lock Haven High, one of those, were recognized before the annual Central Mountain – Bald Eagle Area dual meet.

Central Mountain did the members of those outstanding squads proud when the Wildcats proceeded to down BEA by a resounding 58-9 score. The victory avenged an Eagle 39-33 win a year ago.

The win left the Wildcats at 3-0 and dropped BEA to 2-1. The win also left a smile on the face of Wildcat coach Biff Walizer. He called the CM performance, top to bottom, one of the best in recent years.

The dual meet started at 113 pounds and Walizer had special words of praise for his 113-pound entrant, freshman Taylor Weaver. The first-year starter drew Eagle standout Cooper Gilham who was a District 6 runner-up and a Northwest Regional fourth place finisher a year ago as a freshman.

Gilham fired up his teammates with an early 5-point move, nearly pinning Weaver in the first period. Weaver trailed 8-0 midway through period two until a late reversal. Gilham started with a third period escape for a 9-2 lead when Weaver head-locked and pinned him at the 0:42 mark. The partisan, near capacity crowd went wild and the Wildcats were off and winging to a 31-0 lead before the Eagles dented the dual meet scoreboard.

Walizer was effusive in his praise of Weaver, younger brother of Hunter and Tanner Weaver, both wrestling this season at Luther College in Iowa. Walizer said, “Taylor is never out of a match, with the ability to put a guy on his back; he sees things.” Walizer said all his off-season work has paid off.

After Weaver got the Wildcats off to a 6-0 start, senior Johnny Shreffler came out in a toss-up bout against Garrett Giedroc, a wrestler who took two of three bouts from Shreffler a year ago. This night belonged to Shreffler, controlling Giedroc in period two and using a third period escape and takedown for a 3-0 win.

Five more wins would come in a row: a major from Dalton Bechdel, a regular decision from Kayden Busey, a 16-0 bout termination from Cody Coleman, a first period pin from Lane Porter and a major decision from Alonzo Henry. Eagle veteran Richard Taylor would break the string with a late escape and takedown for a 5-4 win over Caleb Porter. Central Mountain bounced back with a fall from Austin Confer at 170 before BEA veteran Dylan Bisel pinned Gage Sutliff.

Wildcat Nick Miller responded with a first period pin, setting the stage for a rematch between the Wildcats’ Tanner Riggle and BEA’s David Close. Riggle had won by a point in overtime six days ago at the King of the Mountain tournament. This time he used a third period escape and takedown for a 3-2 win. Central Mountain took the last two bouts by forfeit, Jake Edwards at 285 and Derek Keen at 106 pounds.

The Wildcat win gave the home team a 13-12 edge in the longtime series between the two close-by rivals. Central Mountain had a 24-6 edge in takedowns. The Central Mountain junior high stayed undefeated (7-0) with a 54-30 win.

Central Mountain is off until Friday and Saturday, Dec. 28 and 29, competing at the Conestoga Valley tournament in Lancaster.

BALD EAGLE AREA – 9 CENTRAL MOUNTAIN – 58
106 – Derek Keen, Central Mountain, received a forfeit.
113 – Taylor Weaver, Central Mountain, pinned Cooper Gilham, BEA, 4:42.
120 – Johnny Shreffler, Central Mountain, dec. Garret Giedroc, BEA, 3-0.
126 – Dalton Bechdel, Central Mountain, major dec. Drake Holderman, BEA, 10-2.
132 – Kayden Busey, Central Mountain, dec. Alexander Holt, BEA, 3-2.
138 – Cody Coleman, Central Mountain, tech fall Drew Koleno, BEA, 5:59 (16-0)
145 – Lane Porter, Central Mountain, pinned Noah Foltz, BEA, 1:54.
152 – Alonzo Henry, Central Mountain, major dec. Devin Kibe, BEA, 18-7.
160 – Richard Taylor, BEA, dec. Caleb Porter, Central Mountain, 5-4.
170 – Austin Confer, Central Mountain, pinned Brady Proctor, BEA, 3:38.
182 – Dylan Bisel, BEA, pinned Gage Sutliff, Central Mountain, 1:54.
195 – Nikolas Miller, Central Mountain, pinned Chandler Burns, BEA, 1:56.
220 – Tanner Riggle, Central Mountain, dec. David Close, BEA, 3-2.
285 – Jacob Edwards, Central Mountain, received a forfeit.