Mid-State wrestling showdown: Southern Columbia 43, Central Mountain 18
BALD EAGLE TOWNSHIP, PA – Southern Columbia won the early toss-ups and used firepower later on to down Central Mountain by a 43-18 count in a Saturday matchup of two 10-0 teams.
Both the Tigers and the Wildcats breezed to the finale, each sweeping two earlier matches at the Central Mountain Wrestling Booster Club Quadrangular, setting up the showdown.
Southern Columbia set the tempo early in the dual which started at 138 pounds, taking two 1-pointers and a 2-pointer to jump to an early 9-0. The Tigers’ Ian Yoder and the ‘Cats’ Taylor Weaver went round-and-round, Weaver falling 8-7 after a late rally fell short. At 145 SC’s Patrick Edmonson edged Griffin Walizer, 6-5, and Tiger Brandon Gedmen made a second period escape and takedown stand-up for a 4-2 win over Rocco Serafini.
Southern Columbia then used a major decision and two first period falls to open a 25-0 lead before Central Mountain could get on the scoreboard. Wildcat Nik Miller opened a 16-4 lead at 215 pounds before winning on disqualification over Colin Sharrow and Gage Sutliff, getting the call at heavyweight, decked Chris Treshock in the first period to make it 25-12 for the visitors eight bouts in.
The Tigers put the dual away with first period falls in the first three lightweight bouts, then the Wildcats closed with two tight wins, Luke Simcox by a 1-0 score over Kole Briscoe at 126 and a 3-1 decision from Gino Serafini over Garrett Krebs at 132, putting the final at 43-18, Southern Columbia.
Wildcat Coach Biff Walizer was complimentary towards Southern Columbia, a longstanding state AA power. He said the Wildcats knew it was “a tall order,” with this year’s Wildcat configuration seeing a number of its middleweights wrestling up a weight. He said his team will only benefit from wrestling strong new foes on the schedule this year, this past Thursday at Montoursville and Saturday’s meet with Southern Columbia.
Walizer said it tells the team areas where improvement is needed; he noted too that the Tigers were “more physical in some places.” The Wildcats surrendered an un-characteristic five pins, all in the first period.
Three Wildcats went 3-0 on the day in Simcox (15-2), Gino Serafini (13-4) and Nik Miller (15-5). Additionally, Central Mountain used three different heavyweights, Cyrus McCarl, Anton Stratts and Gage Sutliff, and all three recorded first period pins.
Central Mountain won its earlier matches, 56-13 over Milton, and 48-13 over DuBois. Southern Columbia beat Milton, 56-9, and DuBois, 50-3.
The Wildcats are now 10-1 and travel to Clearfield (11-3) on Monday.
Southern Columbia 43, Central Mountain 15
138: Ian Yoder (SC) dec. Taylor Weaver, 8-7
145: Patrick Edmonson (SC) dec. Griffin Walizer, 6-5
152: Brandon Gedman (SC) dec. Rocco Serafini, 4-2
160: Garrett Garcia (SC) MD over Damien Galentine, 11-3
172: Gavin Garcia (SC) fall, 0:17 over Lucas Porter
189: Wesley Barners (SC) fall, 1:01 over Caleb Porter
215: Nik Miller (CM) disq., 5:55 over Colin Sharrow
285: Gage Sutliff (CM) fall, 0:50 over Chris Treshock
106: Gaege Fronk (SC) fall, 1:25 over Clayton Foster
113: Brady Feese (SC) fall, 0:26 over Madison Packer
120: Toren Cooper (SC) fall, 1:37 over Zane Cooper
126: Luke Simcox (CM) dec. Kole Briscoe, 1-0
132: Gino Serafini (CM) dec. Garrett Krebs, 3-1
Central Mountain, 56, Milton 13
132: Gino Serafini (CM) fall, 5:09 over Aiden Keiser
138: Taylor Weaver (CM) forfeit
145: Kyler Crawford (M) MD over Griffin Walizer, 10-2
152: Chase Hoffman (M) dec. Rocco Serafini, 10-3
160: Damien Galentine (CM) fall, 4:37 over Alex Hoffman
172: Jason Valladares (M) fall, 2:27 over Caleb Porter
189: Brayden Blackwell (CM) MD over Avun Ayala, 12-2
215: Nik Miller (CM) 13-5 MD over Nathan Rauch
285: Anton Stratts (CM) fall, 1:00 over Paul Rohland
106: Madison Packer (CM) forfeit
113: Clayton Foster (CM) forfeit
120: Zane Cooper (CM) fall, 0:38 over Ryan Burkhart
126: Luke Simcox (CM) fall, 1:59 over Quinn Keister
Central Mountain 48, DuBois 13
126: Luke Simcox (CM) fall, 4:23 over Brendan Orr
132: Gino Serafini (CM) dec. 7-1 over Cadin Delaney
138: Taylor Weaver (CM) dec. Chandler Ho, 5-3
145: Griffin Walizer (CM) fall, 3:00 over Austin Mitchell
152: Rocco Serafini (CM) fall, 1:32 over Andrea Wilmoth
160: Damien Galentine (CM) dec. Jake Krauss, 2-1
172: Caleb Porter (CM) dec. Ryan Gildersleeve, 5-4
189: Ryan White (D) MD over Brayden Blackwell, 14-1
215: Nik Miller (CM) fall, 4:58 over Zach Gallagher
285: Cyrus McCarl (CM) fall, 0:30 over JaReese Stowe
106: Madison Packer (CM) fall, 3:03 over Aubree Donahue
113: Kam Stevenson (D) fall, 2:23 over Clayton Foster
120: Davey Aughenbaugh (D) dec. Zane Cooper, 6-0
