CM’s outstanding dual meet season ends with loss to Central Dauphin
HERSHEY, PA – Central Mountain head wrestling coach Biff Walizer had nothing but praise for his Wildcat wrestling team which saw the dual meet portion of its schedule come to an end in a 33-23 loss to Central Dauphin Saturday morning.
The Wildcats finished their dual meet schedule with a 10-2 mark, taking nail-biter after nail-biter to advance to the PIAA AAA team duals semifinal round before losing to eventual champion Bethlehem Catholic, 53-3, then losing Saturday in the consolation semifinals to eventual third place finisher Central Dauphin.
But coach Walizer talked shortly afterwards as to how proud he was of his team: “It’s nice when you perform better than most people and the rankings think you will. It was a great experience for the team. The coaching staff is very proud of these student-athletes and the way they represented Central Mountain High School.”
In the Saturday dual with District 3 champion Central Dauphin, the Wildcats stayed close until the end. The match started at 121 pounds and CM was down 22-11 after 160. But Jacob Weaver, Rocco Serafini, Giovanni Tarantella and Brayden Blackwell all picked up decision wins to put the Wildcats up 23-22 with two bouts to go. But the Ram lightweights took both of those to set the final at 33-23. (CD would go on and win third place with a 36-31 victory over Canon-McMillan).
Other Wildcat winners were Luke Simcox with a fall at 133 pounds and Dalton Perry with a 20-5 technical fall at 139. The Rams took two close bouts at 145 and 152, Matt Repos over Griffin Walizer, 3-1 in sudden victory, and Mike Beers, 3-1 over the Wildcats’ Braylen Corter.
Central Mountain will be off until Saturday, Feb. 18 when it participates in the six-team District 6 AAA individual tournament at the Altoona Field House. The Wildcats are expected to battle State College and Mifflin County for the title.
Bethlehem Catholic won its second straight PIAA dual meet championship with a 35-23 win over District 11 rival Nazareth.
CENTRAL DAUPHIN 33, CENTRAL MOUNTAIN 23
121Clayton Ferree (Central Dauphin) F Jaggar Pardoe (Central Mountain), 1:55
127William Flanagan (Central Dauphin) MD Carnell Noone (Central Mountain), 10-2
133Luke Simcox (Central Mountain) F Dallas Schorr (Central Dauphin), 4:49
139Dalton Perry (Central Mountain) TF Gavin Reynolds (Central Dauphin), 20-5 4:46
145Matt Repos (Central Dauphin) DEC Griffin Walizer (Central Mountain), 3-1 SV
152Mike Beers (Central Dauphin) DEC Braylen Corter (Central Mountain), 3-1
160Ryan Garvick (Central Dauphin) F Gino Serafini (Central Mountain), 2:41
172Jacob Weaver (Central Mountain) DEC Arthur Ruud (Central Dauphin), 5-1
189Rocco Serafini (Central Mountain) DEC Eli Poyer (Central Dauphin), 13-8
215Brayden Blackwell (Central Mountain) DEC Luke Nye (Central Dauphin), 5-4
285Giovanni Tarentella (Central Mountain) DEC Kaiden Palmer (Central Dauphin), 2-0
107Thunder Beard (Central Dauphin) F Caden Stoner (Central Mountain), 3:47
114Luke Hitchcock (Central Dauphin) F Collin Bauman (Central Mountain), 0:34
