Mountain Lions fall in semifinals

TYRONE - The Altoona Area High School wrestling team went up against state and national power Central Mountain Tuesday night in the District 6 Class AAA Team Dual semifinals at Tyrone Area High School, and in a matter of seconds, literally, it was over.

Starting at 135, Central Mountain picked up four straight pins, all in less than 37 seconds, en route to a 66-11 win over the Mountain Lions. Central Mountain took on Bellefonte in the finals where it won, 56-14. Bellefonte had downed State College, 28-26, in the other semifinal matchup.

Altoona goes back to its regular-season schedule on Thursday when it hosts DuBois.

"I think our kids went out there and wrestled hard. They went after them, but you're talking about some of the top caliber kids in the country and in the state of Pennsylvania," Altoona coach Joel Gilbert said.

Altoona picked up two wins. At 103, T.J. Brandt picked up a 20-5 technical fall over Logan Bechdel in 3:55 to start the night. The Mountain Lions didn't get another win until 189 when K.J. Walters got a forfeit victory.

103-Brandt, A, tech. fall Bechdel, 20-5 (3:55). 112-Hanley, CM, won by forfeit. 119-Miller, CM, won by forfeit. 125-Vannoy, CM, dec. Hines, 2-0. 130-Gavlock, CM, dec. Myers, 5-0. 135-Rich, CM, pinned Pennington, :36. 140-Brill, CM, pinned Lesniak, :31. 145-A. Alton, CM, pinned Kyle, :22.

152-D. Alton, CM, pinned McCarthy, :24. 160-Buckwalter, CM, pinned Beck, 1:21. 171-Caprio, CM, pinned Baranik, 1:28. 189-Walters, A, won by forfeit. 215-Dolan, CM, pinned Davis, :20. 285-Corl, CM, pinned Luciano, 2:28.

Records: Altoona (11-11), Central Mountain (13-0).

BG stays unbeaten

The Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic ice hockey team improved to 11-0-2 Monday night with a 5-1 win over Richland in high school action at Galactic Ice.

The Marauders broke a scoreless tie with three goals in the second period, courtesy of Seth Barrett, Nate Antesberger and Jack Wagner. Buddy Hocutt and Josh Porta made it 5-0 in the third period before the Rams (5-2-2) even got on the board.

Marauder goalie Kody Krepps stopped 21 of 22 shots. Guilfoyle is at Northern Cambria at 8:20 p.m. on Thursday.

SCORE BY PERIODS

Richland0 0 1 - 1

Bishop Guilfoyle 0 3 2 - 5

SCORING SEQUENCE

SECOND PERIOD: BG-Antesberger (Hocutt and S. Barrett, 5:26; BG-B. Barrett (unassisted), 5:14; BG-Wagner (Glass and Lynn), 3:28.

THIRD PERIOD: BG-Hocutt (Laird), 10:18; BG-Porta (S. Barrett); R-Moran (Patula and Raco), 3:25.

Goalies: R-Dunn 18-13; Sherman 6-6; BG-Krepps 22-21.

Records: Richland (5-2-2); Bishop Guilfoyle (11-0-2)

Central names coach

MARTINSBURG - The Spring Cove School District recently named Mark Steele of Martinsburg as the Central High School head boys volleyball coach.

Steele replaced Jeremy Hart, who had previously resigned. Steele was appointed coach at the monthly school board meeting held Monday.

Steele played at Central before playing Division I volleyball for St. Francis University.

"I am very glad for both Mark and Central High School,'' SFU coach Mike Rumbaugh said. "Mark's energy should help revive the program. Mark is a natural coach and teacher of the game and will be a great role model for these young student athletes."

Steele completed his first season this past fall as the Lady Dragons head coach with a 10-9 record and an appearance in the first round of the district playoffs.

BC adds to staff

EBENSBURG - Bishop Carroll High School baseball manager Matt Pfeil has hired assistant coaches Casey Long, Ben Watkins and Paul Pentz.

Long is a 2001 graduate from Greater Johnstown High School and a 2007 graduate from the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown.

Pitching coach Watkins was selected by the New York Yankees in the 40th round of 2009 the amateur entry draft. Watkins had a breakout year as a senior pitcher for UPJ last year.

Catching coach Pentz, a 2007 graduate of UPJ, was named 2007 UPJ Scholar Athlete of the Year.

Hartsock defends title

John Hartsock defended his title in the Altoona Mirror's Fearless Football Forecast, winning the 2009 contest in a landslide over his fellow Mirror sports staff colleagues.

Hartsock won by a 12-game spread. Hartsock correctly picked the winner in 331 of the 450 high school, college and NFL games over the 15-week contest period.

Philip Cmor finished second (319-131), followed by Mike Boytim (318-132), Todd Irwin (309-141), Cory Giger (307-143), Scott Franco (305-145) and Buck Frank (304-146).

The 15 total guest pickers combined for a composite score of 275-175. Any individual interested in becoming a guest picker for the 2010 Mirror Fearless Football Forecast should email their name, phone number and picture (if possible) to sundayboard@altoonamirror.com.