EBENSBURG - Chestnut Ridge has a big home District 5 wrestling match with Berlin Brothersvalley tonight. Berlin is coming off an upset of District 5 power Somerset.
First, though, the Lions, which went 7-3 at the Chambersburg Duals over the weekend, had to focus on Central Cambria Tuesday night, and focus they did.
Ridge recorded seven pins, including six in the first period, bolted out to a 26-point lead halfway through and beat the Red Devils, 57-16.
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"We had some talk in the room about we've to make sure we keep our focus and intensity," Ridge coach Greg Lazor said. "We don't want anything to drop, so we keep carrying what we did this past weekend into this. Hopefully, we did that tonight."
Central Cambria coach Bob Nikolishen was impressed with Ridge (12-4), and he talked about how hard it is to wrestle CR.
"It would be like blowing up a tractor trailer tire with a bicycle pump," said Nikolishen, whose team fell to 3-6. "It's just a tough job. They're just fundamentally equipped. I didn't expect anything less than that."
Teddy Albright got Ridge off on the right foot with a pin of Brad Zeman in 41 seconds at 152, but Tony Risaliti (12-1), No. 1 in the Mirror rankings, earned CC's only win in the first eight weights - a 16-2 major decision of Bradie Bollman at 160.
At 170, Kavan Holderbaum built a 4-0 lead on Cody Slebodnick, but the Slebodnick responded with a reversal in the second and in the third to draw within one, 5-4. But Slebodnick was penalized for a full nelson, and Holderbaum reversed to win, 8-4.
"Kavan has been wrestling good all year," Lazor said. "I thought he wrestled well against a good that was awfully stronger than him."
After top-ranked Tyler Dibert (12-3) pinned Calvin Crow at 182, Dan Albright (13-3) pinned Jordan O'Farrell in 1:31 at 195.
"Dan's getting better and better," Lazor said. "He's always battling for us, getting pretty good with some of those takedowns he's been working, and I'm real impressed with the improvements he's made in a couple years."
Luke Fochtman (13-2) took Luke Zearing down with 3 seconds left at 220 to break a tie and win, 3-2. Ridge 285-pounder Austin Buttry (14-2) put Evan Sokira on his back in a scoreless bout and pinned him in 3:20.
After Dustin Ickes won by forfeit at 106, Lazor bumped Sam Shank, Derrick Claar and Colby Hillegass up a weight and gave a bumped up Trent Crouse the night off.
CC sophomore Brad Taylor took advantage of his size advantage by decking Shank in 1:35.
"Brad Taylor is a little machine," Nikolishen said. "He takes the game very seriously, and he follows every move with Ben [Rager] and Tony, and you can see he wants to take over this team some day."
Claar used a first-period takedown of Cameron Long and a second-period two-point nearfall to win, 4-1, at 120. Zach Etterman stayed at 126 and double-arm barred Coltin Makin to his back for the fall in 56 seconds.
CC's top-ranked 132-pounder Rager (13-0) pinned Hillegass in 1:13, but the Lions closed the meet with falls from Shane Pfaunmiller (12-4) and Kyle Winegardner at 138 and 145, respectively.
"We came out aggressive," Lazor said. "We learned some things from this past weekend wrestling some very tough duals."
The Lions are looking forward to tonight's match.
"I think it's going to be a barnburner," Lazor said. "District 5 is very solid this year from one through five or six teams. We'll have to wrestle hard and smart.
152-T. Albright, CR, pinned Zeman, :41; 160-Risaliti, CC, maj. dec. Bollman, 16-2; 170-Holderbaum, CR, dec. Slebodnick, 8-4; 182-Dibert, CR, pinned Crow, 1:05; 195-D. Albright, CR, pinned O'Farrell, 1:31; 220-Fochtman, CR, dec. Zearing, 3-2; 285-Buttry, CR, pinned Sokira, 3:20.
106-Ickes, CR, won by forfeit; 113-Taylor, CC, pinned Shank, 1:35; 120-Claar, CR, dec. Long, 4-1; 126-Etterman, CR, pinned Makin, :56; 132-Rager, CC, pinned Hillegass, 1:13; 138-Pfaunmiller, CR, pinned Kline, 1:21; 145-Winegardner, CR, pinned Bednar, 1:47
Records: Chestnut Ridge (12-4); Central Cambria (3-6).
JV winner: Bence, CR
