Eagles, Mounties wrestling with the new normal
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TYRONE -- Tyrone and Philipsburg-Osceola met up on the wrestling mat in one of the first local wrestling dual meets of the Coronavirus Pandemic era on Thursday night at Tyrone.
They did so wearing masks while they wrestled in front of only Tyrone family members who signed a COVID-19 waiver to enter the gymnasium before cheering the Golden Eagles to a 42-25 win. Fans from both schools were able to watch online.
Wrestlers from both teams sat wearing masks on one side of the gym in front of folded up bleachers. They did shake hands before and after they wrestled at their individual weights classes. The PIAA, of course, cut the weights from 14 to 13 in the offseason.
Mask wearing while wrestling is up to the schools. Tyrone coach Terry Tate, who isn't a fan of wearing masks while wrestling, said Mountain League teams are wearing masks this season.
"The biggest thing is the masks," Tyrone coach Terry Tate said. "My kids said they were breathing in their own air and getting dizzy from all the hot air and everything. It's the lesser of two evils to wear a mask while you're wrestling, I guess. That's my opinion.
"I think the masks have to go while they're competing. It's already a sport that relies heavily on conditioning, and to add this to it is sort of insane in my opinion."
"It's been interesting," said P-O coach Brad Pataky, who team opened the season Saturday with a 51-15 loss to DuBois. "It's going to continue to get interesting. We just try to tell our kids to always be ready. We may go into the postseason being forced to wear masks by the PIAA. If that's what we do, that's what we do."
It was quiet for much of the meet with few fans in the stands, which was good for coaches being able to shout instructions but bad for firing the wrestlers up.
"The no fans thing honestly is a bummer," Tyrone returning state placewinner Hunter Walk said. "It's really sad to see, especially being a senior. If there are zero people out there or 1,000, I'm still going to go out there and wrestle the same. We're wrestling for each other, not necessarily the fans this year."
The most anticipated bout of the night came at 215 between P-O's Parker Moore, who was a Southwest Regional champ and state sixth-placer last season at 195, and Alex Weaver, a regional eighth-placer at 170.
Moore ended earning a 12-7 decision, but he almost got pinned. He was up 9-2 in the third when Weaver took him down to his back for a five-point move. But Moore escaped and got a takedown at the buzzer.
"Alex is up a couple weight classes, and he's getting used to the weight and the strength," Tate said. "I think he wrestled Parker pretty well. Parker is so good at staying in position and knowing where he's at on the wrestling mat. Alex tried to throw him a couple times and Parker knew it was coming."
"Parker is comfortable in many positions," Pataky said. "There's no position where you can't count him out. Great effort overall."
The Mounties forfeited four weights, with Tyrone's Tommy Hicks (189), Remington Fleck (106), Korry Walls (113) and Dom Maloney (145) winning by forfeit.
P-O's Jimmy Richtscheit (160) and Nick Coudriet (126) were both trailing in their bouts when they recorded pins. Teammate Hunter Weitoish (172), who placed eighth at states last year, won by fall. Tyrone freshman 285-pounder Braden Ewing eked out a 1-0 win over Dominic Shaw.
Walk was tested by promising freshman Marcus Gable. Walk led 2-0 going into the third period, where he escaped, scored a takedown and got a stalling point for a 6-0 win.
"I think I wrestled pretty good," Walk said. "It was the first match of the year, and that's always a good indicator on what you need to work on. One thing for me is opening my top game a little more."
His brother Lukas, a freshman 132-pounder, debuted with a first-period pin to give the Eagles a 30-21 lead.
"Lucas looked really good," Tate said. "Lucas is a tough kid. He's fun to watch. It's nice to have him and his brother on the team and watch them in the practice room together because it's entertaining."
P-O's Austin Foster followed with a 14-2 major decision over Andrew Weaver at 138. Tyrone sophomore Reese Wood closed the meet with a pin in 3:19.
"I think we wrestled pretty well," Tate said. "There were a few matches where we made some mistakes, and it cost us the match on the scoreboard. All in all for the first match, I think we looked pretty good. A lot of our young guys looked pretty good, so that was encouraging.
"I think Philipsburg as a whole wrestled really well. They came out and wrestled really hard. You don't expect anything less of Brad's team. It was a fun match."
Both teams will see each other again on Saturday in a quad meet at Bellefonte.
160--Richtscheit, PO, pinned Myers, 4:25; 172--Weitoish, PO, pinned Lash, 1:49; 189--Hicks, T, won by forfeit; 215--Moore, PO, dec. Al. Weaver, 12-7; 285--Ewing, T, dec. Shaw, 1-0; 106--Fleck, T, won by forfeit; 113--Walls, T, won by forfeit.
120--H. Walk, T, dec. Gable, 6-0; 126--Coudriet, PO, pinned Sipes, 3:59; 132--L. Walk, T, pinned Gustkey, 1:35; 138--Foser, PO, maj. dec. An. Weaver, 14-2; 145--Maloney, T, won by forfeit; 152--Wood, T, pinned Hughes, 3:19.
Records: Philipsburg-Osceola (0-2), Tyrone (1-0)
Referee: Jeff Beach