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TYRONE -- By the end of January in most wrestling seasons, Hollidaysburg would be coming down the home stretch of the dual meet season and beginning its preparation for the postseason.
This season, delayed due to the Coronavirus pandemic, has been far from ordinary for the Golden Tigers and many other teams in the state. After opening the season in the Big 7 Tournament last weekend, the Tigers finally wrestled a dual meet Thursday night at Tyrone.
The senior night match was the sixth meet for the Terry Tate-coached Golden Eagles (3-3), who recorded four falls and three forfeit wins in a 45-16 win over the Golden Tigers.
"Tyrone wrestled great tonight," Hollidaysburg coach Christian Harr said. "Terry always has his guys ready and prepared. He always has a good group of hard-working, hard-nosed kids that like to get after it and score points. I always like coming down here."
How have the Golden Tigers remained interested in wrestling without actual competition?
"It's tough," Harr said. "You read everything about what makes wrestling fun. It's this. You're getting out to compete. We try to keep it interesting in the room, but you can't get too close and you're running in pods and outside. So you're doing everything different to keep the interest up.
"We have core values we work on, so we're doing extra things outside of wrestling. We're trying to get these kids bought into what wrestling really means, as opposed to going out and competing."
Most of the wrestlers opted to not wear masks thanks to a pre-match agreement.
Tyrone seniors Tommy Hicks (189), Alex Weaver (215), Parker Allen (285) and Hunter Walk (120) were recognized in a pre-match ceremony.
After Hicks won by fall, Weaver earned a 9-4 decision over Aaron Sleeth, who was up two weights in a lineup shift. Weaver scored five points in the third period.
"Alex looked good," Tate said. "He took a shot tonight, finished a takedown. I've been telling him he's got a good shot and can finish it. He had some confidence on his feet tonight. With Sleeth giving up some weight, Alex was able to capitalize on a couple bad shots."
Allen, Korry Walls (106) and Reese Wood (145) won by forfeit.
Walk earned his 99th career win by pinning Xavier Adams in 44 seconds. Ashton Sipes (126) and Andrew Weaver (138) also recorded pins.
Junior Nick Eppihimer got the Tigers off on the right foot with a 3-2 win over Jermaine Myers at 160.
"Nick has been wrestling for 15 months," Harr said, "so he has fast-tracked everything. I've never seen a kid gain that much from wrestling in 15 months. We were expecting big things from him tonight at 160, and he got it done."
Hollidaysburg returning state qualifier Campbell Walls moved up to 172 and earned an 11-3 major decision over Zach Lash.
Promising Hollidaysburg freshmen Noah Horne (113) and Gaige Rabenstein (132) flexed their muscles against the Eagles.
Horne won by fall in the second period, and the muscular Rabenstein earned a wild 10-7 win over Lukas Walk. Rabenstein put Walk on his back for three points late in the bout.
"Gaige fills out 132 pretty well," Harr said. "He's a pretty stocky kid. He gets after it, and he has a tank (conditioning) on him too. As the third period was dwindling down, you could see he still had the gas pedal down."
The Eagles and the Tigers both host quad meets on Saturday.
"We have a long, treacherous road ahead over the next couple weeks," Harr said. "The postseason is coming up almost too soon, but we got what we got. We know these guys are going to get a little bit better at wrestling."
152--No bout; 160--Eppihimer, H, dec. Myers, 3-2; 172--Walls, H, maj. dec. Lash, 11-3; 189--Hicks, T, pinned Schultz, 1:07; 215--Al. Weaver, T, dec. Sleeth, 9-4; 285--Allen, T, won by forfeit; 106--Walls, T, won by forfeit
113--Horne, H, pinned Fleck, 3:19; 120--H. Walk, T, pinned Adams, :44; 126--Sipes, T, pinned Praul, 3:44; 132--Rabenstein, H, dec. L. Walk, 10-7; 138--An. Weaver, T, pinned Barnes, 4:43; 145--Wood, T, won by forfeit.
Records: Hollidaysburg (0-1), Tyrone (3-3)
Referee: Aaron Gustkey