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BEDFORD -- With a second-place finish at 113 pounds as a freshman last season in the District 6 Class 2A wrestling tournament, Penn Cambria's Trent Hoover established a good building block for himself.
This year as a sophomore, with more seasoning under his belt, Hoover is developing and maturing into a top-flight competitor.
Hoover added another feather to his cap Saturday night by winning the 126-pound championship in the high-profile Thomas Automotive Wrestling Tournament at the Bedford Area High School gymnasium.
Seeded third at his weight class entering the tournament, Hoover pinned second-seeded Chestnut Ridge junior Kobi Burkett in 2:57 in the semifinals before scoring an overtime takedown to defeat top-seeded Tussey Mountain senior Trevor Husick, 3-1 in overtime in the championship match.
Hoover (23-6 this season) had two falls and a technical fall in the tournament prior to the championship win.
"Trent has worked his butt off,'' Penn Cambria coach Todd Niebauer said. "He's had some losses to some real good kids this year, but he is closing the window on them. He always has a shot in his matches.
"He puts in the time, he wrestles year-round, and he's always trying to improve,'' Niebauer added. "He's one of the hardest-working wrestlers I've coached.''
With the championship match tied 1-1 and both wrestlers starting the overtime period in the neutral position, Hoover used a slick slide-by maneuver for the decisive takedown against Husick (23-3).
"I felt that he was pushing in, the slide-by was there, and I hit it,'' Hoover said of his winning shot. "It just feels great. I've put in a lot of hard work, and it's finally paying off.''
So is Hoover's patient approach on the mat this year, according to Niebauer.
"He was just super patient this entire tournament,'' Niebauer said. "I like how he's so smart in close situations. He makes sure that he's not getting himself into too much danger out there.''
Chestnut Ridge, with 268 team points and 13 placewinners --including five champions in Easton Mull (106 pounds), Brock Holderbaum (113), Calan Bollman (132), Trevor Weyandt (145), and Daniel Moore (172) -- ran away with the team title in the 31-team event, but Penn Cambria finished a very respectable seventh with 114 points and five wrestlers placing from first through eighth at their weight classes.
Braeden Oravecz placed fourth for the Panthers at 215, while Austin McCloskey (152) and Nathan Little (160) both placed sixth, and Jon Wolford finished seventh at 172.
"We've wrestled a very tough schedule this year, and we had five placers this weekend,'' Niebauer said. "I think that we really turned the corner as a team this weekend.''
Central High School junior Ty Biesinger also reached the finals at 113, but was pinned there in 1:40 by Ridge junior Holderbaum. Biesinger (18-2) was the top seed at his weight class, while Holderbaum (16-4) was seeded second.
"He had a good tournament,'' Central coach Dave Marko said of Biesinger. "He was doing a great job, and he just made a mistake, let Holderbaum underneath his arm, and the next thing you know, it's over.
"At this level, if you make a mistake, your opponent will make you pay for it,'' added Marko, whose Dragons also got a fourth-place finish from Jaxon Matthews at 132. "We approach this tournament as an information-gathering session, and we'll use whatever information we gather hereto get ready for the postseason.''
Biesinger was philosophical after the championship bout.
"I went out there and gave it my all, but sometimes when you do that, you still don't come out on top,'' Biesinger said. "Brock is a really tough opponent. I knew that coming into the match.''
Other individual placewinners from the Mirror's core coverage area Saturday included: Northern Bedford's Aaron Bowers (third at 172) and Derek Beach (eighth at 285); Claysburg-Kimmel's Cole Claycomb (sixth at 145); Central Cambria's Ethan Kubat (fourth at 189), Carter Quick (fifth at 285) and Jon Hajzus (sixth at 172), and Hunter Jones of Cambria Heights (eighth at 106).
KEY, TEAM SCORING: 1, CR--Chestnut Ridge, 268; 2, BUR--Burrell, 146; 3, A--Athens, 143.5; 4, BC--Beth-Center, 138.5; 5, NG--Northern Garrett (Md.), 118.5; 6, GR--Greenville, 116.5; 7, PC--Penn Cambria, 114; 8, HUN--Huntingdon, 108.5; 9, NEW--Newport, 100.5; 10, TM--Tussey Mountain, 88; 11, TV--Tri-Valley, 82; 12, tie, WIL--Williamson and NSC--North Schuylkill, 79.5; 14, NS--North Star and SOM--Somerset, 71; 16, E--Everett, 68; 17, CC--Central Cambria, 63; 18, MIL--Milton, 61; 19, NB--Northern Bedford, 58; 20, BB--Berlin Brothersvalley, 51.5; 21, C--Central, 45.5; 22, CT--Conemaugh Township, 44; 23, tie, SH--Southern Huntingdon and LV--Ligonier Valley, 43; 25, WG--West Greene, 42; 26, BED--Bedford, 40; 27, MEY--Meyersdale, 32; 28, CH--Cambria Heights, 21; 29, CK--Claysburg-Kimmel, 19; 30, BF--Beaver Falls, 8.5; 31, NE--Northeast, 0.
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
106--Mull, CR, pinned Wilhelm, NG, 3:18. 113--Holderbaum, CR, pinned Biesinger, C, 1:40. 120--Bradley, A, maj. dec. Hornack, BUR, 9-1; 126--Hoover, PC, dec. Husick, TM, 3-1 OT. 132--Bollman, CR, dec. McCollum, BC, 8-2. 138--J. Brenneman, NG, dec. Courtney, A, 7-1. 145--Weyandt, CR, pinned Szymanski, BUR, 2:49.
152--Berish, BC, dec. Rude, A, 3-0. 160--Smith, NEW, dec. L. Moore, CR, 3-1. 172--D. Moore, CR, dec. Holmes, SOM, 4-1. 189--Karpinski, GR, dec. Scheib, TV, 5-0. 215--Sipps, WIL, dec. Hale, BED, 3-2. 285--Sottolano, WIL, dec. Watkins, TM, 3-1.
THIRD-PLACE MATCHES
106--Frazier, NS, dec. Polcha, NEW, 5-0. 113--Zanella, BUR, dec. Burns, WG, 5-4. 120--Dull, CR, dec. Donaldson, MEY, 5-0. 126--Burkett, CR, pinned C. Brenneman, NG, 2:05. 132--Setzer, A, pinned Matthews, C, 3:25. 138--Lacinksi, BUR, dec. R. Harbert, LV, 6-0. 145--Kneeland, GR, pinned Grubb, HUN, :30.
152--Moyer, CR, pinned Masood, TM, :58. 160--Pettit, BC, dec. Cohenour, SH, 10-8 OT. 172--Bowers, NB, dec. Grove, E, 11-4. 189--Mathias, BB, dec. Kubat, CC, 7-2. 215--Boylan, BUR, maj. dec. Oravecz, PC, 14-1. 285--Rauch, MIL, pinned Singleton, HUN, 2:46.
FIFTH-PLACE MATCHES
106--Gilgore, NSC, dec. Bridge, SOM, 10-8. 113--Yocum, HUN, maj. dec. Mills, E, 9-0. 120--Stepp, BC, pinned Hawkins, CT, 2:06. 126--Porter, GR, dec. Sherwood, E, 6-1. 132--Ferra, BUR, dec. Baker, SOM, 3-1 OT. 138--Weist, TM, dec. Albright, CR, 2-0. 145--Debnar, BC, won by medical forfeit over Claycomb, CK.
152--Robertson, GR, pinned McCloskey, PC, 3:39. 160--Hemminger, SOM, pinned Little, PC, 2:08. 172--Layhue, BC, pinned Hajzus, CC, 2:46. 189--Clark, BUR, won by medical forfeit over Calvin, GR. 215--Schwartz, TV, pinned Hagans, SOM, 3:58. 285--Quick, CC, dec. Nittenger, A, 2-0 OT.
SEVENTH-PLACE MATCHES
106--Simpson, HUN, dec. Jones, CH, 9-7 OT. 113--Casey, NSC, dec. Beitzel, NG, 7-0. 120--Ickes, CR, pinned Slotterbeck, NSC, 3:36. 126--Miller, NS, dec. Dunsmore, HUN, 9-7. 132--Lilly, BF, dec. J. Harbert, LV, 7-6. 138--Lawler, NEW, pinned Smith, WG, 2:38. 145--Tretter, NS, dec. Degiglio, NEW, 5-1.
152--Springer, GR, dec. Cooney, NS, 4-2. 160--Hoffman, MIL, dec. Riggleman, CR, 3-2. 172--Wolford, PC, pinned Allgeier, TV, 2:34. 189--Presnell, CR, pinned Miller, HUN, 4:01. 215--Nason, A, dec. Hart, SH, 9-7. 285--Lingenfelter, BED, pinned Beach, NB, 4:06.