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By Todd Irwin
sports@altoonamirror.com
EBENSBURG -- The dual meets between the Penn Cambria and Central Cambria wrestling teams are usually pretty close.
The competitive nature is something the coaches, brothers Todd Niebauer of Penn Cambria Matt Niebauer of Central Cambria's relish.
But the dual meet on Thursday night at the Central Cambria gymnasium wasn't close. The Panthers turned three pins, two technical falls, three forfeit wins and a decision into a 49-12 win over the Red Devils.
So Todd Niebauer, who wrestled at Central Cambria, captured bragging rights for a year over his brother and former longtime assistant coach.
All four of Central Cambria's wins, though, were decisions decided by four points or less, which kind of stuck in Todd's craw.
"His team is absolutely coming around," Todd Niebauer said. "I don't like the little battles that we lost. We lost every close match. As a coach, you want perfection. I'm proud of my guys, but I think we made some elementary mistakes and junior high mistakes that cost us those matches.
"Matt's done a good job here. He's turned them back to their winning ways. I always love wrestling them. I know they're going to keep coming. I love where he's taking that program. It's my alma mater, so I want to see Central Cambria do well. I don't want to see them beat me, but that day is going to come."
"Some of our guys fought out some pretty nice wins," Matt Niebauer said. "But they were decisions, whereas they were getting bonus points. We knew going in that it was going to be an uphill climb."
The first of those decisions for the Red Devils (9-6) came in the opening bout at 285, where Karter Quick earned a 3-1 win over Nick Summerville. Quick made a first-period takedown and second-period escape stand up.
After Isaiah Chyr (106) and Ryan Simmons (113) won by forfeit, Central Cambria's Jacob Wilson earned a 5-2 decision over Bane Mallory at 120. Mallory led, 2-0, but Wilson took him down with 25 seconds left in the second to tie score, 2-2. Wilson escaped in the third and got a takedown with 42 seconds left.
Anthony Coukart responded with an 18-second pin at 126. PC star Trent Hoover up to 132 and received a forfeit win. At 138, Penn Cambria's Trey Talko followed with a pin in 3:22.
After PC's Drew Mardula won by fall in 1:41 at 145, his teammates, Austin McCloskey and Nathan Little combined to score 44 points in the next two bouts.
At 152, McCloskey rang up a 25-10 technical fall over Robbie Lazer in 5:30. McCloskey scored 10 takedowns en route to the technical fall.
At 160, Little went about his 19-2 technical fall over Deklan Estep differently. Little amassed 12 nearfall points in 5:17. The Panthers (10-3) led, 46-6.
"McCloskey has been wrestling for a long time," Todd said. "He's a little banged up, but he looked good. Nathan Little has only been wrestling for three years. If he had two more years under his belt, he'd be an absolute hammer."
Central Cambria's Jonathan Hajzus and PC's Jon Wolford were locked in a 1-1 tie in the third period at 172 when Hajzus took Wolford down with 26 seconds remaining. Wolford escaped with 4 seconds left, but Hajzus won, 3-2.
"I thought Jon Hajzus wrestled a smart match," Matt said. "I think he can open up a little bit more on his feet. That's a good win for Hajzus."
In the most anticipated bout of the night, Red Devil 189-pound star Ethan Kubat earned a 4-0 win over Austin Wagner. Kubat scored a first-period takedown, third-period reversal and was suffocating from the top position.
"I thought we had a good takedown in the beginning," Matt said, "and we really controlled the match. It probably wasn't the most exciting match to watch, but he did a good job controlling the match basically from start to finish."
Penn Cambria's Mason Raymond closed out the meet with an 8-3 win over Jake Wentz at 215.
It's a good night when you beat your rival.
"You can have that good, friendly rivalry," Todd said. "I think we still have it going. Not because Matt's my brother, but there are a lot of good people up here, lot of good people in Cresson. The kids go out and battle, and you like that."
285--Quick, CC, dec. Summerville, 3-1; 106--Chyr, PC, won by forfeit; 113--Simmons, PC, won by forfeit; 120--Wilson, CC, dec. Mallory, 5-2; 126--Coukart, PC, pinned Rigsby, :18; 132--Hoover, PC, won by forfeit; 138--Talko, PC, pinned DeRubis, 3:22
145--Mardula, PC, pinned O'Brien, 1:41; 152--McCloskey, PC, tech. fall Lazer, 25-10, 5:30; 160--Little, PC, tech. fall Estep, 19-2, 5:17; 172--Hajzus, CC, dec. Wolford, 3-2; 189--Kubat, CC, dec. Wagner, 4-0; 215--Raymond, PC, dec. Wentz, 8-3.
Records: Penn Cambria (10-3); Central Cambria (9-6)
Exhibition winners: Oravecz, PC; Yeoman, PC
Referee: Aaron Elliott