Undefeated Eagles take care of Mountain Lions
Trending
By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror.com
TYRONE -- Tyrone is off to a 5-0 dual meet start under first-year head coach Quentin Wright, a former two-time NCAA champion and four-time NCAA All-American at Penn State.
Wright wasn't on the bench for his team's matchup with Altoona Thursday night at the Tyrone Area High School gymnasium -- he's on a five-day quarantine after being in the presence of a family member who had tested positive for COVID-19, despite the fact that Wright has not tested positive himself -- but the Golden Eagles continued to expertly execute his words of wisdom.
Trailing, 29-24, Tyrone swept the final three bouts -- winning one by major decision, another by fall, and closing the matchup with a forfeit win -- to score a 40-29 victory in a tightly-contested dual.
"Quentin not being here tonight was pretty hard for the kids, but they stepped up, got it done, and won it for him,'' said Tyrone assistant coach Buddy Walk. "We've got a pretty tough schedule this month, but at 5-0, we're doing pretty well, and we're pretty happy with where we're at right now.''
Ashton Sipes got the rally rolling for Tyrone by scoring six takedowns en route to a 19-5 major decision over George Boutiller in a battle of seniors at 132, pulling the Golden Eagles to within a point, 29-28.
Tyrone's Lukas Walk followed by pinning Wyatt Young in 31 seconds in a matchup of sophomores at 138, giving the Eagles a 34-29 lead, and junior Reese Wood took a forfeit victory at 145 to close the match and set the final score.
"Sipes wrestled well -- George (Boutiller) is a tough kid, but Ashton looked pretty good,'' Buddy Walk said. "Altoona came to wrestle tonight. They matched up pretty well against us. We had a nice crowd of fans watching, and the fans got their money's worth.''
Altoona (3-6) broke out to a 17-9 lead after the first five bouts before the match score began to pinball back and forth.
Altoona's Zach Reimer pinned Brody Klein in 2:42 in a matchup of juniors to start the dual at 152 pounds, and Mountain Lions' freshman sensation Luke Sipes (14-0) logged an 18-2, 4:34 technical fall over sophomore Andrew Weaver at 160, staking Altoona to an early 11-0 lead.
After senior Zach Lash got Tyrone on the board with an entertaining 10-6 win over senior Elijah Houser at 172, Eagles senior Jason Barr pinned sophomore Evan Boose in 3:50 at 189.
Junior Alex Yost pinned sophomore Jacob Rice in 3:28 at 215 pounds, boosting Altoona's lead to 17-9, before Eagles sophomore heavyweight Braden Ewing locked up a cradle to pin junior Michael Riccio with 14 seconds left in the second period of what had been a scoreless 285-pound bout.
"He was pushing into me, and I had to roll him over, but I had the cradle locked up pretty nice,'' said Ewing, who improved his season record to 12-3.
Junior Korry Walls gave Tyrone a 21-17 lead by pinning freshman Nick Irwin in 1:51 near the edge of the mat at 106, before Luke Hileman regained the lead for Altoona, 23-21, by pinning Logan Rumberger in 70 seconds at 113.
Things continued to go back and forth as the teams split the next two bouts. At 120, Tyrone sophomore Remi Fleck carved out a 6-0 decision over Eli Wisor, before senior Jordan Carlucci gave Altoona its final lead of the night, 29-24, by pinning soph Elijah Walk in 58 seconds at 126.
Altoona - which has now lost four duals in a row since going 3-2 in a season-opening dual meet tournament at Hampton High School -- wrestled gamely despite the absence of three starters for various reasons.
"I'm happy with our kids' performance,'' Altoona coach Joel Gilbert said. "Our kids wrestled hard. Even in places where we were outmanned, our kids wrestled hard for six minutes. We had a gutsy performance as a team tonight.''
Altoona will compete in the Philipsburg-Osceola duals Saturday, while Tyrone will host Clearfield next Tuesday.
152--Z. Reimer, A, pinned Klein, 2:42. 160--Sipes, A, tech. fall Weaver, 18-2, 4:34. 172--Lash, T, dec. Houser, 10-6. 189--Barr, T, pinned Boose, 3:50. 215--Yost, A, pinned Rice, 3:28. 285--Ewing, T, pinned M. Riccio, 3:46.
106--Walls, T, pinned Irwin, 1:51. 113--Hileman, A, pinned Rumberger, 1:10. 120--Fleck, T, dec. Wisor, 6-0. 126--Carlucci, A, pinned E. Walk, :58. 132--Sipes, T, major dec. Boutiller, 19-5. 138--L. Walk, T, pinned Young, :31. 145--Wood, T, won by forfeit.
Records: Altoona (3-6), Tyrone (5-0).
Exhibition match: Caleb McKinney, Tyrone, won by decision; Logan Kline, A, won by fall.
Official: Nick Shope.