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TYRONE -- It was kind of a new experience for both Tyrone wrestling coach Quentin Wright and Bald Eagle Area coach Ron Guenot on Tuesday night at the Tyrone gymnasium.
Not only was Wright coaching against the program he won two state titles for as a wrestler, Guenot was coaching against the star he coached in junior high at Bald Eagle Area.
"It's definitely strange," Guenot said with a laugh. "We coached against each other at Trojan Wars this year. Off the mat, we talk. He's a great guy, and I know he's going to do well here at Tyrone."
"It wasn't too weird," Wright said. "It was kind of fun just because of I have a lot of good memories at Bald Eagle. A lot of their coaches were coaching when I was at Bald Eagle Area. So it's fun that they can get a win on me now."
On the mat, BEA (10-2) recorded six pins of Golden Eagle wrestlers on senior night, including 172 to 215, to pull away and win, 43-23.
"They have really good guys in some areas where we're not as tough," Wright said. "We wrestled Bald Eagle straight up. We didn't try to make any movements (up in weight). Some matches went our way and some didn't."
Tyrone's Korry Walls opened with a pin in 1:15 at 106, but BEA reeled of wins in the next three weights. Lucas Fye earned a 10-1 major decision over Logan Rumberger at 112. State medalist Coen Bainey at 120 and Hunter Gardner at 126 recorded pins in 45 seconds and 55 seconds, respectively.
At 132, Tyrone's Ashton SIpes rolled up a 17-2 technical fall in 4:50 over Kevin Taylor.
In what seemed like a pivotal bout at 138, BEA's Jeffre Pifer edged Lukas Walk, 4-3. Pifer took a 4-3 lead into the third period and Walk chose down. Pifer rode him the entire third to get the win.
"Sometimes you have to win those close matches against a tough kid in Walk," Guenot said.
Reese Wood got Tyrone (8-5) to within five, 19-14, with a 3-0 win over Taten Yoder at 145. After BEA's Mason Reese won by fall in 2:27 at 152, Tyrone's Andrew Weaver broke a 3-3 tie with Cameron Dubbs with seven points in the third to win, 10-3.
"Andrew was having a tough time," Wright said. "He was trying to be physical to open the guy up, and then the ref says 'Guys, we need to settle it down.' It was getting exciting there."
But then BEA's Caleb Close earned a pin 3:31 at 172. Noah Foltz followed with a fall in 1:10 at 189. Matt Knepp finished the run in 1:26 at 215 before Tyrone's Braden Ewing won by fall in 1:33 at 285 to end the dual meet.
"I'm real confident in our guys up top with Caleb, Noah and Kneppy," Guenot said. "Those guys do what they need to do. They know they get a lot of bonus points for us. Bonus points win matches, and that's what those three guys did tonight."
"Overall, it was a good night," Wright said. "We didn't come up on the winning end with points, but with effort and attitude, we were in every match."
The big question is how much did Wright learn from Guenot at the junior high level?
"I hope he learned something from me," Guenot said smiling. "When he came into the junior high at Bald Eagle, he already knew a ton. But I hope I taught a little bit of something anyhow. He turned out pretty successful."
Both teams will see each other this weekend at the Ultimate Warrior Tournament at West Branch.
106--Walls, T, pinned Guenot, 1:15; 113--Fye, BEA, maj. dec. Rumberger, 10-1; 120--Bainey, BEA, pinned Fleck, :45; 126--Gardner, BEA, pinned E. Walk, :55; 132--Sipes, T, tech. fall Taylor, 17-2, 4:50; 138--Pifer, BEA, dec. L. Walk, 4-3; 145--Wood, T, dec. Yoder, 3-0
152--Reese, BEA, pinned Klein, 2:27; 160--Weaver, T, dec. Dubbs, 10-3; 172--Close, BEA, pinned Lash, 3:31; 189--Foltz, BEA, pinned Barr, 1:10; 215--Knepp, BEA, pinned Wise, 1:26; 285--Ewing, T, pinned Clark, 1:33.
Records: Bald Eagle Area (10-2; Tyrone (8-5)
Referee: Randy Brungard