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WINGATE -- The seventh-seeded Tyrone wrestling team had a heck of a day in the District 6 Class 2A Duals semifinals and finals on Saturday at Bald Eagle Area High School.
First, the Golden Eagles avenged a recent nail biting two-point loss to third-seeded Huntingdon, 39-21, in the semifinals.
Then, the Eagles, wrestling in the championship finals for the first time since 2005, took heavy favorite and fourth-seeded Forest Hills to the brink before falling in a spirited effort, 39-34, to finish second.
"Our wrestlers wrestled awesome today," Tyrone coach Quentin Wright said. "We really didn't think our matching up (against Forest Hills) was good, but we went for something, and it might have worked. I'll go back and see if we could have done better, but these guys fought their butts off."
"In the last match (against Huntingdon) we had against them, there was a lot of stuff that went wrong -- like a lot of stuff," Braden Ewing said. "They might have thought they were the favorite, but we were coming out with a vengeance this time.
"That match (against Forest Hills) was honestly closer than I would have ever expected. We were one or two matches away from getting first in the district.
It was the second straight title for the Rangers. Bald Eagle Area beat Huntingdon, 53-13, in the consolation match to finish third.
The Golden Eagles (11-6) will take on District 10 third-placer Corry at 6 p.m. on Monday at Tyrone in a PIAA Duals preliminary round match. Corry beat Saegertown, 37-28, in the District 10 third-place match on Saturday.
"We're going to celebrate today," Wright said, "but we've got to keep our weight down for Monday."
Forest Hills (14-3) nipped top-seeded BEA, 32-30, in the other semifinal. BEA beat Tyrone, 43-23, earlier in the season, so the Eagles weren't expected to threaten the Rangers.
That's exactly what they did.
It didn't start off well for the Eagles, who used a lineups shift beginning at 145. The Rangers shot out to a 30-6 lead after the first six weights, from 145 to 215. Tyrone's only win in that run was Zach Lash's 18-second pin at 189.
Forest Hills' Jackson Arrington (152), Ty Templeton (160), Dustin Flinn (172) and Kirk Bearjar (215) won by fall, and Noah Teeter (145) won by forfeit.
But Ewing started the comeback bid at 285 when he reversed Dalton Gable to take a 2-0 lead in the second, bar-armed him to his back and pinned Gable in 3:46.
In what was expected to be a tight bout at 106, Tyrone's Korry Walls pinned Isaiah Shilcosky in 1:05.
At 113, Tyrone's Logan Rumberger took Hunter Adams down four times en route to a 9-1 major decision. The Rangers led, 30-22.
Tyrone's Remington Fleck earned his team's fourth bout win in a row when he won by fall in 3:12, thrilling his teammates and the Tyrone fans. Suddenly, the Eagles were only down by two, 30-28.
"Walls, Fleck and Rumberger kept us in it," Wright said.
But after Forest Hills' Hunter Forcellini's 15-second pin at 126, a pin in only 16 seconds by Tyrone's Ashton Sipes at 132, the dual meet came down to the Rangers holding a 36-34 lead going into the final bout at 138.
"I'm just so proud of the guys," Forest Hills coach Jake Strayer said. "They've been working really hard in the room. This was our goal at the beginning of the year. You've got to give Tyrone credit. They came out wanting to win, and they wrestled really well."
Tyrone's Lukas Walk wrestled hard against Easton Toth, one of the stars for the Rangers, but Toth took him down three times in the first two periods. In the third, Toth rode the entire third period, gave up a penalty point for a third caution and won, 6-3.
"I just told him to go out there and have fun," Wright said. "Today, that guy was just a little bit better."
Against Huntingdon (13-7), Ewing (285) and Sipes (132) avenged losses to Gunner Singleton and Eden Wagner, respectively.
"Hats off to Tyrone in that first match," Huntingdon coach Jon Mykut said. "Tyrone just came out and outwrestled bottom line. In some matches we won the first time, they flipped the table on us. So that was key."
Ewing, who was reversed by Singleton with seconds left in the earlier bout to lose, 2-1, scored four points in the third period on a stalling point, escape and takedown to win, 4-0. That gave Tyrone a 30-6 lead.
"I wrestled my match," Ewing said. "I wrestled the way I always do, and it worked this time."
Sipes was up 6-1 on Wagner in the first dual meet, but Wagner headlocked him and got the fall. This time, in the final bout of the meet, Sipes avoided danger and won, 8-1.
But there was also Walk, who turned a decision of Eric Mykut from the first dual meet into a pin in 3:06 to start off Saturday at 138.
Jason Barr went from a 5-2 win over Treyson Poorman to a pin in 58 seconds in their next meeting.
"I'm super proud of him, being able to get those extra points for us," Wright said.
Huntingdon's Devin Grubb avenged a loss to Reese Wood, 7-2, at 145, but Brody Klein edged Alex Gibson, 5-3 at 152. Andrew Weaver won by fall with a second left in the second period at 160. Lash fired off a 38-second pin at 172.
Huntingdon's Lincoln Miller beat Richard Rawlings, 10-6 at 189 before Barr's pin.
When Walls won by fall in 4:29 at 106, he secured the dual meet win for the Eagles.
After Huntingdon's Ryan Yocum edged Rumberger, 3-2, at 113, Huntingdon's Alex Gladfelter (120) and Landon Dunsmore (126) earned pins. But Sipes closed it out with his win.
TYRONE 39, HUNTINGDON 21
138--L. Walk, pinned Mykut, 3:06; 145--Grubb, H, dec. Reese, 7-2; 152--Klein, T, dec. Gibson, 5-3; 160--Weaver, T, pinned McDivitt, 3:59; 172--Lash, T, pinned Taylor, :38; 189--Miller, H, dec. Rawlings, 10-6; 215--Barr, T, pinned Poorman, :58
285--Ewing, T, dec. Singleton, 4-0; 106--Walls, T, pinned Simpson, 4:29; 113--Yocum, H, dec. Rumberger, 3-2; 120--Gladfelter, H, pinned R. Fleck, 1:38; 126--Dunsmore, H, pinned E. Walk, :34; 132--Sipes, T, dec. Wagner, 8-1.
Records: Huntingdon (13-6); Tyrone (11-5)
Referees: Chris Schell, Ed Bishop
FOREST HILLS 39, TYRONE 34
145--Teeter, FH, won by forfeit; 152--Arrington, FH, pinned Wood, 1:04; 160--Templeton, FH, pinned Klein, 1:18; 172--Flinn, FH, pinned Weaver, 3:15; 189--Lash, T, pinned Marsalko, :18; 215--Bearjar, FH, pinned Barr, :48; 285--Ewing, T, pinned Gable, 3:46
106--Walls, T, pinned Shilcosky, 1:05; 113--Rumberger, T, maj. dec. Adams, 9-1; 120--R. Fleck, T, pinned Michuk, 3:12; 126--Forcellini, FH, pinned E. Walk, :15; 132--Sipes, T, pinned Carroll, :16; 138--Toth, FH, dec. L. Walk, 6-3.
Records: Tyrone (11-6); Forest Hills (14-3)
Referees: Dick Wood, Chris Schell