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TYRONE -- Despite giving up three forfeits, Tyrone had been finding ways to win three of its first four dual meets this season.
But the Golden Eagles couldn't overcome those missing pieces on Tuesday night in a dandy of a match against Philipsburg-Osceola at the Tyrone gymnasium.
The Mounties were sparked by back-to-back one-point wins by Ben Gustkey and Nate Fleck at 133 and 139. Add Marcus Gable's 4-2 win over Andrew Weaver in a clash of titans at 160, the Mounties built an 18-point lead after the first eight weights and hung on to win, 33-27.
"The effort was great from the guys," P-O coach Justin Fye said. "Tyrone is a good team. To have this win tonight is a good momentum builder going into this weekend (in the Mountaineer Duals)."
"We wrestled like battle-worn warriors," Tyrone coach Quentin Wright said. "We were a little bit tired, but that's OK. We just came off a tough tournament (MyHouse Trojan Wars), but our guys wrestled the whole time."
The Eagles (3-2) have been wrestling without 114-pound state qualifier Korry Walls, who broke his right hand against Altoona's Braiden Weaver in the dual meet.
"We can't control what happens," Wright said. "I'd like to say that was the difference in the match. That's just one of our burdens we've got to bear."
P-O's Ace Foster bumped up to 114 to pick up a forfeit to begin the meet.
There were five bouts which went scoreless in the first period. The first came at 121, where Tyrone's Logan Rumberger broke the scoreless tie with Sammy McDonald with a reversal in the second period. He rode the rest of the period, added a takedown in the third and won, 4-0.
With Gustkey down to 127 for the first time, Fye chose to have Hunter Kephart win by forfeit at 127 and move Gustkey up to face Remington Fleck. Fleck drew first blood with an escape in the second.
Gustkey took him down with 20 seconds left in the second period to go up 2-1. Fleck rode Gustkey the entire third as he tried to get back points, but Gustkey avoided getting turned and won, 2-1.
"It was a very winnable match," Wright said. "There was a point where he could have gotten the win, but we're just going to keep getting better."
Tyrone's Cohen Wallace scored the first points at 139 by cradling P-O's Fleck for two nearfall points in the second period.
"I thought we had a pin there," Wright said.
Fleck, though, escaped and took Wallace down with 5 seconds remaining in the period. There were no points scored in the third, and Fleck won, 3-2, thrilling the P-O side.
"Nate Fleck had a gutcheck and came through," Fye said. "He got caught on his back, fought through it and could have easily got pinned. He got a good win."
At 145, Lukas Walk thrilled the Tyrone side with a pin in 2:53. But P-O's Ian Phillips responded with a pin in 2:54 at 152 to give P-O a 24-9 lead.
Gable, a state qualifier two years ago as a freshman, weighed in at 152 and moved up to 160 to take on regional qualifier Weaver.
Gable scored a takedown in the first period and another in the second to take a 4-0 lead. Weaver took him down with 1:11 left in the third and nearly turned Gable for back points, but Gable avoided going to his back to secure the win. That gave P-O a 27-9 lead.
"I talked to Marcus on Friday about the possibility of it happening," Fye said of the move. He had been sick last week and missed a couple practices."
Freshman Kyle Scott started the Golden Eagles comeback with a fall in 2:48 at 172. Tyrone's Richard Rawlings put Matt Rowles on his back during the 189-pound bout, but he had to settle for a 10-3 win.
"Rawlings is fun to watch," Wright said. "There was another time we could have gotten that pin."
At 215, Tyrone's Caleb McKinney notched three takedowns of Andrew Hensal, up from 189, for an 8-3 win. P-O led, 27-21, but Braden Ewing's 24-second pin at 285 tied the dual meet, 27-27. But Hummel (11-2) won by forfeit to give the Mounties the dual meet win.
114--Foster, PO, won by forfeit; 121--Rumberger, T, dec. McDonald, PO, 4-0; 127--Hu. Kephart, PO, won by forfeit; 133--Gustkey, PO, dec. R. Fleck, 2-1; 139--Fleck, PO, dec. Wallace, 3-2; 145--Walk, T, pinned Ha. Kephart, 2:53; 152--Phillips, PO, pinned Klein, 2:54.
160--Gable, PO, dec. Weaver, 4-2; 172--Scott, T, pinned Koptchak, 2:48; 189--Rawlings, T, dec. Rowles, 10-3; 215--McKinney, T, dec. Hensal, 8-3; 285--Ewing, T, pinned Cort, :24; 107--Hummel, PO, won by forfeit.
Records: Philipsburg-Osceola (5-3), Tyrone (3-2).
Exhibition winners: DuVall, PO; Smeal, PO; Shaw, PO; Rice, T; Bock, PO.
Referee: Paul Myers.