Glendale’s Dubler wins thriller, named OW
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For more than 7 minutes in their epic District 6 Class 2A Tournament 160-pound championship finals bout Saturday night at the Altoona Fieldhouse, Zeke Dubler and friend Andrew McMonagle waged a battle that will be remembered for awhile.
McMonagle, the Williamsburg junior who wrestles for Huntingdon, rode the Glendale returning District 6 champion in the first tiebreaker 30-second period. Dubler then chose to release McMonagle at the start of the next tiebreaker period rather than try to ride.
It didn't look like that decision would pay off for Dubler until McMonagle tried to take him down late in the tiebreaker. Dubler hit an elevator-type move to defend and got the takedown at the edge of the mat before time expired to win, 4-3.
"It was a grinder," Dubler said. "I had lots of fun. It really tested my guts, my will to win and confidence in my training. It's not about the crowd. It's not about your nerves. It's just about who's willing to put it all on the line, and I think I did that by cutting him and trusting my ability to get that takedown."
After he came down off of the medals stand, Dubler plunked down in one of the chairs outside of the gym exhausted and maybe not feeling well from a sizable pre-final meal from Texas Roadhouse. His dad and former coach Billy Dubler fanned him down with a towel.
"I was pretty prepared going into this match. But I think I took it a little lighter than I should have preparing. He brought the heat. Definitely next time I need to eat a little better before instead of going to Texas Roadhouse."
Dubler was later voted the Outstanding Wrestler by the Class 2A coaches. It's the first time a Glendale wrestler has ever been named OW in the tournament.
"It's pretty awesome," Dubler said of the OW. "I'm very grateful for all who voted for me, and it's just very awesome to kind of add some more history to the program."
Penn Cambria's Trent Hoover also captured his second straight District 6 title, beating Marion Center's Greg Heilbrun, 5-2, at 145 pounds. Hoover avenged a 3-1 loss to Heilbrun in January's Mid-Winter Mayhem Tournament.
Three other area wrestlers weren't as fortunate in the finals. Tyrone's Korry Walls (107), Penn Cambria's Mason Raymond (215) and Glendale freshman Daniel Williams (285) lost in the finals.
In all, 17 wrestlers from the Mirror coverage area placed in the top six of their weight classes and qualified for the Southwest Regional Tournament. The regional is in two weeks at the Fieldhouse.
Tyrone advanced four other third-place wrestlers to the regional tournament in Lukas Walk (139), Andrew Weaver (160), Kyle Scott (172) and Braden Ewing (285).
The Golden Eagles finished fifth in the team standings with 129 points. Bald Eagle Area won the team title with 201.5 points, while Huntingdon (158) was second.
Penn Cambria had two other qualifiers in fourth-placers Austin McCloskey (160) and Braedan Oravecz (189).
Glendale had two other qualifiers in George Campbell (sixth, 152) and Britton Spangle (fifth, 189).
Also qualifying were Claysburg-Kimmel's Brodie Soler (fifth at 127), Central Cambria's top-seeded Karter Quick (fourth, 215), Bellwood-Antis' Ethan Norris (fourth, 285) and Central's Ty Biesinger (fifth, 114).
Placing but not advancing were Tyrone's Logan Rumberger (seventh, 121) and Caleb McKinney (seventh, 215), C-K's Cole Claycomb (seventh, 145) and Mark Lattieri (eighth, 160) and Juniata Valley's Christopher Gibson (eighth, 127).
Dubler missed on two or three shots early against the strong McMonagle, who qualified for the Super Regional two years ago wrestling for Central but missed last year because of a shoulder injury.
"All throughout the match, I was getting to my shots, and he just very strong hips and was a very good opponent," Dubler said. "I was just able to capitalize when it mattered the most."
McMonagle reversed in the third period to take a 2-1 lead, and Dubler nearly reversed at the end of regulation, but an escape was called.
After going scoreless on their feet and with McMonagle on top for the first 3-second period, it was Dubler's choice for the second tiebreaker. He looked to his corner, where his brother, Suds, and head coach Brian Storm were coaching and chose to release McMonagle. And then he hit the big move.
"He just tried to run through, and I just went with the momentum," Dubler said. "I just trusted my ability and athleticism to come out on top, and that's what happened."
"I thought he wrestled great," Storm said. "He wrestled with a lot of heart. He dug deep and found a way to win."
Hoover went 4-0 with three pins to get to the finals. Heilbrun broke a scoreless tie in the second with an escape. Hoover took him down with a fireman's carry with 33 seconds left in the period, but Heilbrun escaped with 4 seconds left to tie the score.
Hoover escaped early in the third and nailed a takedown with 18 seconds remaining.
"We lost to him before," Penn Cambria coach Todd Niebauer said. "The kid is a nice kid, well-coached. He was smart. He tried to slow us down a little bit. Trent just had to be calm, and he was. He took his opportunities when he got them."
Raymond, who went 3-1, dropped a 4-2 overtime decision to Southern Huntingdon's Mitchell Hart. Hart took Raymond down with 28 seconds left in the overtime period.
"Mason is a great story," Niebauer said. "He's a great kid who works hard. He's not real experienced in wrestling, but I like where he is. I'm proud of him."
Walls, who went 3-1, fell in the finals for the second straight year. The senior dropped a 4-2 decision to Mount Union's Mason Beatty on Saturday. Walls missed most of the season with a broken hand sustained against Altoona's Braiden Weaver. Both of his hands were wrapped for the tournament.
Williams, who reached the finals with a 3-1 overtime win over Ewing in the semifinals, couldn't muster any offense against Huntingdon's returning district and regional champ Gunner Singleton in a 2-0 loss.
"I thought he wrestled great for a freshman coming in," Storm said. "Singleton is a great wrestler. I thought he battled, and unfortunately he couldn't beat him. We'll see what happens at regionals.
Notes: Central 1979 state runner-up Brian Meiser, Philipsburg-Osceola 1981 state runner-up Jim Dickson and Huntingdon's Mark Ambrose were among nine inducted into the District 6 Hall of Fame. ... Huntingdon qualified six to regionals, while P-O had four and Moshannon Valley had three. ... BEA's Coen Bainey won his fourth district title.
KEY, TEAM STANDINGS
1. BEA--Bald Eagle Area 201.5; 2. H--Huntingdon 158; 3. PV--Penns Valley 143; 4. B--Bellefonte 130; 5. T--Tyrone 129; 6. MU--Mount Union 125; 7. U--United 118; 8. PC--Penn Cambria 95; 9. PO--Philipsburg-Osceola 93; 10. G--Glendale 90; 11. FH--Forest Hills 89.5; 12. MC--Marion Center 89; 13. WB--West Branch 80; 14. RV--River Valley 68; 15. SH--Southern Huntingdon 64; 16. J--Juniata 54; 17. MV--Moshannon Valley 47; 18. CK--Claysburg-Kimmel 36; 19. CC--Central Cambria 35; 20. C--Central 28.5; 21. BA--Bellwood-Antis 26; 22. R--Richland 22; 23. WH--Westmont Hilltop 20; 24. JV--Juniata Valley 19; 25. CH--Cambria Heights 6.
SEMIFINALS
107--Walls, T, dec. Hummel, PO, 7-0; Beatty, MU, dec. Sombronski, U, 5-0; 114--Bainey, WB, pinned Gladfelter, H, 3:12; Garshnick, U, pinned Darlington, PV, 3:20; 121--Fye, BEA, maj. dec. Chilcote, MU, 12-2; Bracken, U, dec. Lisowski, PV, 4-2 OT; 127--Bainey, BEA, pinned Gustkey, PO, :52; Hess, MU, dec. Dunsmore, H, 7-6; 133--Shunk, PV, dec. Fleck, PO, 6-5; Forcellini, FH, tech. fall Stewart, MC, 18-2, 1:59; 139--T. Smith, J, dec. Weaver, B, 6-1; Cornetto, MC, dec. Walk, T, 3-2; 145--Hoovere, PC, pinned G. Long, B, 3:53; Heilbrun, MC, dec. Flinn, FH, 7-2
152--Watson, PV, dec. Pifer, BEA, 6-3; Gable, PO, dec. Campbell, G, 1-0; 160--Dubler, G, pinned McCloskey, PC, 1:14; McMonagle, H, pinned Weaver, T, 2:46; 172--Close, BEA, tech. fall Folmar, WB, 16-0, 4:35; Cohenour, SH, dec. Scott, T; 3-1; 189--Ryan, MU, dec. Shawley, B, 10-6; Dubbs, BEA, dec. Oravecz, PC, 3-2; 215--Hart, SH, pinned Quick, CC, 5:58; Raymond, PC, dec. Brungart, PV, 3-1; 285--Singleton, H, pinned Norris, BA, 5:40; Williams, G, dec. Ewing, T, 3-1 OT.
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
107--M. Beatty, MU, dec. Walls, T, 4-2; 114--Bainey, WB, dec. Garshnick, U, 2-1; 121--Fye, BEA, dec. Bracken, U, 5-4; 127--Bainey, BEA, maj. dec. Hess, MU, 13-1; 133--Forcellini, FH, dec. Shunk, PV, 5-2; 139--Cornetto, MC, dec. T. Smith, J, 4-3; 145--Hoover, PC, dec. Heilbrun, MC, 5-2
152--Watson, PV, dec. Gable, PO, 3-0; 160--Dubler, G, dec. McMonagle, H, 4-3 TB; 172--Close, BEA, won by injury default over Cohenour, SH, 1:22; 189--Ryan, MU, dec. Dubbs, BEA, 2-0; 215--Hart, SH, dec. Raymond, PC, 4-2 OT; 285--Singleton, H, dec. Williams, G, 2-0.
Outstanding Wrestler: Zeke Dubler, Glendale. Coach of the Year: Ron Guenot, Bald Eagle Area
THIRD PLACE
107--Hummel, PO, dec. Sombronski, U, 4-0; 114--Darlington, PV, dec. Gladfelter, HH, 7-0; 121--Yocum, H, dec. Swisher, B, 7-2; 127--Gustkey, PO, dec. J. Long, B, 8-6 O; 133--Fleck, PO, dec. Stewart, MC, 8-4; 139--Walk, T, dec. Weaver, B, 4-0; 145--G. Long, B, dec. Flinn, FH, 3-0
152--Barnhart, RV, dec. Murray, B, 4-2; 160--Weaver, T, pinned McCloskey, PC, 2:33; 172--Scott, T, maj. dec. Folmar, WB, 10-0; 189--Shawley, B, dec. Oravecz, PC, 3-2; 215--Brungart, PV, dec. Quick, CC, 5-4; 285--Ewing, T, dec. Norris, BA, 1-0.
FIFTH PLACE
107--Tinsman, MC, maj. dec. Taubler, RV, 14-3; 114--Biesinger, C, maj. dec. Garcia, B, 12-1; 121--Lisowski, PV, dec. Chilcote, MU, 8-5; 127--Soler, CK, won by medical forfeit over Dunsmore, H; 133--Monty, U, pinned Yarger, MV, 2:59; 139--Schnarrs, WB, dec. Surovec, BEA, 5-2; 145--Ray, WH, dec. Reese, BEA, 6-4
152--Pifer, BEA, dec. Campbell, G, 5-3; 160--Martin, PV, dec. Rittenhouse, MU, 10-4; 172--Brenneman, H, won by medical forfeit over Co. Stuchal, RV; 189--Spangle, G, pinned Ch. Stuchal, RV, 1:40; 215--Gardner, BEA, dec. Lobb, MV, 2-0; 285--Miller, RV, pinned Williams, MV, 2:58.
SEVENTH PLACE
107--Sholly, H, dec. W. Long, B, 4-0; 114--Tice, BEA, dec. K. Beatty, MU, 4-2; 121--Rumberger, T, dec. Shilcosky, FH, 3-1; 127--Henning, U, dec. Gibson, JV, 6-5; 133--Maney, BEA, pinned Peruso, H, 1:57; 139--Hower, MU, pinned Mykut, H, 1:51; 145--Claycomb, CK, dec. Clark, H, 8-2
152--Grubb, H, pinned McCully, U, 4:42; 160--Papinchak, FH, dec. Lattieri, CK, 7-1; 172--Marsalko, FH, dec. Mummah, J, 7-5; 189--Stephens, U, pinned Corl, PV, 3:45; 215--McKinney, T, dec. McGinnis, U, 6-3; 285--Audi, R, pinned DeLoatch, FH, 4:34.