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LOYSBURG -- Tyrone High School wrestling coach Quentin Wright was a former two-time NCAA champion and four-time All-American during his wrestling days at Penn State University.
It takes a lot to impress Wright on a wrestling mat, but this year's Golden Eagles team has been managing to accomplish the feat.
Tyrone parlayed four true falls and a technical fall into a 41-27 dual meet victory over Northern Bedford at the Northern Bedford High School gymnasium Wednesday night. The Golden Eagles evened their dual meet record at 4-4 for the season while earning Wright's approval.
"Our wrestlers are really stepping up their game,'' Wright said. "All of our wrestlers, from the top of the lineup to the bottom, are fighting hard, and that makes for some real exciting wrestling.
"I have been saying jokingly that these guys are making some moves that I haven't been teaching them,'' Wright added. "Or I am showing them some things once, and they're picking up on those things immediately.''
Freshman Caleb Whitby started the match at 139 pounds with a big fall for Tyrone. Whitby fell behind Haidyn Dively, 5-0, in the first period before battling back to pin Dively with 54 seconds left in the second period.
"Whitby was kind of getting handled a little bit at the start of his bout, but he kept fighting, and he set the tone for the entire dual meet,'' Wright said.
Whitby used a cement mixer move to score the fall.
"I rolled him over, got the cement mixer in, and got the fall,'' Whitby said. "It is exciting to win that way.''
Remington Fleck (145 pounds), Richard Rawlings (215), and Braden Ewing (285) also scored true falls for Tyrone, while Logan Rumberger finished the dual with a win by technical fall for the Golden Eagles at 133.
"My goal is to put the guys in the best position to win their matches - whether they score their points from the top, bottom or neutral positions,'' Wright said.
Fleck pinned Kamrin Amick 39 seconds into their 145-pound match in the second bout of the night, while Rawlings clamped Collin Pepple 96 seconds into their 215-pound bout.
In a battle of senior standouts at 285, returning state medalist Ewing was able to pin returning District 5 champion Brock Beach 34 seconds into the second period, boosting Tyrone's lead to 36-3 after eight bouts.
"Braden Ewing came up with an arm throw there that was unreal,'' Wright said. "He's a solid wrestler who is doing moves that he feels are there out on the mat, and that's huge.''
Rumberger racked up a 16-0 technical fall over Paeden Logue in 3:24 at 133 pounds to close the dual meet, after Cohen Wallace (160) and Andrew Weaver (189) both gutted out wins by decision.
Wallace came up with a double-leg takedown in the final seconds to break a 7-7 tie and score a 9-7 win over Nolin Snyder, and Weaver survived numerous blood timeouts and a persistent nosebleed to prevail in a 13-7 decision over returning District 5 champ Eion Snider in a matchup of stellar seniors at 189 pounds.
"Weaver has put in a lot of hard work for us, and Snider is a very good wrestler for them,'' Wright said. "It was a solid win for Weaver, and especially since he is a senior, it was good to see that happening.''
Northern Bedford (2-1) got falls from Wyatt Clouse at 121 pounds and Bryson Free at 127 to close its deficit in the team score to 36-27 before the final bout of the night. Aidan Pittman knocked out a 6-1 decision at 152 for Northern over Steven Buck.
"We fought hard, no doubt about it,'' Northern Bedford coach Brian Dutchcot said. "Our kids fought off their backs numerous times tonight. Unfortunately, we ran into some tough kids from their team, and ended up on the short end of the stick in the team result.''
After losing four of five dual meets in the Dry Tech Duals at Greenville High School last Saturday, Tyrone has since rebounded to win its last two duals — on consecutive nights no less.
"We got our butts handed to us last weekend, but I think that experience seasoned us,'' Wright said. "We've been getting better and overall, we wrestled really well tonight.''
Meet notes: Forfeit victories went to Tyrone's Kyle Scott (172 pounds) and Northern Bedford's Aiden Replogle (107) and Kace Clapper (114) ... Both Tyrone and Northern Bedford will compete in the Panther Holiday Wrestling Classic this Friday and Saturday at Mount Aloysius College.
139--Whitby, T, pinned Dively, 3:06. 145--Fleck, T, pinned Amick, 4:39. 152--Pittman, NB, dec. Buck, 6-1. 160--Wallace, T, dec. Snyder, 9-7. 172--Scott, T, won by forfeit. 189--Weaver, T, dec. Snider, 13-7. 215--Rawlings, T, pinned Pepple, 1:36.
285--Ewing, T, pinned Beach, 2:34. 107--Replogle, NB, won by forfeit. 114--Clapper, NB, won by forfeit. 121--Clouse, NB, pinned Detwiler, 1:48. 127--Free, NB, pinned D. Plubell, 1:47. 133--Rumberger, T, tech. fall Logue, 16-0, 3:24.
Referee: Jeff Beach.
Exhibition match: Caden Harris, T, won by fall.
Records: Tyrone (4-4), Northern Bedford (2-1).