Trending
MORRISDALE -- The tiebreaker round, a gut check for wrestlers who remain tied with their opponent after regulation and a 1 minute overtime period, was the theme in the finals of the Ultimate Warrior on Saturday night at West Branch.
Three of the four finalists from Blair County found themselves in white-knuckle tiebreakers in the finals of the eighth annual tournament.
Two area wrestlers -- Altoona's Luke Sipes at 152 and Tyrone's Kyle Scott at 172 -- were able to win in the tiebreaker round.
The second-seeded Sipes scored a last-second reversal in the second 30-second tiebreaker to beat Southern Columbia's top-seeded Mason Barvitskie, 5-4, and capture his third Ultimate Warrior title.
"It was a crazy win at the end. It was fun," Sipes said. "Something my club (M2) and high school coaches preach to me is wrestle harder through every position and wrestle longer. Some guys may be really good, but they're not willing to wrestle to the buzzer. I am, so it definitely helped."
Scott, a sophomore, didn't get to the second tiebreaker, pinning Mifflin County's Avery Aurand with 3 seconds left in the first tiebreaker for his first tournament title of his career.
"All glory to God," Scott said. "It was a brutal, brutal match. I was just going to get the back points, and then I realized I really don't want to deal with this guy on bottom for another 30 seconds. I'll just get the pin."
Altoona's Braiden Weaver, however, suffered a 4-3 tiebreaker loss to Reynolds' Waylon Waite at 114 pounds.
"It was a great tournament," Altoona coach Joel Gilbert said. "If you get into the finals here you've got state-caliber and national-caliber competition. You've got to find ways to score points. Sipes was able to find a way to score, and Weaves wasn't able to find a way today."
Tyrone's Braden Ewing finished second at 285 with an 8-1 loss to Port Allegany's unbeaten Carson Neely in a rematch of last year's finals.
Three other Blair County wrestlers placed in the top five of the 44-team tournament in Tyrone's Andrew Weaver (third, 189), Altoona's Gavin Ciampoli (fifth, 127) and Hollidaysburg's Mitchell Baronner (fifth, 172).
Sipes (26-5), who was one of 10 wrestlers in the tournament to earn their 100th career wins, went 5-0 over two days, including a 4-3 win over Mifflin County's Parker Kearns in a rematch of last year's tournament final.
In the finals, Barvitskie (22-6) scored first, getting a takedown in the first period, but Sipes tied the score with a reversal with a second left in the first period. That wasn't the last late points Sipes got.
Sipes was close to a couple takedowns in the third period and overtime on shots, but Barvitskie defended. Barvitskie escaped in the first 30-second tiebreaker period and looked like he'd ride Sipes out in the second, but the Mountain Lion junior beat the buzzer with another reversal to win.
"(Barvitskie) was a good leg rider, and he reversed him twice," Gilbert said. "It's something he's been working on he said at M2. He said he was hoping that kid would throw legs in so he could make that move."
Sipes was asked if he was motivated by not being the top seed at 152.
"I felt kind of disrespected just because I won this tournament (previously) two years in a row at this weight," Sipes said. "But that kid in the finals is really good, though, and it was a great match.
"When I'm in double overtime matches, ultimate tiebreaker matches and one-point matches, all that stuff is going to mold me into who I am in March. I'm thankful and grateful for it all."
Scott (32-3) also went 5-0, shutting out his first three opponents, including a 1-0 first-round win over Altoona's Tykear Davis.
Scott and Aurand (27-6) went through regulation and an overtime period tied 2-2. In the first 30-second tiebreaker, Scott scored a reversal, hooked up a low-leg cradle and pinned Aurand in officially 7:27. The Golden Eagle sophomore pumped both fists and let out a roar in celebration.
"In the tiebreaker, (Scott) was funking around," Tyrone coach Quentin Wright said, "and I knew he could get off from bottom based on how the match was going. He did like a fireman's carry finish and Kyle popped his head and he realized he had the head and bottom leg. He put it together, and it was an easy cradle for the pin."
The top-seeded Weaver, who was 4-1 with three first-period pins, couldn't get his offense going against the third-seeded Waite (19-6). They went into overtime tied 1-1, and Weaver (27-4) nearly won with a takedown in the final 10 seconds of OT, but Waite defended.
In the first tiebreaker, Waite escaped and took Weaver down. Weaver escaped, making the score 4-2 entering the next 30-second rideout. Weaver escaped with 17 seconds left, but he couldn't find an opening for a takedown as the clock wound down.
"I don't think I wrestled the best I could have," Weaver said. "You can't have that during the finals. I didn't get any of my attacks going. I'll be back. I'm going to keep practicing and get better."
Wait's win, as well as Louie Gill's shocking 11-3 win over West Branch's Landon Bainey, helped Reynolds win the team title by eight points over Central Mountain, 182-174.
Ewing, who went 3-1, survived a 2-1 tiebreaker win over DuBois' Zach Gallagher in the semifinals.
The second-seeded Ewing lost to Neely in overtime, 3-1, last season. This time, Ewing tried a throw early on, but he couldn't convert. The top-seeded Neely (26-0) scored a takedown in the first period and added three nearfall points in the second period before Ewing (32-2) escaped. Neely added an escape and a takedown in the third period.
"I know what I have to work on and what I have to watch out for now with him," Ewing said. "He's gotten a lot better on his feet. I think I wrestled kind of poorly overall (in the tournament). I couldn't get to my offense very well
"Stop a few of those takedowns, and it's a little bit of a different match," Wright said. "We got caught on our back trying to roll through. Those are little things we need to work on so we don't make those mistakes at the end of the year at the state tournament."
KEY, TEAM STANDINGS: 1. R--Reynolds 182; 2. CM--Central Mountain 174; 3. MC--Mifflin County 146; 4. BENT--Bentworth 124; 5. CY--Central York 120.5; 6. PA--Port Allegany 115; 7. CANT--Canton 109.5; 8. U--United 108.5; 9. PT--Peters Township 99; 10. SOC--Southern Columbia 98.5; 11. A--Altoona 90.5; 12. T--Tyrone 87.5; 13. TOW--Towanda 84.5; 14. HICK--Hickory 82.5; 15. PO--Philipsburg-Osceola and ARM--Armstrong 77.5; 17. I--Indiana 77; 18. MU--Mount Union 74; 19. MW--Midd-West 55.5; 20. CC--Central Clarion 54.5; 21. H--Hollidaysburg 54; 22. D--DuBois and M--Muncy 52; 24. WH--Westmont Hilltop 50; 25. HUG--Hughesville 48.5; 26. W--Wyalusing 47.5; 27. R--Richland 46.5; 28. SC--Sullivan County 46; 29. PAR--Pen Argyl 44.5; 30. J--Juniata 42; 31. RV--River Valley 40; 32. WB--West Branch and LL--Lake Lehman 36; 34. MV--Moshannon Valley 30; 35. CK--Claysburg-Kimmel 29; 36. MAC--Marion Center 28.5; 37. JV--Juniata Valley 27; 38. CH--Cambria Heights 20; 39. WA--Wilson Area 19; 40. JOHN--Johnsonburg 18; 41. BRAD--Bradford 16.5; 42. OV--Oswayo Valley 10; 43. BA--Bellwood-Antis 8; 44. TUNK--Tunkhannock 7.
AREA fifth-PLACE MATCHES:127--Ciampoli, A, dec. McCusker, SC, 7-1; 172--Baronner, H, maj. dec. Weaver, CM, 10-1
AREA THIRD-PLACE MATCHES: 189--Weaver, T, dec. Higley, TOW, 5-1
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
107--McGarrity, PT, dec. Hummel, PO, 5-1; 114--Waite, R, dec. Weaver, A, 4-3 TB; 121--Gill, R, maj. dec. Bainey, WB, 11-3; 127--Vargo, BENT, maj. dec. Stewart, R, 13-4; 133--Putt, I, dec. O'Brien, HICK, 5-2; 139--Perry, CM, maj. dec. Gable, PO, 11-3; 145--Walizer, CM, dec. Long, CY, 9-6
152--Sipes, A, dec. Barvitskie, SOC, 5-4 TB; 160--Davis, CY, dec. Ward, CANT, 3-1; 172--Scott, T, pinned Aurand, MC, 7:27 TB; 189--Garcia, SOC, maj. dec. Daniels, BENT, 8-0; 215--Johnson, M, maj. dec. Serafini, CM, 14-3; 285--Neely, PA, deec. Ewing, T, 8-1.
OW: Garrett Garcia, Southern Columbia.