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BEDFORD -- Both Trent Hoover and Andrew McMonagle are juniors this year, and both have one previous appearance in the PIAA Class 2A state wrestling tournament under their belts, with both hoping to earn a second trip to Hershey this March.
The Bedford Thomas Automotive Tournament, which unveiled its 34th annual chapter Saturday at a jam-packed Bedford Area High School gymnasium, provides an excellent midseason tune-up for the postseason, and both Hoover and McMonagle did their best to capitalize on the opportunity.
Hoover, a Penn Cambria standout, won his second straight Bedford championship by trimming Chestnut Ridge's Calan Bollman, 6-4 in overtime in the second tiebreaker session of their 145-pound title match.
McMonagle, a Williamsburg High School student who is competing in wrestling as part of a co-op with Huntingdon, won the 160-pound championship by pinning Frazier freshman Jackson Angelo in 5:10.
Two other wrestlers from the Mirror core coverage area, Central Cambria senior Karter Quick and Northern Bedford junior Brock Beach, reached the tournament finals at 215 and 285 pounds, respectively, before both dropped their championship bouts to finish second.
Quick was pinned by Berlin Brothersvalley senior Grant Mathias in 3:44 and Beach dropped a 3-0 decision to Somerset sophomore Zane Hagans.
Hoover grinded out an overtime decision over Bollman -- a PIAA Class 2A state runner-up three years ago as a freshman -- in the second tiebreaker session at 145.
Bollman was assessed a penalty point by official Mike Eichelberger for moving before the whistle from the top spot in the referee's position, breaking a 4-4 tie and giving Hoover a 5-4 lead. Hoover cemented the victory later in the 30-second tiebreaker session with an escape.
Hoover won a Bedford tournament title at 126 pounds last year, and followed that up with championships at that weight class in both the District 6 and Southwest Class 2A tournaments. He did not place at the state tournament in Hershey.
Hoover was a top seed at the Bedford tournament, while Bollman was seeded second.
"It was a tough match in the finals, I had to pretty much gut it out,'' said Hoover, who sports a 28-2 record this season. "I was in deep on a single (leg takedown attempt) in the first overtime period and I didn't finish it on the edge (of the mat).
"I knew that I had to find a way to win (in the second tiebreaker),'' Hoover added.
Penn Cambria coach Todd Niebauer praised Hoover's work ethic.
"This tournament is a steppingstone to the postseason,'' Niebauer said. "Bollman is well-coached, he's a great kid, and he and Trent have been battling for three seasons. Trent was down, 2-0, but he didn't panic.
"He battled back, and I think that it's good for Trent win a match like this,'' Niebauer added. "After making it to the state tournament last year, Trent is absolutely looking to earn a medal there this season. He's got a lot of tough competition coming up and there is lots of work to do, but Trent is the kind of kid who will get into the practice room and put in the necessary hard work.''
McMonagle made it to the state tournament at 160 pounds two years ago as a freshman while competing in a wrestling co-op with Central. Since Williamsburg doesn't have a wrestling program, McMonagle (22-3 this season) competed for two seasons at Central before joining Huntingdon's team this year.
A star running back on Juniata Valley's football team as part of its co-op arrangement with Williamsburg, the top-seeded McMonagle showed off his excellent athletic ability in Saturday's championship match, building a 7-3 lead on a reversal midway through the third period before scoring the fall against the second-seeded Angelo.
McMonagle's first wrestling season at Huntingdon has been going very well.
"Just three losses this season, I think it's been going really great,'' McMonagle said. "I'm just competing and having fun -- that's what it's all about.''
Huntingdon coach Jon Mykut is happy to have McMonagle aboard this season.
"He's been great,'' Mykut said. "He's a great kid in the practice room -- one of the hardest workers that we have. He started the wrestling season at 172 after his football season was over, and he's looking very good at 160. He's wrestling very tough for us.''
Central Cambria's Quick, a top seed at 215, ran into a buzzsaw in the championship match against the second-seeded Mathias of Berlin, who built a 4-0 lead before pinning Quick with 16 seconds left in the second period.
"I made a simple mistake and it wound up costing me a loss,'' said Quick, who has a 21-2 record this season. "It's hard to lose as a top seed, but I'll probably see him again down the road this season, and I'm hoping to wrestle better then than I did today.''
Northern Bedford's Beach was a fifth seed at 285, but earned his spot in the championship match with three falls -- including a 45-second pin of top-seeded Gunner Singleton of Huntingdon in the semifinals. Beach was unable to generate any offense in the championship match against Somerset's Hagans, who scored a first-period takedown and a second-period escape.
"I had some competition here and I had to win some tough matches,'' Beach (24-7) said. "I trusted in my coaches and I trusted in myself, and I thought that I wrestled a good tournament.''
Meet notes: Both Central senior Ty Biesinger (114 pounds) and Northern Bedford junior Eion Snider placed third at their weight classes, while Penn Cambria junior Nick Summerville finished seventh at 285 ... Chestnut Ridge won its eighth straight team title in the Bedford tourney by racking up 239.5 points.
Burrell was second with 200. Ridge crowned three individual champions in Dominic Deputy (107), Easton Mull (114) and Brock Holderbaum (121), and also had a runner-up in Kobi Burkett (127).
KEY, TEAM SCORING: 1, CR--Chestnut Ridge, 239.5; 2, BUR--Burrell, 200; 3, CLF--Clearfield, 161.5; 4, NG--Northern Garrett (Md.), 145; 5, GR--Greenville, 129; 6, FH--Forest Hills, 128.5; 7, FR--Frazier, 126.5; 8, tie, BB--Berlin Brothersvalley and HUN--Huntingdon, 118; 10, SOM--Somerset, 101.5; 11, NS--North Schuylkill and BC--Beth-Center, 101; 13, E--Everett, 95; 14, ATH--Athens, 89.5; 15, Tri-Valley, 86; 16, NEW--Newport, 81.5; 17, NB--Northern Bedford, 81.5; 18, CT--Conemaugh Township, 68.5; 19, tie, PC--Penn Cambria and SH--Southern Huntingdon, 68; 21, BED--Bedford, 67; 22, CRH--Chartiers-Houston, 61.5; 23, WG--West Greene, 60; 24, DER--Derry, 54; 25, NS--North Star, 46; 26, CC--Central Cambria, 41; 27, CEN--Central, 39; 28, TM--Tussey Mountain, 28.5; 29, LV--Ligonier Valley, 28; 30, NEB--Northeast Bradford, 28; 31, MEY--Meyersdale, 19; 32, CH--Cambria Heights, 17
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
107--Deputy, CR, tech. fall Baker, BUR, 16-1, 5:20. 114--Mull, CR, won by injury def. over Williams, CRH, 4:00. 121--Holderbaum, CR, pinned Davis, CLF, 4:51. 127--Hornack, BUR, maj. dec. Burkett, CR, 9-0. 133--Cassidy, BED, dec. Forcellini, FH, 8-6 OT. 139--Brenneman, NG, dec. Collins, CLF, 9-6. 145--Hoover, PC, dec. Bollman, CR, 6-4 TB2.
152--Berish, BC, dec. Celaschi, FR, 3-2. 160--McMonagle, HUN, pinned Angelo, FR, 5:10. 172--Orbin, CRH, dec. Lacinski, BUR, 3-1 OT. 189--Lawrence, FR, pinned Scheib, TV, 1:47. 215--Mathias, BB, pinned Quick, CC, 3:44. 285--Hagans, SOM, dec. Beach, NB, 3-0.
THIRD PLACE
(Listing results of wrestlers in Mirror's core coverage area)
114--Biesinger, CEN, dec. Bertucci, BUR, 4-1. 172--Snider, NB, dec. Marsalko, FH, 9-3.
SEVENTH PLACE
285--Summerville, PC, dec. Beeman, NG, 4-2.