PATTON — Championship performances by freshman Derek Brothers and senior Nick Sipes at opposite ends of the lineup and overall balance enabled the Curwensville Area High School wrestling team to share the Cambria Heights Invitational title with Blairsville Saturday.
Brothers, the second seed at 103 pounds, upended top seed A.J. Stininger of Midd-West 4-3 for his crown after defeating Adam Weinell of Blairsville 11-1.
Sipes upheld his top seed at 189 by edging Don Miller of Cambria Heights 3-2 after pinning Lance Clark of Everett in 3:27.
The Golden Tide, which accumulated 157 points with a come-from-behind performance, had 10 other placewinners.
Second seed Brett Sutika beat Calvin Claycomb of Everett 5-2 to reach the finals, where he was pinned by top seed Jack Rupert of United in 1:19.
Picking up third-place points were second seed Brett McCracken at 145, Jesse Hoover at 171 and third seed Nathan Russell at 215.
Tyler Peters at 112, Jeff Thomas at 130, Matt Holland at 152, Jarrett Sloppy at 160 and Joe Hawkins, filling for ailing Nick Caldwell at 285, settled for fourth place.
Justin Smith finished sixth at 140.
\”Any time your team finishes first in any tournament is something to be happy about,\” Curwensville coach Duane Wriglesworth II said. \”There was no point where were in first place before the finals. We were fifth and third, and then we found out we were only a couple of points going into the finals. Blairsville had five in the finals and won one match. We had three and won two.
\”Overall, we wrestled well. Most of the matches did make mistakes, they were aggressive mistakes. Any time that happens, I just overlook it and count it as experience. I\’m really happy with this group of kids. I can see them improving from one week to the next.\”
Wriglesworth said he was encouraged by the showings of the lightweights and heavyweights, noting that most of the Golden Tide wrestlers met or exceeded their seeds.
McCracken missed by one place, but he toughed it out after being questionable because of the flu until the morning of the tourney. Thomas, who had to default his consolation final to Amos Albright of West Branch after running out of injury time in the second period, gave champ Glen Winslow of Cambria Heights a battle in the semis, bowing 13-8 after leading 8-7 in the third period. The undersized Hawkins might have wound up third had the referee not awarded and then deducted three near fall points because of an illegal headlock in his bout with Brad Michaels of West Branch.
\”It might have been illegal, but not until after Hawkins had earned three points,\” Wriglesworth explained. \”That was a four-point swing. Hawkins was behind and ended up getting caught when he tried a desperation move. But I was very pleased with him.\”
The Golden Tide will put its 2-2 dual meet record on the line against West Branch (1-4) Thursday at Allport. The Warriors finished fifth with 118 points with had one champion, Shane Pewanick at 112, and a quartet of third placers.
1. (tie) Curwensville (Cu) and Blairsville (B), 157 points; 3. Cambria Heights (CH), 137; 4. United (U), 127; 5. West Branch (WB), 118; 6. Midd-West (MW), 102.5; 7. Everett (E), 101; 8. Portage (P), 96; 9. Northern Cambria (NC), 88.
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
103 — Derek Brothers, Cu, dec. A.J. Stininger, MW, 4-3; 112 — Shane Pewanick, WB, dec. Ben Clawson, B, 8-1; 119 — Jack Rupert, U, pinned Brett Sutika, Cu, 1:19; 125 — Scott Knarr, NC, dec. Shawn Perich, P, 4-2; 130 — Glen Winslow, CH, pinned Joel Rudy, B, 4:26; 135 — Robbie Roxby, P, dec, Jeff Miller, B, 2-0 (ot); 140 — Tyler Knepp, MW, dec. Steve Lutz, P, 5-0; 145 — Joe Leppert, CH, dec. Andy Paronish, NC, 10-7; 152 — John Rajnish, NC, dec. Jayme Borbonus, B, 5-2; 160 — Matt Moore, B, pinned Tyler Capitosti, U, 1:20; 171 — Chris Baker, MW, pinned Jake Shaffer, CH, 3:37; 189 — Nick Sipes, Cu, dec. Don Miller, CH, 3-2; 215 — Andy Turner, NC, pinned Emmanuel Wright, E, 2:59; 285 — Andy Fink, U, pinned Travis Macidyn, P, 4:28.
Other Curwensville results:
CONSOLATION FINALS (THIRD PLACE)
112 — Tyler Overdorff, U, dec. Tyler Peters, Cu, 6-5; 130 — Amos Albright, WB, won by default over Thomas, Cu, second period; 145 — Brett McCracken, Cu, dec. Ernie Vogel, U, 2-1; 152 — Zach McLaughlin, MW, dec. Matt Holland, Cu, 10-5; 160 — Quist, CH, major dec. Jarrett Sloppy, Cu, 8-0; 171 — Jesse Hoover, Cu, dec. Zac Rudy, B, 7-2; 215 — Nathan Russell, Cu, dec. Eric Smith, U, 4-0; 285 — Brad Michaels, WB, pinned Joe Hawkins, Cu, 4:59.
CONSOLATION FINALS (FIFTH PLACE)
140 — Scott Hoe, B, pinned Justin Smith, Cu, 3:52.
CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS
112 — Peters, Cu, pinned Collin Troxell, E, 2:15; Thomas, Cu, pinned Mike Feathers, E, 1:32; 140 — Jonathan Demchak, WB, pinned Smith, Cu,
2:03; 145 — McCracken, Cu, dec. Jeremy Kanouff, WB, 4-2 (ot); 152 — Holland, Cu, major dec. Bryce Beach, CH, 14-3; 215 — Russell, Cu, major dec. Glenn Linberg, WB, 15-4; 285 — Hawkins, Cu, pinned Dave Commons, CH, 2:28.
CONSOLATION QUARTERFINALS
135 — Billy Clark, U, pinned Justin Johnston, Cu, 5:02; 145 — Smith, Cu, dec. Jimmy Davis, NC, 3-0; 152 — Holland, Cu, dec. Dan Dreibelbis, WB, 6-1.
CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
103 — Brothers, Cu, major dec. Adam Weinell, B, 11-1; Clawson, B, pinned Peters, 3:36; 119 — Sutika, Cu, dec. Calvin Claycomb, E, 5-2;
Winslow, CH, dec. Thomas, 13-8; 145 — Paronish, NC, dec. McCracken, Cu, 8-4; 160 — Capitosti, U, dec. Sloppy, Cu, 8-3; 171 — Shaffer, CH, pinned Hoover, Cu, 5:02; 189 — Sipes, Cu, pinned Lance Clark, E, 3:27; 215 — Wright, E, dec. Russell, Cu, 3-1; 285 — Fink, U, major dec. Hawkins, Cu, 8-0.
CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTERFINALS
140 — Hoe, B, pinned Smith, Cu, 3:25; 145 — McCracken, Cu, pinned Jake Adams, P, 1:29; McLaughlin, MW, dec. Holland, Cu, 6-2; 171 — Hoover, Cu, dec. Tim Rash, U, 7-3; 215 — Russell, Cu, pinned Donovan Plummer, MW, 1:00; 285 — Hawkins, Cu, dec. Kyle Marlett, B, 3-1.
CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND
135 — Brian Faust, E, dec. Johnston, Cu, 4-0.