ALTOONA — Bison heavyweight Sean Owen battled through the consolation bracket to win a bronze medal at the Class AAA Northwest Regional Championships last night at the Altoona Fieldhouse.
\”[Sean] had to regroup last night and go back out after a tough loss like that to just try to get a win to stay in the tournament,\” said head wrestling coach Jeff Aveni. \”We did that, regrouped last night and I told him today, ‘this is a new tournament and you got to win it. You have three matches to win, take one match at a time and don’t worry about anyone else until you beat the first guy.’ He won one match at a time and made it into the consolation finals. The kid with the biggest heart ends up with a win there. Sean has a big heart and worked for that.\”
Owen reeled off two decision wins en route his consolation finals appearance, where he pushed returning state placewinner Nate Knepp (Indian Valley, Sr., 30-12) to a ride out.
After a scoreless first period, Owen escaped to take a 1-0 lead. Both wrestlers took the cautious route, resulting in a double stall warning.
Knepp escaped in the third and double stall warning made it two all at the end of regulation.
Owen and Knepp went scoreless in the overtime period to send the bout to a tiebreaker, where the two swapped escapes.
Owen fought for the escape in the ride out to win 4-3.
\”I wish he could have been a little more aggressive there,\” said Aveni. \”I think he could have taken some more shots, but we told him, ‘you got to be smart in this match. One takedown is going to win this match.’ Nobody ever got one so it did go to a ride out. He’s learning to wrestle a smarter match. It was a great performance; I thought he wrestled a great match. That kid took sixth at states last year. It was a tough match in the consolation finals, but he wrestled a smart match. He hung in there, stayed focused on what he wanted to do and got the win.\”
Owen’s trip to the consolation final bout featured a key re-match with Travis Chappel (Titusville, Jr. 25-6).
Chappel handed Owen a 5-2 loss in the consolation finals at Williamsport’s Top Hat Tournament.
However, Owen would get revenge with a 5-1 decision in round two.
Owen took a 2-1 advantage into the final period, where he added an escape and takedown to secure the win.
\”I knew coming into today that it was probably our key match because he’s big,\” said Aveni. \”He’s probably the biggest kid here. He had beaten us at Top Hat and taken us down a couple times. I knew we had to be the guy, who was the aggressor to keep him on his heels. We did that. I thought Sean wrestled a great match. It’s probably one of the best he’s wrestled all year. He took smart shots and when he had the opportunity to score he did. That was a big win for him.\”
Owen landed his spot in the consolation finals with a 9-5 win over Shawn McFadden (General McLane, Jr., 18-9).
Owen led 5-1 heading into the third, where McFadden picked up a reversal to pull within two. However, Owen notched an escape and follow-up takedown to make it 8-3.
McFadden scored on another reversal, but Owen escaped to set the final.
Owen raised his season record to 31-7 on the season, with 19 wins coming by fall.
Owen will return to action Thursday at the PIAA State Championships at Hershey’s Giant Center.
\”We’re going to enjoy the fact we’re heading down there and Monday we’ll start to regroup,\” said Aveni. \”That’s a wide open weight class and anything can happen. I think we’ll open some eyes up down there.\”
Team Score
1. Bald Eagle Area……………….………..147
2. Central Mountain……………….…….134.5
3. Bellefonte………………………….….…107
4. Lewistown……………………………..….94
5. Indian Valley……………………………81.5
6. DuBois………………………………………76
7. Erie Cathedral Prep…………………….. 63
8. General McLane………………………….54
9, Conneaut Lake…………………………..45
10. Altoona……………………..……………38.5
11. McDowell………………………………….26
11. State College…………………………….26
13. Hollidaysburg………………………….25.5
14. Warren………………….…………………25
15. Johnstown………………………………..24
16. Meadville……………………………….23.5
17. Corry……………………………………….22
18. St. Marys………………………………….20
19. Clearfield………………………………….18
19. Titusville…………………………………..18
21.Philipsburg-Osceola…………………….15
22. Erie Strong Vincent…………………….11
23. Franklin……………………………………..9
24. Allderdice…………………………………..8
25. Punxsutawney…………………………..6
26. Langley……………………………………5
27. Brashear…………………………………4
28. Perry……………………………………….3
29. Peabody………………………………….2
Final – First Place
103 – Mitchell Port (Bellefonte) WBD Jordan Rich (Central Mountain), 3-1
112 – Matt Snyder (Lewistown) WBF Steve Mancuso (McDowell), 1:35
119 – Nic Bedelyon (Indian Valley) WBD Ethan Swope (DuBois), 7-1
125 – Dylan Alton (Central Mountain) WBD Chad Frankhouser (Indian Valley), 7-3
130 – Andrew Alton (Central Mountain) WBD Mike Robinson (Lewistown), 3-2 OT
135 – Jake Shirk (Bald Eagle Area) WBD Jonathan Quiggle (Central Mountain), 13-9
140 – Jamal Lyons (Erie Cathedral) WBD Adam Will (Indian Valley), 11-5
145 – Grant Paswall (Bald Eagle Area) WBD Steve Bosak (State College), 5-1
152 – Cash Horne (Conneaut Lake) WBD Nick Milano (Erie Cathedral), 1-0
160 – Quentin Wright (Bald Eagle Area) WBD Zach Lundgren (DuBois), 5-3 OT
171 – Will Harris (Johnstown) WBD Ryan MacNamera (Bald Eagle Area), 11-5
189 – Ryan Maggs (Central Mountain) WBF J.R. Brown (Bellefonte), 5:24
215 – Kevin Struble (Bald Eagle Area) WBD Josh Wensel (Bellefonte), 9-4
285 – Brant Clouser (Altoona) WBD Tim Watson (Bald Eagle Area), 5-4
Consolation Final – Third Place
103 – Keith Scharrer (General McLane) WBD Erik Galloway (State College), 1-0
112 – Nick Wykoff (DuBois) WBD Rocco Welleck (Erie Cathedral), 2-1 OT TB
119 – Brandon Potts (Altoona) WBD Colton Spade (Lewistown), 9-3
125 – Matt Bonson (Lewistown) WBD Addison Snyder (Bellefonte), 7-3
130 – Preston Snyder (Bellefonte) WBF Anthony Blaszczyk (Erie Cathedral), 2:00
135 – Dan Pascuzzi (Warren) WBD Eric Zelina (General McLane), 3-2
140 – Clint Copeland (Conneaut Lake) WBD Brian Greenlee (Franklin), 2-0
145 – Shane Alterio (Bellefonte) WBD Billy Morrison (DuBois), 7-4
152 – Matt Gregg (Lewistown) WBD Lynn Hakin (Central Mountain), 12-10 OT
160 – Bryan Towers (Meadville) WBD Joe Anderson (Titusville), 4-3
171 – Eric Lundgren (DuBois) WBD Clay Steadman (General McLane), 7-4
189 – Brian Kochick (Bald Eagle Area) WBD DeAndre Bell (Erie Strong Vincent), 3-2
215 – John Mangol (Corry) WBD Brad Riggleman (Hollidaysburg), 2-1
285 – Sean Owen (Clearfield) WBD Nate Knepp (Indian Valley), 4-3 OT TB