CURWENSVILLE – It all came down to Jeff Smallwood having to pick up a pin in the final bout of the evening to give the Curwensville wrestling team a chance to win on a criteria decision Thursday night on their home wrestling surface at Patton Hall.
The Golden Tide senior had the hometown crowd on its feet as he delivered the fall in just 48 seconds to tie the match with Brookville at 36-36 sending referee Jeff Lindenmuth to the scorers table to unravel all the criteria scenarios to decide the team victory.
After several minutes the decision was announced that Curwensville won on criteria “C” – Most six point wins. Curwensville had five, the Raiders four. Final score 37-36, Tide.
Turnabout is only fair, as last year the Raiders beat the Golden Tide 38-37 on criteria “B”, most individual bouts won.
Smallwood, at 130 pounds, came in at 12-6 and was going up against Dylan Zimmerman, a 21-9 Raider. Smallwood took Zimmerman directly to the mat and on his back to pick up the incredible pin and lift his team to victory.
Duane Wriglesworth, head coach of the Tide said afterwards, “Jeff (Smallwood) has really been working hard and has started to put it all together the last few weeks. It was a very special win for him and the team.”
Curwensville jumped out in front 6-0 on a pin by Brett Sutika at 135 over Dustin Dombrowski to start the festivities. Sutika was up 3-0 before ending the evening for Dombrowski.
The Raiders tied it after receiving a forfeit at 140 but then the Tide’s Wes McGarry put Curwensville back into the lead, 12-6, with a fall over Brendon Beyer at the 1:40 mark of the first period.
Brookville, now 5-11 on the year, would take the next four bouts, scoring 20 points, to forge in front 26-12 before Curwensville would add to its total of 12.
Tyler Dombroski of Brookville would pick up an 8-0 major decision over Curwensville sophomore Jeremy Bloom at 152, which was followed by the visitors receiving two forfeits, at 160 and 171.
Win number 17 on the year for Brookville’s Jacob Cieleski at 189 came against Jonathan Michaels by an 11-4 major decision to give the Raiders the 26-12 edge.
Both squads traded falls over the next two bouts. At 215 Nathan Russell of the Tide made quick work of Luke Geer, picking up the fall in just 17 seconds while Brookville heavyweight, Jacob Shields returned the favor when he pinned Walter Koontz in only 58 ticks of the clock.
The lead stretched to 18 for Brookville, 36-18, after the 103 match as Trey Constable got the third major decision of the night when he bested Greg Koptchak 14-6. Constable utilized four takedowns enroute to his 15th win.
It was now or never for the Tide with just four bouts remaining.
In a feature match up, Jake Keller, now 23-3 for Curwensville, was up against Brett Smith , now 22-8, for the Raiders. Keller picked up six first period points to grab a quick 6-2 lead after the first two minutes. The Tide freshman then rode out Smith the entire middle period before working for a reversal in the third to win 8-2 and keep the Tide’s hopes alive.
Derek Brothers picked up a forfeit at 119 to pull Curwensville within nine points, 36-27, with two bouts to go.
And what two bouts they were!
Tyler Peters did all he could to try and turn Ronald Clark of Brookville at 125 to inch the Tide closer. Peters didn’t garner the fall but did pick up five takedowns as he put the Tide within six with an 11-4 decision.
Then came Smallwood. Nothing less than a pin would be his mission. Mission accomplished. See above!
Wriglesworth was, as expected, elated, “We didn’t have our squad at full strength tonight due to injuries and things. But how we wrestled was very satisfying. These kids just fought and never gave up. It is, as I mentioned earlier, a special win for us and our program.”
In the junior high match Curwensville remained unbeaten at 10-0 in defeating the Raiders 48-32.
Curwensville, 13-7, will be traveling on Saturday to wrestle in the Indiana tournament.
Then the Golden Tide will take a short road trip when they wrestle arch rival Clearfield next Tuesday. The junior high match will start at 6 pm, with the varsity to immediately follow.
Listen to Clearfield-Curwensville wrestling on WOKW-FM, 102.9, next Tuesday from Clearfield High School starting at approximately 7 pm.
SUMMARY
135 Brett Sutika, C pinned Dustin Dombrowski, B 2:41 (6-0)
140 Derek Shattenburg, B won by forfeit (6-6)
145 Wes McGarry, C pinned Brendon Beyer, B 1:40 (12-6)
152 Tyler Dombrowski, B major dec Jeremy Bloom, C 8-0 (12-10)
160 Kyle Galbraith, B won by forfeit (12-16)
171 Aaron Kornhauser, B won by forfeit (12-22)
189 Jacob Cieleski, B major dec Jonathan Michaels, C 12-4 (12-26)
215 Nathan Russell, C pinned Luke Geer, B :17 (18-26)
285 Jacob Shields, B pinned Walter Koontz, C :58 (18-32)
103 Trey Constable, B major dec Greg Koptchak, C 14-6 (18-36)
112 Jake Keller, C dec Brett Smith, B 8-2 (21-36)
119 Derek Brothers, C won by forfeit (27-36)
125 Tyler Peters, C dec Ronald Clark, B 11-4 (30-36)
130 Jeff Smallwood, C pinned Dylan Zimmerman, B :48 (36-36)
CURWENSVILLE WINS ON CRITERIA “C”, MOST WINS BY SIX POINTS.