Curwensville Wrestlers Surprise Brockway 43-36

As Golden Tide head coach Duane Wriglesworth explained afterwards, “We had several wrestlers who only had four or five days of practice before this match due to the length of the football season and I am really surprised and happy on the great effort the entire team put forth.”

Starting at the 189 weight class the Tide’s Kyle Kyler picked up a forfeit only to be followed by three forfeits for the Rovers. Zach Brinkley at 215, Joel Yahner at 285, and Devin Park at 103 all had their arms raised in victory without an opponent across the way in the center circle.

With the Rovers leading 18-6 freshman Tyler Mays of Curwensville inched the Tide closer with a forfeit of his own at 112 to make it 18-12 Brockway.

Then came the before Christmas fireworks as Greg Koptchak, a senior, picked up a fall at 119 over Justin Prave in 1:18 to knot the match at 18 all.

However the biggest bang of the night came at 125 when Curwensville freshman Trey McKenzie, wrestling in his first ever varsity match, brought the hometown crowd to their feet. Trailing 7-1 to Rover Troy Hidinger, a sophomore veteran, McKenzie scored 10 unanswered points to pull out an 11-7 win that put the Tide in front, where they would stay, 21-18. McKenzie used two three point near falls in the third period to ice the win.

Then another big boom for the Tide was when sophomore Brandon Sass took Brockway’s William Edwards to the mat early in the first period picking up the fall in just 53 seconds at 130.

Tide junior and seasoned veteran Jake Keller wasted no time in pinning Justin Marshall in quick fashion with just 37 seconds gone in their 135 match to put the Curwensville grapplers in command at 33-18.

A forfeit for the Tide’s Nate Wriglesworth at 140 and a pin for Brockway’s D. J. Forrest at 145 still had the Tide in the lead 39-24 with three bouts remaining.

All sophomore Hunter McCracken needed to do was pick up a win to ensure a Tide victory. McCracken didn’t disappoint the Curwensville faithful as he gained a 13-3 major decision over Casey Wolfe of Brockway giving the Tide an insurmountable lead of 43-24 with two remaining.

Brockway had the two Hartless boys left, Trevor at 160 and Nathan at 171, and both responded with falls to set the final tally at 43-36 in favor of Curwensville.

Wriglesworth knows much work is still needed, “We are still getting all the guys in shape for the long haul. We have a demanding schedule so we have lots of work left to do.”

Curwensville will wrestle in the two day Penn Manor tournament starting on Friday with their next dual meet coming on December 23 at West Branch.

The Curwensville junior high squad, under the direction of coach Mike Bookhamer, opened their season in the first match with a thrilling 48-44 win over Brockway.

RESULTS

WT. CLASS                                       CURW BKWY

189 Kyle Kyler – Curw won by forfeit 6 0

215 Zach Brinkley – Bkwy won by forfeit 6 6

285 Joel Yahner – Bkwy won by forfeit 6 12

103 Devin Park – Bkwy won by forfeit 6 18

112 Tyler Mays – Curw won by forfeit 12 18

119 Greg Kootchar – Curw pinned Justin Prave – Bkwy 1:18 18 18

125 Trey McKenzie – Curw dec. Troy Hidinger – Bkwy 11-7 21 18

130 Brandon Sass – Curw pinned William Edwards – Bkwy :53 27 18

135 Jake Keller – Curw pinned Justin Marshall – Bkwy :37 33 18

140 Nate Wriglesworth – Curw won by forfeit 39 18

145 D. J. Forrest – Bkwy pinned Austin Pollick – Curw 4:45 39 24

152 Hunter McCracken – Curw major dec. Casey Wolfe -Bkwy 13-3 43 24

160 Trevor Hartless – Bkwy pinned Jason Baker – Curw 1:49 43 30

171 Nathan Hartless – Bkwy pinned Lewis Rhine – Curw 1:49 43 36

REFEREE – Dick Wood