AMESVILLE – The Curwensville Area High School wrestling team seized the early lead but Moshannon Valley, on track for its first winning season in more than two decades, swept the six bouts from 152 through 220 pounds en route to a 43-23 victory in Lamont Close Gymnasium Tuesday night.
Heavyweight Brad Stubbs and bantam Sam Bressler registered falls for the Golden Tide after the Black Knights had salted away their 13th win in 19 matches.
Earlier, a technical fall by undefeated Jake Keller at 138 and decisions by Tyler Mays at 120 and Alex Holt at 145 have given Curwensville an 11-6 start.
“Overall, it kind of what was expected,” coach Duane Wriglesworth said after the Golden Tide slipped to 5-5. “There were a couple of matches I thought, maybe, we could have pulled out.
“Otherwise, the kids wrestled tough. And I saw some improvement from the last match.”
Curwensville, coming off a disappointing showing against Redbank Valley, got a spark when Mays bounced back from only his second loss to ride Bryce Bloom for the final 3:50 to prevail 4-2 in the opening bout. The Golden Tide soph (12-2) hit a throw-by for the first-period takedown and then sat out for a quick reversal in the second period against the Black Knight (8-11), who was down to 120 for the first time this season.
Andrew Ohler got the hosts even with his superiority in the neutral position at 126. He took down Brandon Sass four times and limited him to five escapes in a 10-5 decision.
“I knew Sass was gonna have a tough match,” Wriglesworth said.
In what Wriglesworth regarded as one of the toss-ups, Trey McKenzie showed the effects of being out nearly a month because of a back injury in a 4-2 loss to Kent Selvage. A reversal with 1:03 remaining settled the 132 bout. Selvage also had a takedown, while McKenzie could only earn an escape to go with a penalty point, both in the middle period.
“You could tell his game speed was off a little bit,” Wriglesworth said. “He gets up to game speed, I feel we win that match.”
Keller (14-0) put the Golden Tide back in front, 8-6, by methodically piling up the points for an 18-1 tech fall in 3:21. He parlayed three takedowns with four sets of back points against Dylan Fudalski.
“Jake always works hard for us,” Wriglesworth said.
Holt followed with his first on-the-mat victory of the season in thrilling fashion. Headlocked twice by Samuel Ohler for takedowns in the first period, the Golden Tide senior trailed 5-3 going to the third period. He broke free after 30 seconds and then got a go-ahead takedown with 52 ticks left. Then, Holt caught Ohler in a tilt for a three-point nearfall with 12 seconds remaining to win 9-5.
“We were looking to, hopefully, get Jake up against Ohler,” Wriglesworth said. “But it worked out that Holt ended up winning. That was a big match for Holt coming from behind. I was really impressed with him.”
The momentum quickly shifted back to the Black Knights when Tanner Dipko, leading only 2-1, reversed and pinned Dakota Royer 35 seconds into the second period at 152.
Three teammates, two of them undefeated, matched Dipko’s fall to highlight Moshannon Valley’s meet-clinching run.
Tyler Martin (17-2) led Nate Wriglesworth 8-1 when he switched off the third-period whistle and hooked up a cross-face cradled to end the 170 bout at 4:25, James Stodart (19-0) cradled Jake Kavelak in 49 seconds at 195 and Logan Cook (7-0) stuck Ricky Magnuson on his back in 45 seconds at 220 to win the pin pool and sealed the win for the Black Knights at 37-11.
Kameron Swoope escaped with 45 seconds left to break a 5-5 tie with Austin Pollick and later took him down to his back to triumph 11-5 at 160. Pollick had a pair of takedowns and an escape that offset Swoope’s reversal and three-point nearfall as time ran out in the first period.
At 182, Black Knight Dylan Ludwig (13-0) major decisioned Chad Desmett 12-2 with pairs of takedowns and nearfalls plus a reversal.
With the outcome decided, Stubbs charged out and posted the quickest fall of the meet in a wild 41-second scramble with Gage Domanick, who was in the Mo Valley lineup for the first time. Stubbs hit a lateral drop, got reversed to his back and powered out of trouble to catch the Black Knight senior in a front double arm bar.
“(Stubbs) went out there very aggressive and gave us something to cheer about,” Wriglesworth said. “We’ve been working with him in the room, working on his confidence, and he went right out there and went right after him.”
After Curwensville forfeited to William Bryan at 106, Bressler (10-5) bumped up to 113 and pinned Jeremy Clancy with a half-nelson and press at 3:32. Clancy, another Black Knight senior making his first appearance of the season, was ahead 3-2 at the time of the fall.
The schedule certainly doesn’t get any easier for the Golden Tide, which hosts Ridgway (14-1) Thursday night and then takes on the Elkers again Saturday along with a trio of undefeated teams in one of the two pools at the Clearfield Duals.
MOSHANNON VALLEY 43, CURWENSVILLE 23
120 – Tyler Mays, Cur, dec. Bryce Bloom, 4-2. (Cur 3-0)
126 – Andrew Ohler, MV, dec. Brandon Sass, 10-5. (3-3)
132 – Mike Selvage, MV, dec. Trey McKenzie, 4-2. (MV 6-3)
138 – Jake Keller, Cur, tech fall over Dylan Fudalski, 18-1 in 3:21. (Cur 8-6)
145 – Alex Holt, Cur, dec. Samuel Ohler, 9-5. (Cur 11-6)
152 – Tanner Dipko, MV, pinned Dakota Royer, 2:35. (MV 12-11)
160 – Kameron Swoope, MV, dec. Austin Pollick, 11-5. (MV 15-11)
170 – Tyler Martin, MV, pinned Nate Wriglesworth, 4:25. (MV 21-11)
182 – Dylan Ludwig, MV, major dec. Chad Desmett, 12-2. (25-11)
195 – James Stodart, MV, pinned Jake Kavelak, :49. (MV 31-11)
220 – Logan Cook, MV, pinned Ricky Magnuson, :45. (MV 37-11)
285 – Brad Stubbs, Cur, pinned Gage Domanick, :41. (MV 37-17)
106 – William Bryan, MV, won by forfeit. (MV 43-17)
113 – Sam Bressler, Cur, pinned Jeremy Clancy, 3:32. (MV 43-23)
Referee – Dick Wood.