CURWENSVILLE — The Curwensville Area High School wrestling team finally got to celebrate some success on Senior Night and Parents Night in Patton Hall Monday.
The previously-winless Golden Tide punctuated a tough, disappointing regular season with a 51-18 win over Oswayo Valley that featured four falls.
Sam Bressler at 126 pounds, Tyler Mays at 132, Ben Junod at 182 and Seth Connors at 285 were the pinners.
Jake Stiles (170) contributed a high-scoring decision, while Jeff Harvey (106), Jake Lancaster (138), Jordan Peters (145) and Hunter Lancaster (152) received forfeits.
“The kids were kind of up, and I thought we wrestled well,” Curwensville coach Duane Wriglesworth said. “It was good to finish on that winning note.”
Good because the Golden Tide’s dual-meet season had spiraled downhill to 0-14 after close losses to Brockway and Ridgway by a total of total of eight points in December. And they had bottom-tier finishes in three tournaments.
With short-handed Oswayo Valley at 2-15, Curwensville had every reason to check into the make-up match with some confidence, and Bressler and Mays provided a quick spark.
Leading 8-0 after taking down Trenton James for the third time, Bressler locked up a cradle for a fall at 2:37.
Mays, one of two seniors in the lineup, quickly made it 12-0 by stacking Hunter Lee with a reinforced arm bar and sitting through for a 42-second fall. He had pinned the Green Wave freshman in 56 seconds at Brockway’s Big Dog Tournament in December.
“Tyler has, all season, fought hard, but he’s been having some trouble with a health issue that was affecting his performance at the end of a match,” Wriglesworth noted, adding that the issue is being corrected.
“Tyler’s had a good career. Several times he’s been one match away from going to regionals. It’ll be interesting to see what he can do this week (at districts) now that we know how to combat this problem.”
Forfeits for the Lancasters and Peters assured Curwensville of the win since Harvey also had no opponent and Oswayo Valley had only five more wrestlers.
Sam Colebert, a PIAA qualifier last year after losing to eventual state runner-up Kyle Bova of Coudersport in the district finals at 152, got the Green Wave on the board by working Dakota Royer to his back with a reverse half-nelson and pressing his shoulders to the mat at 3:23.
Royer’s senior season has been compromised because of the high caliber of opponents such as Colebert, who is 24-2 with one of his losses to Bova.
“Dakota is at one of those weight classes where he seems to get the team’s stud every time,” Wriglesworth pointed out. “I feel bad for him.”
Then, Stiles came out on top of an entertaining 13-8 bout with Ryder Howard, whom he had pinned in 1:59 at the Big Dog tourney.
The 170-pounder traded five-point moves, Stiles using a chin pick and trip in the first period and Howard countering with a headlock from neutral late in the second period to make it 6-5. After Stiles threw in legs and turned Howard for three midway through the third period, the Green Wave soph reversed to cut the margin to 9-7. Stiles clinched it by executing a Peterson Roll for four points with 14 seconds remaining.
“I think Stiles got a little bit out of his element,” Wriglesworth said. “He was starting to use some unorthodox stuff that I don’t see him use. He could have lost that match easily. But one thing I like about him is that he has a lot of confidence.”
Junod almost pinned Lee Brown twice in the first minute before ending the 182 bout at 1:21 with a half nelson and arm bar to widen the gap to 39-6.
Oswayo Valley’s Dalton Green weighed in at 195 but moved up to 220 and pinned Remington McGarry at 1:46 with a half nelson and press.
In the final bout, Connors came from behind to avenge a Big Dog tourney loss to Carl Rodgers, who almost repeated that pin with his second wrist roll in the second period. Down 7-3, Connors switched off the bottom, turned Rodgers with a half and went chest-to-chest for a fall at 4:43.
“He almost got us again tonight, but we had worked on that,” Wriglesworth said. “Thank goodness we got the win. It was good to see improvement there.”
The Golden Tide has three practices to gear up for the District 9 Class AA Tournament that begins Friday at noon in Clarion University’s Tippin Gym.
CURWENSVILLE 51, OSWAYO VALLEY 18
126 – Sam Bressler, Cur, pinned Trenton James, 2:37. (6-0)
132 – Tyler Mays, Cur, pinned Hunter Lee, :42. (12-0)
138 – Jake Lancaster, Cur, won by forfeit. (18-0)
145 – Jordan Peters, Cur, won by forfeit. (24-0)
152 – Hunter Lancaster, Cur, won by forfeit. (30-0)
160 – Sam Colebert, OV, pinned Dakota Royer, 3:23. (30-6)
170 – Jake Stiles, Cur, dec. Ryder Howard, 13-8. (33-6)
182 – Ben Junod, Cur, pinned Lee Brown, 1:21. (39-6)
195 – No match.
220 – Dalton Green, OV, pinned Remington McGarry, 1:46. (39-12)
285 – Seth Connors, Cur, pinned Carl Rodgers, 4:42. (45-12)
106 – Jeff Harvey, Cur, won by forfeit. (51-12)
113 – No match.
120 – Kendal Keech, OV, won by forfeit. (51-18)
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/07 | @ Mountaineer Tourney (P-O) | 62.5 | 8th |
| 12/12 | @ Brockway | 33 – 39 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/19 | RIDGWAY | 34 – 36 | 0 – 2 |
| 01/02 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | ppd. | 0 – 2 |
| 01/06 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | ppd. | 0 – 2 |
| 01/09 | REDBANK VALLEY | 8 – 62 | 0 – 3 |
| 01/14 | @ Glendale | 25 – 52 | 0 – 4 |
| 01/16 | WEST BRANCH | 15 – 65 | 0 – 5 |
| 01/18 | @ Clearfield Duals | ||
| vs. General Mclane | 3 – 73 | 0 – 6 | |
| vs. Montoursville | 6 – 72 | 0 – 7 | |
| vs. Southern Huntingdon | 27 – 48 | 0 – 8 | |
| vs. Port Allegany | 30 – 42 | 0 – 9 | |
| 01/23 | @ Brookville | 18 – 65 | 0 – 10 |
| 01/24&25 | @ Fred Bell Tourney (Grove City) | 21st | 0 – 10 |
| 01/28 | @ Clarion | ppd. | 0 – 10 |
| 01/30 | @ Mo Valley | ppd. | 0 – 10 |
| 02/04 | @ Cameron County | 21 – 43 | 0 – 11 |
| 02/06 | PUNXSUTAWNEY | 9 – 64 | 0 – 12 |
| 02/07 | @ Mo Valley | 27 – 43 | 0 – 13 |
| 02/11 | @ Clarion | 18 – 58 | 0 – 14 |
| 02/13 | OSWAYO VALLEY | ppd. | 0 – 14 |
| 02/17 | OSWAYO VALLEY | 51 – 18 | 1 – 14 |
| 02/21&22 | Districts @ Clarion | ||
| 2/28 & 3/1 | Regionals @ Sharon | ||
| 03/06-08 | States @ Hershey |
Referee – Nick Sipes.