PUNXSUTAWNEY – The Curwensville Area High School wrestling squad moved above the .500 mark with a convincing 48-27 victory over Punxsutawney on Tuesday night.
The win on the Chucks’ home mat gives the Golden Tide a 2-1 record. The Chucks slipped to 5-3 on the 2014-15 campaign.
First year Tide head coach Dean Swatsworth said after the victory, “We wrestled a lot better tonight since we were able to move guys down a weight. And we won six of the 10 bouts we wrestled, which to me is what I look at and consider very important.”
Punxsutawney jumped out to a quick 12-0 lead on a pin at 195 and a forfeit at 220.
Curwensville would answer with 27 straight points to take the lead and keep it the rest of the evening.
At 285, James Lee of Curwensville made quick work of Garrett Bennett, recording the fall in 57 seconds.
That pin was followed by Tide freshman Anthony Winebold picking up a forfeit at 106 and Seth Woolcock gaining a 5-0 decision over Punxsutawney junior Zoie Smith. Woolcock made his five first period points stand up with a takedown and near fall.
With Curwensville in front 15-12, two more forfeits pushed the Golden Tide margin to 27-12 as Jeremy Gardner at 120 and Ethan Collins at 126 picked up the automatic wins.
The Chucks picked up a fall at 132 to inch closer at 27-18, but any thoughts of a comeback were quickly extinguished as the Tide would register three first period falls in the next three bouts to secure the road victory.
Shae Bloom moved to 10-0 on the year for Curwensville with a :45 second pin of Stone Smith.
Sam Bressler at 145 and Jake Lancaster at 152 added pins after Bloom to give the Golden Tide a comfortable edge at 45-18.
Bressler took 1:35 to pin Tristen Herndon, which was followed by a :45 fall for Lancaster over Chuck junior Cody Smith.
Punxsutawney would get a fall at 160 before Tide sophomore Kaleb Witherite toughed out a 1-0 decision over Travis Perry, a Punxsutawney senior. A second period escape was all Witherite needed to win the most exciting bout of the night.
The Chucks would win the final bout, at 182, to set the final at 48-27 in favor of Curwensville.
Swatsworth closed briefly by saying, “We only gave up one forfeit, so we are almost at full strength. And I thought everyone gave a good effort, and we are getting better.”
In the junior high match preceding the varsity contest the Tide defeated Punxsutawney 52-18.
The Tide are on the road Thursday night with a match against Redbank Valley. The junior high action begins at 6 pm with the varsity to immediately follow.
Bout by Bout Results:
195 Blake Bizousky, P pinned Jake Stiles, Cur 5:18 0 6
220 Shaun Herndon, P won by forfeit 0 12
285 James Lee, Cur pinned Garrett Bennett, P :57 6 12
106 Anthony Winebold, Cur won by forfeit 12 12
113 Seth Woolcock, Cur dec Zoie Smith, P 5-0 15 12
120 Jeremy Gardner, Cur won by forfeit 21 12
126 Ethan Collins, Cur won by forfeit 27 12
132 Elijah Lambiotte, P pinned Logan Charles, Cur 1:49 27 18
138 Shae Bloom, Cur pinned Stone Smith, P :31 33 18
145 Sam Bressler, Cur pinned Tristen Herndon, P 1:35 39 18
152 Jake Lancaster, Cur pinned Cody Smith, P :45 45 18
160 Perry Arrington, P pinned Hunter Lancaster, Cur 1:28 45 24
170 Kaleb Witherite, Cur dec Travis Perry, P 1-0 48 24
180 Keegan Fischer, P dec Ben Junod, Cur 10-4 48 27
OFFICIAL: Randy Evans
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/06 | Mountaineer Tourney @ PO | 4th | 0 – 0 |
| 12/18 | @ Ridgway | 32 – 45 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/23 | JOHNSONBURG | 41 – 19 | 1 – 1 |
| 12/27&28 | Big Dog Tourney @ Brockway | 2nd | 1 – 1 |
| 01/06 | @ Punxsutawney | 48 – 27 | 2 – 1 |
| 01/08 | @ Redbank Valley | ||
| 01/13 | CLARION | ||
| 01/15 | GLENDALE | ||
| 01/17 | Bison Duals @ Clearfield | ||
| 01/21 | @ West Branch | ||
| 01/23&24 | Fred Bell Tourney @ Grove City | ||
| 01/27 | BROOKVILLE | ||
| 01/29 | MO VALLEY | ||
| 02/04 | CAMERON COUNTY | ||
| 02/12 | BROCKWAY | ||
| 02/20&21 | District 9 Champs @ Clarion | ||
| 02/27&28 | Nortwest Regionals @ Sharon | ||
| 03/05-07 | PIAA States @ Hershey |