CURWENSVILLE – In a unique night of high school wrestling, the Curwensville Area High School wrestling team took on a doubleheader at the home of the Golden Tide, Patton Hall.
In the first match, it was Cameron County improving to 18-7 on the season with a thrilling 42-36 win over the Tide that came down to a forfeit in the last weight class, as the Tide just simply ran out of wrestlers.
Next up it was the Moshannon Valley Black Knights taking on Curwensville, and in the end the Knights improved to 16-5 with a come from behind 43-31 victory.
The first match of the Red Raider and Tide battle was at 138, which was also billed as the featured bout of the meet. And it was Shea Bloom of Curwensville winning by a 4-0 decision over Raider Paul Etchepare with a second period escape and a three point near fall in the third period. Bloom improved to 23-2 while Etchepare lost for only the second time this year and fell to 25-2.
Curwensville got back to back pins at 145 and 152 as Tide senior Sam Bressler pinned Jared Whiting in 3:14 followed by a 22 second fall from teammate Jake Lancaster to give Curwensville a 15-0 lead.
After a Cameron County pin at 160 pounds put the first points on the scoreboard for the Red Raiders, the Tide would follow with two more pins that gave them their biggest lead of the night at 27-6.
Golden Tide sophomore Kaleb Witherite improved to 17-11 with a pin in 1:21 over Bryan Boleen, and then Ben Junod followed using just 52 seconds to pick up a fall over Bryce Heim of Cameron County.
Then, however, things started to turn in favor of the Red Raiders as a comeback was about to unfold before an almost packed Patton Hall.
Cameron County won the next four weight classes; a pin at 195, a forfeit at 220, and then pins at 285 and 106 to take the lead for the first time at 30-27.
Tide junior Seth Woolcock, at 113, picked up a big 8-3 decision over Cameron County’s Brock Foltz with seven points in the third period. Woolcock used a takedown and two near falls, in the third, to win for the sixth time this season and tie the team score at 30-30.
Curwensville took the lead for the last time with a forfeit being awarded Jeremy Gardner at 120 pounds to push the Tide back in front at 36-30.
A pin at 126 for Cameron County knotted the contest at 36-36.
Then the bad news for the Tide faithful hoping to see an upset. Curwensville was out of wrestlers and had to forfeit at 132 pounds, the final bout, which gave the Red Raiders the exciting victory, 42-36.
Tide head coach Dean Swatsworth said afterwards, “ I thought we wrestled a little sloppy against Cameron County. I just expected us to wrestle better. But they’re (Cameron County) a pretty tough team and we need good match-ups, but that’s no excuse. You just go out and wrestle hard and see what happens.”
Then came the Moshannon Valley team onto the Tide mat for meet number two of the night.
Fate struck again as the opening bout, at 145 pounds, was considered the featured bout between the Tide and Knights.
Sophomore Larry Brown of Moshannon Valley, at 21-3 on the year, faced 19-7 Sam Bressler of the Tide, a senior.
Bressler limited Brown to just three escapes while utilizing three takedowns, an escape and a two point near fall to pick up a 9-3 decision to get Curwensville rolling out into the lead, 3-0.
At 152 pounds the Golden Tide’s Jake Lancaster picked up the quickest fall of the night, (both meets), in just 16 seconds over Joe Holencik giving Curwensville a quick 9-0 margin.
Moshannon Valley then won at 160 with a fall, and a major decision at 172 gave the Black Knights the lead at 10-9.
The Tide came right back to go out in front 13-10, as Ben Junod picked up a major decision, 9-0, at 182, with a takedown, reversal and two near falls over Clayton Steward.
Four forfeits would follow as the Black Knights received two, at 195 and 106 pounds while the Tide picked up one at 220 with Jake Stiles and one with Seth Connors at 285.
After all that, it was Curwensville still in the lead 25-22.
Wrestling started again at 113 with Moshannon Valley regaining the edge over their hosts, 28-25, with a pin.
What followed would spell doom for Curwensville, as the Knights won by decision at 120, followed by falls at 126 and 132 to seal the win.
Tide junior Shae Bloom did send the Curwensville fans home a little happy with a pin in 1:41 over Nick Krupa that set the final score at 43-31 in favor of Moshannon Valley. Bloom now has a 24-2 season mark.
First year head coach Dean Swatsworth after the loss to Moshannon Valley, said, “I thought we wrestled better in the second match than we did in the first, even though the score doesn’t indicate that. It usually comes down to one or two matches and tonight was no different.”
Then Swatsworth added, “As a team, we just need to come together to get the job done.”
When asked about the doubleheader his team just wrestled in, the Tide coach said, “It’s kind of rough, hectic, you know. Trying to get ready for two meets in one night is difficult. But hey, no excuses though.”
The Golden Tide junior high team upped its record to 9-5 with a 66-6 win over Cameron County in the evening’s first match.
There was no junior high meet between Curwensville and Moshannon Valley.
Referee Nick Sipes had a long night as he officiated all three matches.
The Tide (4-11) will wrestle one more dual meet before the District 9 tournament, next Thursday at home, against the Brockway Rovers. The match had originally been scheduled for December 11 at Curwensville. Junior high activity will start at 6 pm with the varsity to immediately follow.
Listen to the Curwensville-Brockway match on WOKW-FM, 102.9, with the pre-game show starting at 7 pm.
CURWENSVILLE – CAMERON COUNTY SUMMARY
138 Shae Bloom, Cur dec Paul Etchepare, CC 4-0 3 0
145 Sam Bressler, Cur pinned Jared Whiting, CC 3:14 9 0
152 Jake Lancaster, Cur pinned Parker Lumley, CC :22 15 0
160 Robert Setzer, CC pinned Hunter Lancaster, Cur 2:45 15 6
170 Kaleb Witherite, Cur pinned Bryan Boleen, CC 1:21 21 6
182 Ben Junod, Cur pinned Bryce Heim, CC :52 27 6
195 Jacy Langley, CC pinned Jake C. Stiles, Cur 1:50 27 12
220 Austin Smoker, CC received forfeit FF 27 18
285 Jack Carsten, CC pinned Seth Connors, Cur :52 27 24
106 Scott Cokely, CC pinned Anthony Winebold, Cur 1:27 27 30
113 Seth Woolcock, Cur dec Brock Foltz, CC 8-3 30 30
120 Jeremy Gardner, Cur received forfeit FF 36 30
126 Brandon Saline, CC pinned Ethan Collins, Cur 1:34 36 36
132 Ethan Vislay, CC received forfeit FF 36 42
OFFICIAL: Nick Sipes
CURWENSVILLE – MOSHANNON VALLEY SUMMARY
145 Sam Bressler, Cur dec Larry Brown, MV 9-3 3 0
152 Jake Lancaster, Cur pinned Joe Holencik, MV :16 9 0
160 Devon Thomas, MV pinned Hunter Lancaster, Cur 2:56 9 6
170 Ryan Thomas, MV major dec Kaleb Witherite, Cur 12-3 9 10
182 Ben Junod, Cur major dec Clayton Steward, MV 9-0 13 10
195 Cody Hamilton, MV received forfeit FF 13 16
220 Jake Stiles, Cur received forfeit FF 19 16
285 Seth Connors, Cur received forfeit FF 25 16
106 Dylan Hamilton, MV received forfeit FF 25 22
113 Joe Ball, MV pinned Anthony Winebold, Cur 2:35 25 28
120 Patrick Dugan, MV dec Seth Woolcock, Cur 8-2 25 31
126 Liam Bennett, MV pinned Jeremy Gardner, Cur 2:07 25 37
132 Max Demko, MV pinned Ethan Collins, Cur :54 25 43
138 Shae Bloom, Cur pinned Nick Krupa, MV 1:41 31 43
OFFICIAL: Nick Sipes
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 | 31 – 42 | 2 – 2 |
| 01/13 | CLARION | 18 – 43 | 2 – 3 |
| 01/15 | GLENDALE | 45 – 30 | 3 – 3 |
| 01/17 | Bison Duals @ Clearfield | ||
| 01/17 | vs. Port Allegany | 43 – 29 | 4 – 3 |
| 01/17 | vs. General McLane | 3 – 69 | 4 – 4 |
| 01/17 | vs. Montoursville | 0 – 73 | 4 – 5 |
| 01/17 | vs. West Branch | 18 – 64 | 4 – 6 |
| 01/17 | vs. Coughlin | 30 – 49 | 4 – 7 |
| 01/21 | @ West Branch | ppd. | 4 – 7 |
| 01/22 | @ West Branch | 23 – 56 | 4 – 8 |
| 01/23&24 | Fred Bell Tourney @ Grove City | 18th | 4 – 8 |
| 01/27 | BROOKVILLE | 25 – 48 | 4 – 9 |
| 01/29 | MO VALLEY | ppd. | 4 – 9 |
| 02/02 | MO VALLEY | ppd. | 4 – 9 |
| 02/04 | CAMERON COUNTY | 36 – 42 | 4 – 10 |
| 02/04 | MO VALLEY | 31 – 43 | 4 – 11 |
| 02/12 | BROCKWAY | ||
| 02/20&21 | District 9 Champs @ Clarion | ||
| 02/27&28 | Nortwest Regionals @ Sharon | ||
| 03/05-07 | PIAA States @ Hershey |