CURWENSVILLE – Winning six straight bouts from 120 pounds to the 152 pound weight class, the West Branch high school wrestling squad won for the fourth time in a row, handling Curwensville, Tuesday night, 52-21 on the Golden Tide’s mat.
The meet started at 220 pounds as Warrior Vince McDowell picked up a second period fall to give West Branch a lead, 6-0, they would never relinquish.
James Lee, at 285 for the Tide, did even the match, 6-6, with a pin in 5:44 over Trey Kalke. Lee was up 4-1 before turning his opponent.
A forfeit at 106 for West Branch did give the Warriors the lead back. A lead they would not surrender as they pushed their 2015-16 record to 4-1.
Freshman Blake Passarelli of the Golden Tide upped his season record to 10-0 with a 6-1 decision over Tyler Denochick with two takedowns and a reversal.
Then the Warriors won those six straight bouts with four falls, a forfeit and a decision to tally 33 straight points to take a 45-9 bulge, essentially ending any hopes of a Tide comeback and possible upset.
West Branch got pins from Nick Sample at 120, Dylan Confer at 138, Hunter Parks wrestling at 145 and Derek Yingling at 152.
At 120 Joey Couteret received a forfeit for the Warriors and at 132 Johnathan Bobbert won a close 3-2 decision over the Tide’s Dylan Myers.
All the points in the 132 pound match were scored in the first two minutes, with the escape for Bobbert being the difference.
Tide head coach Dean Swatsworth said afterwards, “West Branch is always ready to go with coach Bainey (Jason) over there. He has put together a real solid program the last several years.”
Shae Bloom, wrestling at 160 for Curwensville, broke the Warrior run with a pin in 5:22 over Kyle Myers after building an 8-1 lead.
Warrior Jarrett Bezilla won a major decision at 170 that gave West Branch a 49-15 margin with just two bouts remaining.
The last win on the evening for Curwensville came at 182 when junior Kaleb Witherite pinned Daniel Ryder in the first period at the 1:44 mark.
In perhaps the best match of the night West Branch senior Clayton Green outlasted Tide senior Ben Junod, 8-5.
Green had a 4-2 edge after one period and a 6-4 margin when the second two minutes expired.
Junod made it very interesting with a third period escape to move to within one point, 6-5, before Green picked up a late takedown to seal the win.
Swatsworth finished, saying, “We fought very well tonight. We knew it would be a battle to stay with West Branch but the boys fought very hard and for that, I am so proud of all of them. From the first meet (Ridgway) to tonight we have being working very hard and it’s starting to show. We’ll just move forward, keep working and be ready to go.”
The Golden Tide junior high defeated the Warriors in the first match of the night, 46-33.
Curwensville (4-3) will now be off until Tuesday, January 5, when they host the Punxsutawney Chucks.
Bout by bout results:
220 Vince McDowell, WB pinned Hunter Lancaster, CURW 2:17 0 6
285 James Lee, CURW pinned Trey Kalke, WB 5:44 6 6
106 Nathan Graham, WB won by Forfeit 6 12
113 Blake Passarelli, CURW dec Tyler Denochick, WB 6-1 9 12
120 Nick Sample, WB pinned Seth Woolcock, CURW 4:35 9 18
126 Joey Couteret, WB won by Forfeit 9 24
132 Johnathan Bobbert, WB dec Dylan Myers, CURW 3-2 9 27
138 Dylan Confer, WB pinned Ethan Collins, CURW :52 9 33
145 Hunter Parks, WB pinned Logan Charles, CURW 3:48 9 39
152 Derek Yingling, WB pinned Jordan Peters, CURW 1:59 9 45
160 Shae Bloom, CURW pinned Kyle Myers, WB 5:22 15 45
170 Jarrett Bezilla, WB major dec Tristen Bressler, CURW 14-6 15 49
182 Kaleb Witherite, CURW pinned Daniel Ryder, WB 1:44 21 49
195 Clayton Green, WB dec Ben Junod, CURW 8-5 21 52
REFEREE: Bob Peters
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/05 Mountaineer Tourney @ PO 110 pts. 6th
12/17 RIDGWAY 38 – 42 0 – 1
12/19 @ Redbank Valley Duals
vs. Keystone Oaks 45 – 33 1 – 1
vs. Oswayo Valley 66 – 17 2 – 1
vs. Slippery Rock 48 – 30 3 – 1
vs. Marion Center 28 – 37 3 – 2
vs. Smethport 45 – 15 4 – 2
12/22 WEST BRANCH 21 – 52 4 – 3
01/05 PUNXSUTAWNEY
01/07 REDBANK VALLEY
01/12 @ Clarion
01/22 @ Glendale
01/23 @ Clearfield Duals
01/26 @ Brookville
01/28 @ Mo Valley
01/29 & 30 Fred Bell Tourney @ Grove City
02/04 @ Cameron County
02/09 @ Johnsonburg
02/11 @ Brockway
02/26 & 27 District 9 AA Champs @Clfd HS
03/04 & 05 Northwest Regionals @ Sharon
03/10-03/12 PIAA States @ Hershey