ALLPORT — West Branch earned a 5-4 edge in contested bouts and received three of the four forfeits to defeat Curwensville 51-28 in schoolboy wrestling action Thursday night.
Blake Passarelli and Dylan Myers gave the visiting Golden Tide a 12-0 start with back-to-back falls at 120 and 126 pounds, respectively, but only Anthony Winebold’s forfeit win at 132 interrupted the Warriors run through the middle and light heavy weights to a 36-18 lead that all but locked up the victory.
Passarelli (7-2) took Chris Swoope down three times and logged the quickest of the Golden Tide’s three pins in 33 seconds.
Myers ended his bout with Hudson Pase 17 seconds into the second period.
West Branch (10-2) then combined falls by Dylan Confer at 132, Jarrett Bezilla at 145 and Derek Yingling at 170 with forfeits for Josh Cantolina at 152, Matthew White at 160 and Kyle Myers at 182 to take control.
Curwensville’s other points came on a fall in 1:24 by Kaleb Witherite (9-3) against Seth Sankey at 195 and a 14-2 major decision by Steven McClure (7-1) over Nathaniel Thompson at 285.
The Warriors closed out their win with Jacob Shaw’s fall at 220, Nathan Graham’s forfeit at 106 and Tyler Denochick’s 3-0 decision over Zach Holland at 113.
“I thought we wrestled a little bit better than we did Saturday at the Indiana Tournament,” coach Dean Swatsworth said, noting the Golden Tide didn‘t practice Tuesday due to early dismissal and then didn‘t have the type of practice he would have liked Wednesday when classes were canceled. “We came up a little short in a couple bouts that could have gone either way.
“The kids we have are working hard. The little mistakes we’re still making are what we have to work on now.”
Curwensville (1-3) will have a week to make some of those improvements in preparing for its first home match of the season next Thursday against Johnsonburg.
WEST BRANCH 51, CURWENSVILLE 28
120 – Blake Passarelli, C, pinned Chris Swoope, :33. (0-6)
126 – Dylan Myers, C, pinned Hudson Pase, 2:17. (0-12)
132 – Dylan Confer, WB, pinned Ethan Collins, 1:18. (6-12)
138 – Anthony Winebold, C, won by forfeit. (6-18)
145 – Jarrett Bezilla, WB, pinned Cole Bressler, 1:43. (12-18)
152 – Josh Cantolina, WB, won by forfeit. (18-18)
160 – Matthew White, WB, won by forfeit. (24-18)
170 – Derek Yingling, WB, pinned Mason Lancaster, :24. (30-18)
182 – Kyle Myers, WB, won by forfeit. (36-18)
195 – Kaleb Witherite, C, pinned Seth Sankey, 1:35. (36-24)
220 – Jacob Shaw, WB, pinned Nick Stewart, 1:43. (42-24)
285 – Steven McClure, C, major dec. Nathaniel Thompson, 14-2. (42-28)
106 – Nathan Graham, WB, won by forfeit. (48-28)
113 – Tyler Denochick, WB, dec. Zach Holland, 3-0. (51-28)
Golden Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/10 | Mountaineer Tourney @ PO | 77 pts. | 8th place |
| 12/13 | @ Redbank Valley | 27 – 54 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/17 | @ Redbank Valley Duals | ppd. | 0 – 1 |
| 12/22 | @ Ridgway | 27 – 53 | 0 – 2 |
| 01/04 | @ Punxsutawney | 48 – 36 | 1 – 2 |
| 01/07 | @ Indiana Tourney | 90.5 pts. | 8th place |
| 01/12 | @ West Branch | 28 – 51 | 1 – 3 |
| 01/19 | JOHNSONBURG | ||
| 01/24 | BROOKVILLE | ||
| 01/26 | MO VALLEY | ||
| 01/27 & 28 | Fred Bell Tourney @ Grove City | ||
| 01/31 | CLARION | ||
| 02/02 | GLENDALE | ||
| 02/04 | @ Juniata Valley Tourney | ||
| 02/14 | INDIANA | ||
| 02/24 & 25 | District 9 AA Champs @Clfd HS | ||
| 03/03 & 04 | Northwest Regionals @ Sharon | ||
| 03/09-11 | PIAA States @ Hershey |