GROVE CITY — Four Curwensville Area High School wrestlers survived the first two rounds of the 37-team Fred Bell Tournament in the Grove City Area High School Friday and will return Saturday morning for quarterfinal action while two other Golden Tide matmen will be in the third round of consolations, all beginning at 8:30.
The Golden Tide’s lone seeds, No. 1 Blake Passarelli at 113 pounds and No. 3 Steven McClure at heavyweight, drew byes for the opening round and then defeated St. Marys wrestlers.
Passarelli (11-2) pinned Gregory Tettis 24 seconds into the second period while McClure (11-1) edged Joe Kucenski 4-2.
Both Zach Holland (11-4) at 106 and Kaleb Witherite at 182 advanced by knocking off seeded opponents in the first round and following up with falls in the second round.
Holland shut out No. 3 Ethan Wiant of Redbank Valley 3-0 and flattened Dom Reagen of Beaver Area in 49 seconds.
Witherite (13-4) downed No. 6 Logan Conner of Mercer 10-7 and pinned Zach Meyers of Madison at 2:31.
Quarterfinal foes for the Golden Tide contenders will be No. 6 seed Tyler Herzing of St. Marys for Holland, Anthony Rosazi of Hopewell for Passarelli, No. 3 Matt Yeckley of Glendale for Witherite and No. 6 Joe Newara of Harborcreek for McClure.
Second-round losses dropped Mason Lancaster at 160 and Nick Stewart at 195 into the consolation brackets.
Lancaster opened with a fall against Brad Cavolo of Grove City at 3:27 and then was pinned by Shane Watkins of General McLane at 3:48.
After receiving a bye, Stewart ran into No. 1 and undefeated Ethan Laird of General McLane and had to default after 49 seconds.
“We’re pretty happy,” Curwensville coach Dean Swatsworth said. “We’ve got six out of 10 still going, but we have some big matches (Saturday) morning.
“They’re wrestling extremely well up here. I guess it’s a carryover from the Moshannon Valley match.
“Even the kids who lost had some close matches.”
Mason Gasper (120), Dylan Myers (126), Ethan Collins (132) and Cole Bressler (138) bowed out in consolation second round bouts that were decided by four points or less. Myers and Bressler did pick up victories in the consolation first round.
CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND
106 – Zach Holland, Curwensville, dec. (3) Ethan Wiant, Redbank Valley, 3-0.
113 – (1) Blake Passarelli, Curwensville, bye.
120 – Jake Garrety, McGuffey, major dec. Mason Gasper, Curwensville, 11-0.
126 – Isaac Chatman, Meadville, pinned Dylan Myers, Curwensville, 1:58.
132 – (4) Nate Murphy, Warsaw, pinned Ethan Collins, Curwensville, 1:25.
138 – Doug Bailey, Madison, dec. Cole Bressler, Curwensville, 6-4.
160 – Mason Lancaster, Curwensville, pinned Brad Cavolo, Grove City, 3:27.
182 – Kale Witherite, Curwensville, dec. (6) Logan Conner, Mercer, 10-7.
195 – Nick Stewart, Curwensville, bye.
285 – (3) Steven McClure, Curwensville, bye.
CHAMPIONSHIP SECOND ROUND
106 – Holland, Curwensville, pinned Dom Reagen, Beaver Area, :49.
113 – Passarelli, Curwensville, pinned Gregory Tettis, St. Marys, 2:24.
160 – Shane Watkins, Harborcreek, pinned Lancaster, Curwensville, 3:48.
182 – Witherite, Curwensville, pinned Zach Meyers, Madison, 2:31.
195 – (1) Ethan Laird, General McLane, won by default over Stewart, Curwensville, :49.
285 – McClure, Curwensville, dec. Joe Kucenski, St. Marys, 4-2.
CONSOLATION FIRST ROUND
120 – Gasper, Curwensville, bye.
126 – Myers, Curwensville, pinned Ben Henwood, Sharpsville, 4:40.
132 – Collins, Curwensville, bye.
138 – Bressler, Curwensville, dec. Dakota Cochran, Conneaut, 6-4.
CONSOLATION SECOND ROUND
120 – Dallas Barber, Lakeview, dec. Gasper, Curwensville, 8-4.
126 – Hunter Cowher, Jamestown, dec. Myers, Curwensville, 10-8.
132 – Anthony Weil, South Park, dec. Collins, Curwensville, 3-1.
138 – Colton Mohney, Redbank Valley, dec. Bressler, Curwensville, 13-9.
160 – Lancaster, Curwensville, bye.
195 – Stewart, Curwensville, bye.