ALEXANDRIA — Curwensville Area High School wrestlers Zach Holland, Blake Passarelli and Kaleb Witherite won championships and four others were runners-up in the first Garrett Scott Invitational at Juniata Valley High School Saturday.
Passarelli (21-3) was most impressive by rolling through the 113-pound weight class with five first-period falls in an aggregate time of 4:27.
Two came at the expense of North Schuylkill’s Damien Deihm, 1:15 in the second round and 1:08 in the place round.
Freshman 106-pounder Zach Holland (18-7) also was 5-0, with three falls plus a pair of major decisions over North Schuylkill’s Gavin Locke, including 10-0 in the championship bout.
With only three of the seven teams represented at 182, Witherite (19-6) had only four bouts. The junior defeated Southern Huntingdon’s Caleb Gilliland twice, including 10-2 in the match for the title.
“Our champions pretty much dominated their weight classes,” Curwensville coach Dean Swatsworth said.
Earning second place were Mason Gasper, 2-3 at 120; Dylan Myers, 3-2 at 126; Cole Bressler, 4-1 at 138, and Mason Lancaster, 2-2 at 160.
With wrestlers guaranteed up to five bouts where possible, placing was determined by records at some weights, which was the case for Bressler, who posted three falls and a shutout decision while losing only to Cranberry‘s Joshua Hancock.
The other three lost in first-place bouts to opponents who had defeated them in earlier rounds.
“Those four had a good tournament,” Swatsworth said. “It’s a good confidence builder for them.”
Golden Tide heavyweight Steven McClure (17-2) wound up third at 3-2 in the toughest weight class of the tourney as the junior ranked No. 8 last week by Off The Mat lost 5-3 in overtime to No. 6 Steve Winfield of Southern Huntingdon and 5-2 to Timothy McCauley of Cranberry. The latter had been ranked earlier in the season.
Two quick falls in five bouts landed Curwensville junior Anthony Winebold in fourth place at 132, while junior Nick Stewart at 195 had to default in his first bout and was unable to continue because of medical reasons that won’t keep him out of the lineup when the Golden Tide returns to action.
“Overall, I thought we wrestled good as a team,” Swatsworth said. “It was a good pick-up tournament since we couldn’t go to Redbank Valley (in December).”
With 162.5 points, the Golden Tide finished third behind North Schuylkill and Cranberry.
A quirk in the schedule has the Golden Tide (2-6) off this week before winding down their dual meet slate next week with home matches against Clarion Monday, Indiana Tuesday and Brockway Thursday.
The Curwensville results, in order of matches wrestled, with the following key:
Cranberry (Cra); Curwensville (Cur); Juniata Valley (JV); Keystone (Key); North Schuylkill (NS); Southern Huntingdon (SH); Sugar Valley Rural Charter School (SVRCS).
106 – Zach Holland, Cur, pinned Naaman Conoway, SVRCS, :34; Holland major dec. Gavin Locke, NS, 8-0; Holland pinned Jacob Umstead, Cra, 4:14; Holland pinned Dylan Boone, SH, :25; (first place) Holland major dec. Locke, NS, 10-0.
113 – Blake Passarelli, Cur, pinned Kolton Whitsel, SH, :41; Passarelli pinned Damien Deihm, NS, 1:15; Passarelli pinned River Perry, Cra, :50; Passarelli pinned Nathan Janowsky, JV, :33; (first place) Passarelli pinned Deihm, NS, 1:08.
120 – Mason Gasper, Cur, major dec. Gabe McMahon, JV, 10-2; Gasper pinned Colden Geisewite, SVRCS, 5:37; Owen Boyer, NS, pinned Gasper, 1:10; Seth Walker, SH, pinned Gasper, 2:40; (first place) Boyer, NS, pinned Gasper, 4:40.
126 – Hunter Kern, JV, pinned Dylan Myers, Cur, 3:11; Myers pinned Ryan Roseberry, NS, 3:36; Myers won by default over Ian Wilson, SH, 2:52; Myers pinned Travis Crate, Cra, 1:11; Kern, JV, technical fall over Myers, 21-6 (4:47).
132 – Jordan Bailey, SH, pinned Anthony Winebold, Cur, :42; Winebold pinned Brandon Flick, SVRCS, :30; Mason Madden-Edwards, NS, pinned Winebold, 1:22; Winebold pinned Kyle Derugen, JV, :38; Garrett Hogue, Cra, pinned Winebold, 1:02.
138 – Cole Bressler, Cur, pinned Colton Rill, SVRCS, 1:28; Bressler dec. Vince Negal, SH, 7-0; Bressler pinned Ethan Briggs, NS, 1:21; Joshua Hancock, Cra, pinned Bressler, 1:34; Bressler pinned William Emery, JV, 1:33.
160 – Mason Lancaster, Cur, pinned Donavan Edmonds, Key, 1:42; Joe Alexander, NS, pinned Lancaster, :29; Lancaster pinned Wyatt Campbell, SH, 3:32; (first place) Alexander, NS, pinned Lancaster, 4:47.
182 – Kaleb Witherite, Cur, pinned Robert McDowell, NS, 1:24; Witherite dec. Caleb Gilliland, SH, 9-2; Witherite major dec. Dylan Salsgiver, Cra, 10-0; (first place) Witherite major dec. Gilliland, SH, 10-2.
195 – Kyle Rawlings, JV, won by medical default over Nick Stewart, Cur, :48.
285 – Steven McClure, Cur, pinned Matthew Lee, JV, :40; Nick Winfield, SH, dec. McClure, 5-3 (OT-SV); Timothy McCauley, Cra, dec. McClure, 5-2; McClure won by medical default over Tylor Nalesnik, NS; (third place) McClure won by medical default over Nalesnik, NS.
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 | 42 – 30 | 2 – 3 |
| 01/24 | BROOKVILLE | 9 – 64 | 2 – 4 |
| 01/26 | MO VALLEY | 24 – 47 | 2 – 5 |
| 01/27 & 28 | Fred Bell Tourney @ Grove City | 52 pts. | 22nd place |
| 01/31 | CLARION | ppd. | 2 – 5 |
| 02/02 | GLENDALE | 33 – 42 | 2 – 6 |
| 02/04 | @ Juniata Valley Tourney | 162.5 pts | 3rd place |
| 02/13 | CLARION | ||
| 02/14 | INDIANA | ||
| 02/ 16 | BROCKWAY | ||
| 02/24 & 25 | District 9 AA Champs @Clfd HS | ||
| 03/03 & 04 | Northwest Regionals @ Sharon | ||
| 03/09-11 | PIAA States @ Hershey |