GROVE CITY — The Curwensville Area High School wrestling team had two high placewinners with senior heavyweight Steven McClure losing by one point in the finals and junior 120-pounder Blake Passarelli claiming third place in the 35th Fred Bell Memorial Tournament at Grove City High School Saturday.
McClure, who needed only one win Friday to reach the quarterfinals, advanced to the championship bout by edging Meadville’s Nick Morelli 5-4 via a late takedown and pinning Youngsville’s Mason Benjamin at 5:14.
A penalty point decided his finals bout with South Side Beaver’s Bishop McCoy, No. 4 in last week’s Off The Mat Class AA state rankings, that ended 2-1.
McClure, who was ranked seventh, almost pulled out the victory, shooting a low single and picking up McCoy’s leg, but the District 7 standout was able to counter with what Curwensville coach Dean Swatsworth labeled as a very impressive move.
“When McCoy came down, he did a full split, and Steven couldn’t get around him because he was at the edge of the mat.
“Steven had a really good tournament considering the competition in that bracket. Six of those wrestlers were ranked in the top 15 in the state in AAA or AA.”
Passarelli followed up his two Friday wins with a 17-0 technical fall in 3:27 against Justin Hannah of Byron-Bergum (N.Y.) before being nipped 2-1 by Braden Altobelli of Redbank Valley in the semifinals. A penalty point that Swatsworth contested was the difference with the District 9 rivals matching escapes.
Altobelli was denied the crown on a late throw by Matt Leehan of General McLane in a 10-7 final.
In the wrestlebacks, Passarelli took down No. 1 seed Will Burgess of Union City twice for a 4-3 win and then shut out Gage Shoemaker of Franklin 7-0 with a reversal and two sets of back points in the third-place match.
“Other than that semifinal match, Blake wrestled pretty dominantly,” Swatsworth said.
Two Golden Tide matmen saw their tourney appearances end in the third round of consolations, Jake McCracken (145) losing 12-1 to Daiveon Say of Grove City and Cole Bressler (152) being pinned by Ryley McMasters of Clarion after controlling the bout and leading 9-2.
Both finished 2-2 as Curwensville, with 64.5 points, placed 23rd in 38-team tournament that had 685 bouts.
“I’m glad we had to stay around for heavyweights, because we saw some really good matches,” Swatsowrth said. “I thought it was very competitive.
“Our kids got a lot of good matchups all weekend, and that’s what you want at this point of the year to see where you’re at. We’re going through a meat-grinder the next three weeks with six meets and another tournament.”
Saturday’s Juniata Valley Tournament was added to the Golden Tide schedule after they were unable to go to the Redbank Valley Duals due to wintry weather.
The Golden Tide will wrestle at Clarion Tuesday and host West Branch Thursday.
Glendale freshman Brock McMillen was selected for the Fred Bell Tournament Outstanding Wrestler Award after roaring through the 113-pound bracket.
A pair of District 9 standouts earned titles, Alec English of Kane at 152 and Jacob Kallenborn of Port Allegany at 170.
Kane won the team championship with 134 points, followed by McGuffey (D-7) with 126.5, General McLane (D-10) with 116.5, Union City (D-10) with 109 and Cambridge Springs (D-10) with 108.
Five other D-9 teams were in the tourney with Port Allegany (92.5 points) 12th, Redbank Valley (80) 17th, Clarion (73) 20th, Keystone (29) 30th and Cranberry (21) 34th.
CHAMPIONSHIPS
106 – Baylor Shunk, Penns Valley, dec. Andrew Brest, General McLane, 3-1.
113 – Brock McMillen, Glendale, dec. Hunter Thompson, Titusville, 7-0.
120 – Matt Leehan, General McLane, dec. Brayden Altobelli, Redbank Valley, 10-7.
126 – Jacob Ealy, Hopewell, major dec. Tye Varndell, Cambridge Springs, 10-2.
132 – Caiden Mooney, Northwestern, major dec. Clayton Royer, Penns Valley, 11-3.
138 – Jeff Boyd, McDowell, tech fall over Doug Bailey, Madison, 5:39.
145 – Joe Demor, South Side Beaver, dec. Leno Ciotti, McDowell, 5-2.
152 – Alec English, Kane, dec. Isaac Krause, Glendale, 6-3.
160 – Payton Hearn, Conneaut, major dec. Aiden Hulings, Kane, 14-6.
170 – Jacob Kallenborn, Port Allegany, dec. Christian Clutter, McGuffey, 4-1 (OT).
182 – Jack Kaulis, General McLane, dec. Alex Bielak, McDowell, 8-4.
195 – Clay Verbanac, Cambridge Springs, major dec. Tyler VanTassel, Keystone, 8-0.
220 – Khalil Messai, Jamestown, dec. Tyler Zebrovious, Lakeview, 3-2.
285 – Bishop McCoy, South Side Beaver, dec. Steven McClure, Curwensville, 2-1.
