MORRISDALE – The Curwensville Golden Tide wrestling team traveled to the West Branch High School Saturday afternoon. Eight bouts were wrestled, and Curwensville won three of them.
In old fashioned style, the match began at 106 pounds, where Curwensville freshman Jacob Carfley (12-7) received a forfeit.
Following that, freshman Spencer Hoover (11-9) wrestled West Branch’s Parker Johnson, where he earned an 11-1 major decision.
This put Curwensville up 10-0, but West Branch immediately received two forfeits to be up 12-10 before the 132-pound bout between senior Tide Blake Passarelli (18-3) and Tyler Denochick took place.
Denochick worked two takedowns in the first period, and another takedown in the third period to win the bout 7-2, giving Passarelli two escapes.
Coach Dean Swatsworth gave all the credit to Denochick and said that he went out and took care of business, while he felt Passarelli came up flat and lacked his usual offense.
Following a forfeit at 138, West Branch led the match 21-10.
Then, to the delight of Curwensville wrestling fans, junior Zach Holland (1-0) returned to the mat for the first time all season at 145 pounds. Holland won his match 5-2 against the Warriors’ William Herring. Holland missed the entire season thus far from an injury. Holland weighed in at 138 pounds, but wrestled up to 145.
Sophomore Duane Brady (9-11) followed up Holland’s performance with a first period fall against the Warriors’ Tyce Cantolina at 152, but Josh Cantolina replied with a fall over Caleb Stiles (1-4) just 1:05 later in the 160-pound bout.
After that, sophomore Jake McCracken (11-8) wrestling West Branch’s Ethan Yingling. Yingling handled McCracken and received a decisive 9-3 decision, putting the match score at 30-19.
West Branch only continued to pile on points after that, receiving forfeits at 182 and 285, and pinning junior Gage Roos (4-8) at 195 and senior Alec McGarry (2-5) at 220 as well.
The final score was 54-19, West Branch.
Curwensville (5-12) will now wrestle Moshannon Valley on Thursday night. It will be the final match of the year and will be a benefit night to help a local citizen pay for medical expenses. The match will begin at 7pm.
