CURWENSVILLE — The Curwensville wrestling team got off to a fast start this season, winning the ICC Tournament and the first seven dual meets of the year by an average score of 55-18.
But the Golden Tide had 18 days between the Redbank Duals and Tuesday’s match with Tussey Mountain where they received 10 forfeit wins and were unable to keep that early-season momentum on their side Thursday at Patton Hall as a hungry Moshannon Valley team pinned a 48-15 loss on the hosts to drop the Tide to 7-1 on the year.
Mo Valley won nine of the 12 contested bouts, picking up bonus points in all but one and grabbed a forfeit win on the way to its ninth dual win of the season.
“We knew Mo Valley was going to be a true test because they had a full lineup,” Curwensville head coach Dean Swatsworth said. “We wrestled so well the first couple weeks and then we had that long (Christmas) break, and I’m going to take this one on me – I just didn’t have them ready. That long break, we did some fun things. We tried to do some different things, and obviously it didn’t work.
“But there is no excuse. We should have been better prepared. Was Mo Valley better than us tonight? Yes. But do I think we could have wrestled them a lot better? Yes. They were just ready tonight and I just didn’t have our kids ready to go. They didn’t have that hunger that Mo Valley had. Mo Valley wanted to win more than we did.”
The Black Knights and Golden Tide split the first two bouts of the night with Mo Valley’s Hayden Osborne pinning Curwensville’s Javon Bunce in 3:26 to open the dual at 133 before Dylan Deluccia returned the favor at 139 with a 31-second fall over Alan McCracken. Bunce (3-4) led Osborne 6-5 when he got too high on his ride and ended up getting his shoulders pressed to the mat. Deluccia (10-1) won his bout with a cradle.
Curwensville chose to not send anyone out against Nick Albright (10-7) at 145, making it the first time all season the Tide gave up six via forfeit. That gave Mo Valley a 12-6 lead, a lead it never relinquished.
The Knights went on to win the next five bouts, scoring bonus points in all but one.
Wyatt Lamison started the Knight charge with a 14-0 major decision over Cooper Haag (8-4) at 152 where both wrestlers bumped up from 145. Haag was the aggressor to start the bout, getting in on Lamison’s legs on two occasions without being able to finish. Lamison then took control with a 7-point move to end the period and added takedowns in each of the final two.
The Tide’s Reed Hawkins (12-2) and Knights’ Evan Krause battled through a scoreless first period at 160 before the visitor escaped for the only point of the second. Hawkins chose down to start the third, but Krause was able to turn him for two sets of back points to turn a 1-0 lead into an 8-0 major and give Mo Valley a 20-6 edge on the scoreboard.
The 172-pound bout was a rematch of a wild matchup at the ICC Tournament that saw Curwensville’s Alex Murawski rally to defeat Gavin Lovell 11-8 in Sudden Victory. The outcome of Thursday’s rematch was another 3-point decision, but this time it was Lovell who came out on top 12-9.
Lovell led 3-1 after one, took down to start the second and reversed Murawski (10-4), who escaped to make it 5-2 heading to the third. Murawski escaped to start the period, but then got caught in a headlock as he was looking for his own takedown and surrendered seven points to fall behind 12-3. He eventually worked off his back, reversed Lovell and turned him to his back for four nearfall points as time expired in the third.
“We did have some good matches,” Swatsworth said. “Some of them came down to the end where they could have gone either way. With these new scoring rules, you can make a lot of points up. You are never out of the match unless you’re pinned.”
Mo Valley’s Rocco Reifer and Tyler Lobb followed with a 12-2 major decision at 189 and a 15-0 technical fall at 215 over the Tide’s Heath Hawkins and Caleb Hendershot, who both slipped to 8-4 this season. Reifer improved to 17-3, while Lobb is now 13-4.
Trailing 32-6, Curwensville’s Brooks Hendershot stopped the Knights’ win streak with a 2-1 decision over Dom Moore at 285. Hendershot reversed Moore with about 30 seconds left in the third and rode him out to notch the win and up his season record to 11-2.
Mo Valley’s Cooper Keith picked up a 13-2 major decision over Russell Bloom at 107, scoring a pair of takedowns in the second period, while giving up two escapes before hitting a 7-point move in the third to set the final.
Curwensville’s Austin Gilliland earned the Tide’s final win of the evening, pinning Keegan Plusquellec in 1:21 after notching three takedowns and leading 9-2.
Aaron Cook (11-4) and Brady Mihalko (13-5) finished off the match with pins at 121 and 127 for the Knights. Cook took top in the second after a scoreless first and worked a double bar for the fall at 3:04. Mihalko led Queen 12-8 after a high-scoring first period before taking top in the second, scoring four nearfall points and then pinning Queen in 3:05.
Mo Valley notched 15 takedowns in the dual to just five for the Tide.
“We weren’t as aggressive on our feet tonight as we had been at the start of the year,” Swatsworth said. “We were hesitant. I don’t know if we didn’t rep it enough over this long break or what. But I don’t want to make any excuses. Mo Valley went out there and beat us. They handled us very well and I give their coach (Thad Walstrom) kudos. He had them prepared. And we were not ready to wrestle. We should have been.”
Moshannon Valley 48, Curwensville 15
133—Hayden Orsborne, MV, pinned Javon Bunce, C, 3:26. (6-0)
139—Dylan Deluccia, C, pinned Alan McCracken, MV, 0:31. (6-6)
145—Nick Albright, MV, won by forfeit. (12-6)
152—Wyatt Lamison, MV, maj. dec. Cooper Haag, C, 14-0. (16-6)
160—Evan Krause, MV, maj. dec. Reed Hawkins, C, 8-0. (20-6)
172—Gavin Lovell, MV, dec. Alex Murawski, C, 12-9. (23-6)
189—Rocco Reifer, MV, maj. dec. Heath Hawkins, C, 12-2. (27-6)
215—Tyler Lobb, MV, tech fall Caleb Hendershot, C, 15-0, 5:28. (32-6)
285—Brooks Hendershot, C, dec. Dom Moore, MV, 2-1. (32-9)
107—Cooper Keith, MV, maj. dec. Russell Bloom, C, 13-2. (36-9)
114—Austin Gilliland, C, pinned Keegan Plusquellec, MV, 1:22. (36-15)
121—Aaron Cook, MV, pinned Dean Swatsworth, C, 3:04. (42-15)
127—Brady Mihalko, MV, pinned Hayden Queen, C, 3:05. (48-15)
GOLDEN TIDE SCOREBOARD:
Date Opponent Score Record
12/07 @ ICC Tourney – Claysburg-Kimmel 145 pts. 1st place
12/10 @ West Branch 49 – 18 1 – 0
12/21 @ Redbank Duals
vs. Northwestern 60 – 18 2 – 0
vs. Sharon 48 – 29 3 – 0
vs. Ridgway 36 – 32 4 – 0
vs. Youngsville 64 – 6 5 – 0
vs. Kane 66 – 12 6 – 0
01/07 TUSSEY MOUNTAIN 63 – 10 7 – 0
01/09 MOSHANNON VALLEY 15 – 48 7 – 1
01/10 & 11 @ Mid-Winter Mayhem – IUP
01/14 MT. UNION
01/16 @ Juniata Valley
01/18 @ Bison Duals
01/24 & 25 @ Fred Bell Tourney – Grove City
01/28 @ Glendale
01/30 CLAYSBURG KIMMEL
02/01 @ District 9 AA Duals
02/04 REDBANK VALLEY
02/06 @ Brookville
02/13 BROCKWAY
02/21 & 22 @ District 9 Championship
02/28 & 3/1 @ Nortwest Regionals
03/06 – 08 @ PIAA Championships – Hershey
