CURWENSVILLE — It’s been nearly three decades since the Curwensville wrestling team last pitched a shutout.
The Golden Tide ended that drought Tuesday at Patton Hall with a 76-0 whitewashing of visiting Juniata Valley. It was the ninth shutout in the history of the program and first since the 1996-97 season when the Tide blanked Punxsutawney 58-0 in then head coach Brian Dimmick’s first season at the helm.
Curwensville also scored 70 points in a dual meet for the first time ever while setting a hew high score and recording the most lopsided final score in program history as well.
The previous high score was 69, which the Tide hit twice, once last season in a 69-6 victory over Kane at the Redbank Valley Duals and the other during the 2019-20 campaign in a win over Oswayo Valley by the same score. The 63-point difference was also the previous record.
On top of all that, the Golden Tide also showed resiliency after a tough Bison Duals on Saturday where they went 1-4 and saw their season record dip below .500.
“They came out tonight ready to wrestle,” Curwensville head coach Dean Swatsworth said. “We had a rough tournament over the weekend and I think the kids realized it’s time to get going. We have to take practice more seriously. We have to get everything going. We had a real good practice (Monday) night and they showed up tonight and I couldn’t be more happy.”
Curwensville went 8-0 in contested bouts, racking up six pins and two technical falls, while also picking up five forfeits. The Golden Tide piled up points bout after bout, scoring 21 takedowns and five sets of back points, while never giving up a takedown or getting put on their back.
The Tide scored 83 points in the eight bouts and only surrendered eight. Six of those were escapes with four coming in one bout and were all of those allowed by the Tide wrestler.
“Some of those matches we were up big before we got the pin,” Swatsworth said. “When you score points like that, it’s going to wear your opponent out.”
The dual meet started at 107 where Kael McGary led Lane Sunderland 9-0 on three takedowns before recording the fall at 5:08. Sunderland brought a 15-5 record into the bout, while McGary was 16-7 before the match.
Russell Bloom followed with a 19-4 technical fall over Evan Shade. Bloom (16-7) hit a cement mixer to start the bout and take a quick 7-0 lead before racking up four more takedowns to end it at 5:54.
Hayden Queen (9-12) made short work of Gage Snyder, scoring the opening takedown before earning the fall in 63 seconds, bumping the Tide advantage to 17-0.
Dean Swatsworth Jr. followed with an early third-period pin of Evan Morgan. Swatsworth Jr. (10-12) led 7-0 after one, 10-0 after two and was ahead 13-0 when he decked Morgan 17 seconds into the third.
Noah Barney picked up the first of the Tide’s five forfeit wins at 133 before Javon Bunce registered a 15-0 technical fall over Kamden Dietzel at 139. Bunce (10-14) led 5-0 after one and 12-0 after two, nearly picking up a pin with a cradle. He settled for the tech, giving the Tide a 34-0 lead.
Curwensville received three straight forfeits at 145, 152 and 160 as Kegan McMonigle, Cooper Haag (10-12) and Reed Hawkins (16-7) all had their hands raised.
“They were missing a couple of their kids, their 52 and 60 pounders, and that hurt them,” Swatsworth said. “But I was vey happy with our performance. Things we’ve been working on in the room you are starting to see. And that’s what I told them after the match … ‘it’s nice to see things developing that we’ve been working on and taking it to the mat.’ The kids wrestled well. I have to give them credit. I could not be more happy for them.”
Leading 52-0, Curwensville got a 27-second fall from 172-pounder Tim Gustafson (11-11), who pinned Bobby Hess.
Heath Hawkins (13-11) received the last forfeit of the match at 189 before the Hendershot brothers ended the night with a pair of pins.
Caleb Hendershot scored four takedowns against Hornet Logan Harpster (14-10), taking a 12-2 lead before turning and pinning him at 2:39 to give the Tide the 70-0 advantage.
Brooks Hendershot ended the night with a second-period fall over Matthew Dick at 285. Dick was the only Hornet to score anything other than an escape when he reversed Hendershot midway through the first after falling behind 7-0. But Hendershot (20-7) quickly regained control with his own reverse to go up 9-2. Dick chose bottom to start the second and Hendershot made him pay for the decision, turning and pinning him at 2:37 to put the exclamation point on the historic night for the Tide, who improved to 7-9 this season.
Curwensville is back in action Thursday, Jan. 22 at Claysburg-Kimmel.
107 – Kael McGary pinned Lane Sunderland, 5:09. (6-0).
114 – Russell Bloom won by tech. fall over Evan Shade, 19-4, 5:54 (11-0)
121 – Hayden Queen pinned Gage Snyder, 1:03 (17-0)
127 – Dean Swatsworth Jr. pinned Evan Morgan, 4:17 (23-0)
133 – Noah Barney won by forfeit (29-0)
139 – Javon Bunce won by tech. fall over Kamden Dietzel, 15-0, 4:21 (34-0)
145 – Kegan McMonigle won by forfeit (40-0)
152 – Cooper Haag won by forfeit (46-0)
160 – Reed Hawkins won by forfeit (52-0)
172 – Timothy Gustafson pinned Bobby Hess, 0:27 (58-0)
189 – Heath Hawkins won by forfeit (64-0)
215 – Caleb Hendershot pinned Logan Harpster, 2:39 (70-0)
285 – Brooks Hendershot pinned Matthew Dick, 2:37 (76-0)
GOLDEN TIDE SCOREBOARD:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/5 & 6 | @ ICC/Heritage Tourney (C-K HS) | 99 pts. | 7th place |
| 12/9 | WEST BRANCH | 24 – 46 | 0 – 1 |
| 12/16 | BROOKVILLE | 42 – 36 | 1 – 1 |
| 12/20 | @ Redbank Valley Duals | ||
| 12/20 | vs. Punxsutawney | 30 – 42 | 1 – 2 |
| 12/20 | vs.Kane | 69 – 6 | 2 – 2 |
| 12/20 | vs. West Shamokin | 42 – 30 | 3 – 2 |
| 12/20 | vs. Oswayo Valley | 57 – 15 | 4 – 2 |
| 12/20 | vs. Commodore Perry | 30 – 37 | 4 – 3 |
| 1/6 | @ Mt. Union | 36 – 40 | 4 – 4 |
| 1/8 | @ Mo Valley | 27 – 36 | 4 – 5 |
| 1/9 & 10 | @ Mid-Winter Mayhem (IUP) | 25 pts. | 52nd place |
| 1/14 | @ Tussey Mountain | 54 – 24 | 5 – 5 |
| 1/17 | @ Clearfield Bison Duals | ||
| 1/17 | vs. Port Allegany | 22- 50 | 5 – 6 |
| 1/17 | vs. Benton | 40 – 30 | 6 – 6 |
| 1/17 | vs. Altoona | 3 – 68 | 6 – 7 |
| 1/17 | vs. Cranberry | 30 – 39 | 6 – 8 |
| 1/17 | vs. Williamsport | 30 – 46 | 6 – 9 |
| 1/20 | JUNIATA VALLEY | 76 – 0 | 7 – 9 |
| 1/22 | @ Claysburg-Kimmel | ||
| 1/23 & 24 | @ Fred Bell Tourney (Grove City) | ||
| 2/4 | @ Redbank Valley | ||
| 2/5 | GLENDALE | ||
| 2/12 | @ Brockway | ||
| 2/20 & 21 | D9 Championship Tourney | ||
| 2/22 & 28 | NW Regional Tourney | ||
| 3/5 – 7 | PIAA State Tourney |
