GROVE CITY — Senior Shae Bloom became only the fourth Curwensville Area High School wrestler to win a Fred Bell Tournament title by allowing just one point in five bouts and freshman Blake Passarelli charged through the consolation bracket to place fourth at Grove City Area High School Friday and Saturday.
Seeded No. 1 and unscored on en route to the finals, Bloom edged General McLane’s Owen Watkins 2-1 in a duel of once-beaten standouts at 152 pounds.
A takedown midway through the first period proved to be all the Golden Tide matman needed as Watkins was limited to a second-period escape.
Bloom, No. 4 in Class AA in the latest PA Power Rankings and No. 5 in the Off The Mat State Rankings, was in deep on several takedown attempts but just couldn’t finish them, according to Curwensville coach Dean Swatsworth.
“It was a good match,” he said. “It was a good tournament for Shae. He had 33 kids in his weight class.”
Swatsworth noted that Watkins, ranked No. 2 behind 2015 PIAA bronze medalist Hayden Hidlay of Mifflin County in Rob Coleman’s Northwest Region Class AAA rankings districttenwrestling.com, was seeded third and defeated No. 2 seed Noah Grover of Warsaw, N.Y., in the semifinals. Watkins (13-2) won by a 13-4 major decision.
Bloom (23-1) easily advanced through the bracket by pinning Moon’s Christian Tanner in 1:34 and Warren’s Brett Cummings in 1:17, shutting out McGuffey’s Christian Clutter 7-0 and, in the semis, winning by default against St. Marys’ Kyle Pecht.
Bloom had built up a 7-0 lead before the Flying Dutch senior suffered an injury at the 1:46 mark.
Curwensville’s previous champions in the Fred Bell Tournament were Nick Sipes, Johnny Sutika (twice) and Derek Brothers.
Passarelli needed five wins to reach the consolation finals after falling 7-3 to Cory Bable of Grove City in the opening round at 106.
“I don’t know if it was his nerves because he’d never been there, but after that match, he calmed himself down and started wrestling his way and it carried from one match to another.”
Passarelli (21-5) began his run by pinning McGuffey’s Collyn Bell at 4:15. After getting past Mercer’s Brad Filer 4-2, the Golden Tide bantam registered falls against Cochranton’s Devan Davis in 3:34 and Conneaut’s Tanner Rhoades in 2:17 and defeated Moon’s Frankie Bonura 5-1.
In the match for third place, Passarelli lost 8-2 to Hunter Thompson of Titusville.
“That was a good experience in a big tournament for Blake,” Swatsworth said. “Further on, that’s what kind of competition he’s gonna be wrestling.”
Curwensville placed 25th among the 35 teams that made the tourney the biggest in its 33-year history.
The Golden Tide got 55 points from Bloom, Passarelli, James Lee (2-2 at 285) and Seth Woolcock (1-2 at 120).
General McLane repeated as team champion with 159½ points. Warsaw was a distant second with 130 points.
The Outstanding Wrestler Award went to returning state champion Dakota Geer of Franklin for winning the 182-pound crown with two falls and two technical falls.
Freshman Tyler Dilley of St. Marys received the Tom Tomeo Most Promising Young Wrestler Award after pinning his way through four rounds to the 106-pound championship.
Bloom was one of three District 9 Class AA wrestlers to reign, joined by Paul Zacherl (160) of Cranberry and BryLee Shumaker (285) of Redbank Valley.
Curwensville returns to dual meet action with back-to-back road tests against Cameron County at Emporium Thursday and Glendale at Flinton Friday.
TEAM STANDINGS AND KEY:
1. General McLane, 159½ points; 2. Warsaw (N.Y.), 130; 3. Meadville, 122½; 4. Harbor Creek, 115; 5. McGuffey, 115½; 6. Cambridge Springs, 111; 7. Conneaut, 109; 8. St. Marys, 109; 9. Franklin, 103½; 10. Penns Valley, 96½; 11. Redbank Valley, 93½; 12. Titusville, 95; 13. Moon Township, 91½; 14. (tie) Clarion and Cranberry, 83; 16. Coudersport, 77; 17. Union City, 74; 18. Grove City, 66; 19. Falconer (N.Y.), 63½; 20. Keystone, 63; 21. Lakeview, 61½; 22. Jamestown, 60; 23. Southside Beaver, 59; 24. Hopewell, 58; 25. Curwensville, 55; 26. Mercer, 50½; 27. Ringgold, 47½; 28. Warren, 45; 29. Sharpsville, 36½; 30. (tie) Cochranton and Glendale, 32; 32. Youngsville, 15; 33. West Middlesex, 14; 34. Beaver Area, 12½; 35. California (Pa.), 5.
CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS
106 – Tyler Dilley, St. Marys, pinned Sam Wolf, Warsaw (N.Y.), 3:40.
113 – Nick Oosterkamp, Harbor Creek, dec. Darren Yearick, Penns Valley, 7-6.
120 – Sam Sallot, Harbor Creek, major dec. Tye Varndell, Cambridge Springs, 11-3.
126 – Faris Messai, Jamestown, pinned Tanner Altobelli, Redbank Valley, 1:07.
132 – Joe Demore, Southside Beaver, dec. Hunter Wagner, Titusville, 10-4.
138 – Curtis Decker, Penns Valley, dec. Doug Gudenburr, Ringgold, 7-6.
145 – Kyle Luben, Meadville, dec. Jared Hurd, Penns Valley, 2-0.
152 – Shae Bloom, Curwensville, dec. Owen Watkins, General McLane, 2-1.
160 – Paul Zacherl, Cranberry, major dec. Gage Arnold, Coudersport, 11-2.
170 – Ethan Laird, General McLane, pinned Tyler Emrick, Franklin, 5:33.
182 – Dakota Geer, Franklin, won by technical fall over Jacob Peru, Falconer (N.Y.), 17-0 (5:04).
195 – Deven Simpson, Cambridge Springs, dec. Zach Sintobin, Clarion, 5-3 (OT).
220 – Zach Stafford, Cambridge Springs, dec. Aaron Mann, Warsaw (N.Y.), 1-0.
285 – BryLee Shumaker, Redbank Valley, dec. Tyler Beal, Keystone, 9-2.
CONSOLATION FINALS FOR THIRD PLACE
106 – Hunter Thompson, Titusville, dec. Blake Passarelli, Curwensville, 8-2.
CONSOLATION SEMIFINALS
106 – Passarelli, Curwensville, dec. Frank Bonura, Moon, 5-1.
CHAMPIONSHIP SEMIFINALS
152 – Bloom, Curwensville, won by injury default over Kyle Pecht, St. Marys, 1:46.
CONSOLATION QUARTERFINALS
106 – Passarelli, Curwensville, pinned Tanner Rhoades, Conneaut, 2:31.
CHAMPIONSHIP QUARTERFINALS
152 – Bloom, Curwensville, dec Christian Clutter, McGuffey, 7-0.
CONSOLATION FOURTH ROUND
106 – Passarelli, Curwensville, pinned Devan Davis, Cochranton, 2:34.
285 – Bobby Gregory, Mercer, pinned James Lee, Curwensville, 2:28.
CONSOLATION THIRD ROUND
106 – Passarelli, Curwensville, dec. Brad Filer, Mercer, 4-2.
120 – Woolcock, Curwensville, dec. by Dominic Ellis, Conneaut, 5-1.
285 – Lee, Curwensville, pinned Jared Bressler, Penns Valley, 2:32.
CONSOLATION SECOND ROUND
106 – Passarelli, Curwensville, pinned Collyn Bell, McGuffey, 4:15.
120 – Woolcock, Curwensville, dec. Shad Haskins, Union City, 7-1.
126 – Brendan Ace, Cochranton, dec. Dylan Myers, Curwensville, 6-4.
138 – Jason Bratt, Harbor Creek, pinned Jordan Peters, Curwensville, 1:30.
160 – Zach Cassidy, Harbor Creek, pinned Eli Jacobs, Curwensville, 1:19.
170 – Rodger Bone, Conneaut, pinned Ben Junod, Curwensville, 2:21.
182 – Connor Richards, Mercer, pinned Hunter Lancaster, Curwensville, 4:05.
195 – Sawyer Daugherty, Lakeview, major dec. Jeff Harvey, Curwensville, 12-0.
285 – Lee, Curwensville, pinned Caleb Shrum, Titusville, :12.
CHAMPIONSHIP THIRD ROUND
106 – Cory Bable, Grove City, dec. Passarelli, Curwensville 7-3.
120 – Tye Varndell, Cambridge Springs, pinned Woolcock, Curwensville, 3:29.
126 – Messai, Jamestown, won by technical fall over Myers, Curwensville, 17-1 (3:15).
138 – Cameron Page, Falconer/Cassadaga Valley (N.Y.), pinned Peters, Curwensville, 1:46.
152 – Bloom, Curwensville, pinned Brett Cummings, Warren, 1:17.
CONSOLATION FIRST ROUND
132 – Owen Balas, Warren, pinned Ethan Collins, Curwensville, 1:59.
CHAMPIONSHIP SECOND ROUND
132 – Cameron Adamson, Conneaut, pinned Collins, Curwensville, 1:15.
152 – Bloom, Curwensville, pinned Christian Tanner, Moon, 1:35.
160 – Dillon Richey, McGuffey, dec. Jacobs, Curwensville, 12-10.
170 – Tony Chase, Union City, pinned Junod, Curwensville, 3:37.
182 – Connor Thompson, McGuffey, pinned Lancaster, Curwensville, 5:22.
195 – Mitchell Cashmer, St. Marys, won by technical fall over Harvey, Curwensville, 16-1 (4:09).
285 – Nicholas Lallemand, Franklin, pinned Lee, Curwensville, 5:44.
