High School Wrestling: Blue Mountain cruises past Pottsville
Pottsville's Stephen Karinch, left, battles Blue Mountain's Keenan Hall during their 114-pound bout in Wednesday's dual meet at Martz Hall. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
POTTSVILLE — Blue Mountain senior Hunter Blankenhorn had never beaten Pottsville in a dual meet. Blankenhorn has also had trouble against the Crimson Tide’s Brayden Evans.
Blankenhorn and the Eagles changed all that Wednesday night.
Sparked by Blankenhorn’s one-point decision, Blue Mountain ended a 10-year drought by rolling past Pottsville 51-14 in a Schuylkill League Division I dual meet at Martz Hall.
“It’s been a long time in the making,” Blue Mountain coach Alex Gosch said.
The Eagles (1-1, 1-0 D-I) took 10-of-13 weights against a depleted Crimson Tide lineup. Pottsville (3-5, 0-1) had to forfeit four weights due to injuries.
Blue Mountain ran through the first nine weights to put the dual meet out of reach. Bryce Bodenberg (139), Owen Woll (160) and Vaughn Helverson (285) scored pins for the Eagles. Woll, coming off a tournament victory at the Solanco Mule Classic, improved to 7-0.
The Eagles also took three of the toss-up bouts.
Leading off at 114 pounds, Keenan Hall outlasted Stephen Karinch 11-8. Hall used a pair of takedowns and three near-fall points to take a 10-1 lead in the third period, but Karinch hit a seven-point headlock — a takedown and four back points — to make it close.
At 121, Blue Mountain’s Cooper Leibold held off Chris Dembinsky 2-1. A penalty point for locked hands made the difference.
And at 172, Blankenhorn’s third-period reversal and strong work on top gave him a 2-1 victory over Evans.
“They wrestled tough,” Gosch said. “It’s early in the season. We have some cobwebs still that we need to game-plan for at practice and be able to fix our mistakes. But overall, I liked their performance.”
For Pottsville, Cole Cook (107) notched a pin; Lukas McNamara (215) added a technical fall; and Terrell McFarland (189) posted a major decision. Cook built a 5-0 lead before sticking T.J. Lazur in 4:11; McNamara had three sets of back points in a 15-0 win over David Renninger; and McFarland hit a seven-point lateral drop to defeat Bradley Renninger 12-2. With his win, McFarland improved to 8-0.
A major difference for Blue Mountain this season is the program’s improved numbers. The Eagles weighed in 19 wrestlers Wednesday and filled all 13 weight classes.
“The last couple of years, and even before I took over (as head coach), Blue Mountain has always had a depth problem,” Gosch said. “It’s one of the main focuses every year, get kids out of the hallways, get kids in the mat room during the summer. Finally everyone’s bought in, and we have all the weights filled out, and we have tough kids at every single weight.”
Blue Mountain 51, Pottsville 14
114— Hall (BM) dec. Karinch, 11-8
121 — Leibold (BM) dec. Dembinsky, 2-1
127 — Mady (BM) won by forfeit
133 — Brobst (BM) won by forfeit
139 — Bodenberg (BM) pinned Kline, :23
145 — Herring (BM) won by forfeit
152 — Mansell (BM) won by forfeit
160 — Woll (BM) pinned Renn, 1:28
172 — Blankenhorn (BM) dec. Evans, 2-1*
189— McFarland (P) maj. dec. B. Renninger, 12-1
215 — McNamara (P) tech. fall D. Renninger, 15-0, 5:08
285 — Helverson (BM) pinned White, 1:01
107 — Cook (P) pinned Lazur, 4:11
*Pottsville had one team point deducted for unsportsmanlike conduct.
North Schuylkill 73, Panther Valley 0
LANSFORD — Jaden Meyer (172), Cadyn McGraw (215), Sander Stokes (285), Easton Edwards (121), Noah Leib (127), Nate Sterner (145) and Ben Carr (160) notched falls for North Schuylkill in a Division I victory over Panther Valley (0-2, 0-1 D-I).
Gaige Mentusky (107) and Bryce Kile (152) added wins by technical fall for the Spartans (2-0, 1-0), and Stanley Padakowski edged Josue Marciglio 11-10 at 133 pounds.
172 — Meyer (NS) pinned Weaver, :33
189 — Dower (NS) won by forfeit
215 — McGraw (NS) pinned Mullen, 1:02
285 — Stokes (NS) pinned Hanson, :11
107 — Mentusky (NS) tech. fall Schrier, 16-1, 2:14
114 — Deritis (NS) won by forfeit
121 — Edwards (NS) pinned Matula, :32
127 — Leib (NS) pinned Hunsicker, 1:58
133 — Padakowski (NS) dec. Marciglio, 11-10
139 — Tavares (NS) won by forfeit
145— Sterner (NS) pinned Moore, 1:21
152 — Kile (NS) tech. fall Bracero, 16-0, 2:07
160 — Carr (NS) pinned Barclay, 2:29
Mahanoy Area 38, Tamaqua 35
MAHANOY CITY — Gordon Slater (145), Rory Dixon (160) and Kyle Pollack (285) posted pins as Mahanoy Area rallied past Tamaqua in a non-league dual meet.
Jah Bushati (152) added a win by major decision for the Golden Bears (1-0).
Tamaqua (0-1) got pins from Aiden Schlier (127), Brody Schlier (139), Bradley Whalen (172), Jacob Hehn (189) and William Behun (215). Hehn stopped state qualifier Kyler Quick of Mahanoy Area in 2:51. Evan Temarantz (133) added a technical fall for the Blue Raiders.
121 — Hanley (MA) won by forfeit
127 — A. Schlier (T) pinned Manley, 3:04
133 — Temarantz (T) tech. fall Seritti, 18-3, 5:26
139 — B. Schlier (T) pinned Blackwell, 1:26
145 — Slater (MA) pinned Hill, :55
152 — Bushati (MA) maj. dec. Zeigenfuss, 14-1
160 — Dixon (MA) pinned Knepper, 1:40
172 — Whalen (T) pinned Zack, 5:24
189 — Hehn (T) pinned Quick, 2:51
215 — Behun (T) pinned Herman, 2:50
285 — Pollack (MA) maj. dec. Cerimele, 13-0
107 — Gregory (MA) won by forfeit
114 — Timko (MA) won by forfeit
Schuylkill Haven drops tri-meet
WYOMISSING — Aden Celani (172) and Dylan Benulis (121) won two bouts apiece as Schuylkill Haven fell to Twin Valley 59-11 and to Wyomissing 60-18 in a non-league tri-meet.
Celani notched a pair of first-period pins for the Hurricanes (1-2).
Twin Valley 59, Schuylkill Haven 11
107 — McHugh (TV) pinned Hasenauer, 1:08
114 — Milorey (TV) pinned Blevins, 4:23
121 — Benulis (SH) tech. fall Post, 28-12, 5:44
127 — Camaroto (TV) pinned Stone, 1:26
133 — Malone (TV) won by forfeit
139 — DiSilvestro (TV) won by forfeit
145 — Grzybek (TV) pinned Delgado, 2:34
152 — Kilgore (TV) maj. dec. Krammes, 15-5
160 — Buchanan (TV) pinned Prentice, 1:53
172 — Celani (SH) pinned Simerly, :48
189 — Fletcher (TV) pinned Dierolf, 3:38
215 — Minardi (TV) dec. Reber, 4-3
285 — DiGiacomo (TV) maj. dec. Brand, 11-3
Wyomissing 60, Schuylkill Haven 18
114 — Himmelberger (W) pinned Blevins, :58
121 — Benulis (SH) won by forfeit
127 — Sierra (W) pinned Stone, :13
133 — Yourkavitch (W) won by forfeit
139 — Diaz (W) won by forfeit
145 — Calvo (W) pinned Delgado, 3:21
152 — Breitenstein (W) pinned Krammes, :51
160 — Prentice (SH) pinned Hudock, 3:05
172 — Celani (SH) pinned Bennethum, 1:23
189 — Niedrowski (W) pinned Dierolf, :46
215 — Bresnahan (W) won by forfeit
285 — Fleming (W) pinned Brand, 2:31
107 — Mateo (W) pinned Hasenauer, 1:45
