PIAA Wrestling: Blue Mountain standouts bow out of states
Blue Mountain's Owen Woll works off the bottom during a Class 3A 152-pound consolation bout against North Penn's Jonny O'Brien on Friday at the PIAA Wrestling Championships at the Giant Center in Hershey. (Photo by Bob Lipsky)
HERSHEY — Owen Woll and Bradley Renninger faced the harsh reality that their seasons ended Friday short of the Class 3A podium at the PIAA Wrestling Championships.
The Blue Mountain pair wrestled in the second round of consolations during the afternoon session at the Giant Center, but neither could generate much offense.
First, Woll, a junior 152-pounder, dropped an 11-0 major decision to North Penn’s Jonny O’Brien.
A short time later, Renninger, a senior 189-pounder, fell by technical fall, 16-1 in 3:05, to Strath Haven’s Michael Spielman.
“I think they are great leaders, and they feed off of each other,” Blue Mountain coach Alex Gosch said. “They lead by example, as cliche as that is. They don’t have to raise their voice very often. They lead with their chest out, head up. During the offseason workouts, they’re always about getting the guys in the room or loading up a car and going to different mat clubs. It’s so valuable to have those type of kids step up and lead the program that way.
“Without a doubt, there’s a little bit of a culture shift at Blue Mountain wrestling, and they’re the spearhead of that,” Gosch added. “Getting these young guys fired up and showing them what this next level of wrestling is, and showing it first-hand. Hopefully, having youth-level guys in the stands, getting to see this atmosphere in the bright lights is huge to get them to aspire to one day be down here.”
Woll struggled to get anything going against O’Brien. A turning point came at the end of the first period. O’Brien got in deep on a shot, but the officials originally said the takedown came after the buzzer. North Penn coaches questioned the call, and after the officials conferred, they awarded a three-point takedown to O’Brien.
On top, O’Brien proved to be superior, twice turning Woll for a four-point near fall with a tilt. The lead grew to 7-0 in the second period and to a major decision in the third.
Woll capped his junior season with a 42-9 record and is 113-31 in his career. He placed third at districts and second at regionals to earn his second trip to states.
