Braden Ewing’s path to collect a District title was nothing but blood, tears, and sweat. Ewing fell short of Gunner Singleton of Huntington in the finals in his sophomore year, but Singleton graduated in the class of 2023, giving Ewing a path to District 6 gold.

Ewing has been dominating this year posting a 33-2 record going into the postseason. He was the number one seed and walked through his bracket picking up two first-period pins and a major decision.

However, Ewing’s opponent in the finals, Daniel Williams of Glendale, was no push-over. The two had wrestled in the regular season once already where Ewing won a gut-wrenching match 2-1 in tiebreaker 2 at the Panther Holiday Classic.

The District championship match was very similar to their first meeting. The first period was scoreless. Ewing went down and escaped right away. The rest of the second period was spent with hand fighting. In the third period, Williams took bottom and reversed Ewing. Ewing was down 2-1 halfway through the 3rd, but quickly escaped again and tied it up 2-2. The match went into overtime as no points were scored. The match was settled with the ultimate tie-breaker where Braden Ewing won 3-2 and became Tyrone’s First District Champion in the last decade.

“It’s my time now, I’ve been working for this and finally got a district title. It feels amazing,” said Ewing.

At 172 lbs, Kyle Scott was ranked second and made his way through the semi-finals with a fall over Forest Hills Kory Marsalko. In the finals against a familiar opponent, Owen McMullen of Bishop McCort, Scott was looking for gold. The first period had no score and was mostly hand-fighting in neutral. McMullen was able to get an escape in the second followed by an escape from Scott in the third. The gym was roaring as the match was sent to overtime, however, it was short-lived when McMullen secured a takedown with 15 seconds left.

Despite the close loss, a second-place finish for Scott will give him a great opportunity to place high at the Southwest Region championship.

In the round of 32, at 189 lbs senior Andrew Weaver collected a fall in 35 seconds against Forest Hills Darin Rodgers making it his 100th win of his career.

“It felt great to finally get 100, I’ve worked so hard to achieve this milestone. I could have done better at Districts, but I’m not finished yet,” Weaver said. 

Weaver and teammates celebrated his 100 wins, but he knew he had to focus on the next matches to secure his ticket to regionals.

Weaver collected a 13-0 major decision to lock in the top 6 finish. In the semi-finals, he had to face the number 2 ranked wrestler at 189 in the state, Caleb Close from Bald Eagle. Weaver fell to Close and dropped to the consolation semifinals where he won by fall in a minute and a half.

Weaver faced CJ Penisero from Bishop McCort for bronze and the match went back and forth. Weaver was down 10-7 going into the third but couldn’t pull through for the win. Weaver finished 4th place.

Remington Fleck’s district journey was an underdog story. Fleck was the 10th seed going into the tournament and lost his first match via decision, Fleck had to battle his way through the consolation bracket.

Fleck won his second match by an 8-3 decision and received a medical forfeit in his next match to make it to the blood rounds, where he faced Michael Monty of United.

The match was scoreless through the first two periods. Fleck went down to start the third period and swiftly reversed Monty to go up 2-0. Fleck threw in boots and rode Monty out for a minute straight until Monty finally escaped. Fleck used great defense to pull away with a 2-1 victory and clutched his way to Regionals.  Fleck dropped the next two matches but still took a 6th place finish to advance to Regionals.

Senior Richard Rawlings had a similar journey as Fleck. Rawlings dropped his first match to the 10th seed 8-6, and went on to win 3 matches straight in the consolation bracket.

In the blood round, Rawlings faced Ryvan Audi from Richland. Audi was up 3-1 going into the third period. Rawling went down and escaped right away to make it 3-2. Rawlings was on the attack the rest of the third period trying to secure a takedown. Within the last 3 seconds, Rawlings used an inside trip to takedown Audi but time expired just as he got the two. Rawlings dropped to the 7th place match where he lost 10-2. Rawlings finished with an 8th-place finish.

Dominic Pluebell faced the number 17 seed in the pigtail matches, Pluebell was tied 2-2 where he caught the kid on his back and collected a pin. Pluebell faced number 1 seed Landon Bainey right off the rip where he lost by fall, Pluebell dropped down and lost his next match 6-1.

The team finished 10th overall and have four wrestlers moving on to Regionals.

Regionals will be held on Friday, March 1st, and Saturday, March 2nd at The Altoona Fieldhouse. 

TEAM STANDINGS

1. BM–Bishop McCort 283; 2. BEA–Bald Eagle Area 195.5; 3. PV–Penns Valley 170.5; 4. H–Huntingdon 159; 5. U–United 131; 6. B–Bellefonte 127.5; 7. PO–Philipsburg-Osceola 116.5; 8. PC–Penn Cambria 95; 9. FH–Forest Hills 90.5; 10. T–Tyrone 89; 11. MU–Mount Union 80.5; 12. RV–River Valley 78.5; 13. J–Juniata 76; 14. G–Glendale 75.5; 15. C–Central and WH–Westmont Hilltop 59; 17. MV–Moshannon Valley 56; 18. MC–Marion Center 53; 19. R–Richland 50; 20. WB–West Branch 43.5; 21. CC–Central Cambria 42.5; 22. CH–Cambria Heights 41; 23. CK–Claysburg-Kimmel 36; 24. JV–Juniata Valley 28; 25. WS–West Shamokin 15; 26. SH–Southern Huntingdon 14; 27. BA–Bellwood-Antis 2.

SEMIFINALS

107–Guenot, BEA, pinned Dluhos, WH, 5:46; Hummel, PO, dec. W. Long, B, 5:46; 114–Judice, BEA, pinned Kostick, R, 2:34; Tinsman, MC, dec. Carlisle, PV, 3-0; 121–Bainey, WB, tech. fall Darlington, PV, 16-0, 4:44; Sledzianowski, BM, dec. Garshnick, U, 4-3; 127–Forrest, B, tech. fall Garcia, B, 20-5, 2:07; Bracken, U, dec. Fye, BEA, 12-5; 133–Shunk, PV, dec. Lomison, BEA, 6-1; Gibson, BM, tech. fall Forcellini, FH, 22-7, 4:17; 139–M. Gable, PO, pinned Wilson, CC, 4:21; Bassett, BM, tech. fall Swisher, B, 20-5, 1:56; 145–Weaver, B, maj. dec. Fleck, PO, 15-2; Butler, BM, pinned Lisowski, PV, 5:19

152–Miller, BM, tech. fall McCully, U, 21-6, 2:56; Hoover, PC, dec. Ty Watson, PV, 7-5 OT; 160–Barnhart, RV, pinned Eckenrode, CH, 2:20; Magro, BM, pinned Fetterolf, PV, 2:45; 172–McMullen, BM, dec. Campbell, G, 9-4; Scott, T, pinned Marsalko, FH, 3:41; 189–McMonagle, H, pinned Pensiero, BM, 2:48; Close, BEA, pinned Weaver, T, 3:12; 215–Ryan, MU, dec. Summerville, PC, 3-1 OT; Butler, BM, dec. Lobb, MV, 2-0; 285–Ewing, T, maj. dec. Erdman, H, 12-3; Williams, G, pinned Deloatch, FH, 2:44.

CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

107–Guenot, BEA, dec. Hummel, PO, 4-1; 114–Judice, BEA, dec. Tinsman, MC, 6-2; 121–Bainey, WB, won by disqualification over Sledzianowski, BM, 2:00; 127–Forrest, BM, pinned Bracken, U, 1:27; 133–Gibson, BM maj. dec. Shunk, PV, 23-9; 139–Bassett, BM, tech. fall M. Gable, PO, 20-5, 4:12; 145–Ja. Butler, BM, maj. dec. Weaver, B, 13-4

152–Miller, BM, dec. Hoover, PC, 3-2; 160–Magro, BM, pinned Barnhart, RV, 1:36; 172–McMullen, BM, dec. Scott, T, 3-1 OT; 189–Close, BEA, dec. McMonagle, H, 5-2; 215–Ryan, MU, dec. Jo. Butler, BM, 3-0; 285–Ewing, T, dec. Williams, G, 3-2 TB.

Outstanding Wrestler: Caleb Close, Bald Eagle Area

THIRD PLACE

107–W. Long, B, pinned Dluhos, WH, 1:19; 114–Sombronski, U, dec. Jones, CH, 1-0; 121–Garshnick, U, dec. Darlington, PV, 4-1; 127–Fye, BEA, pinned Gibson, H, :21; 133–Forcellini, FH, dec. Lomison, BEA, 8-3; 139–Swisher, B, maj. dec. Mykut, H, 9-1; 145–Reese, BEA, pinned Lisowski, PV, 2:02

152–Ty Watson, PV, pinned McCully, U, 2:42; 160–Mardula, PC, dec. Clark, H, 5-2; 172–Marsalko, FH, pinned Uplinger, H, 3:00; 189–Pensiero, BM, dec. Weaver, T, 12-8; 215–Summerville, PC, pinned Lobb, MV, 3:44; 285–McCoy, WH, dec. Deloatch, FH, 3-1.

FIFTH PLACE

107–Sholly, H, dec. Myers, PV, 10-7; 114–Carlisle, PV, dec. Kostick, R, 8-5; 121–Munyon, PC, dec. Bomberger, J, 6-2; 127–Tr. Watson. PV, pinned Garcia, B, 2:58; 133–Mickel, C, dec. Henning, U, 5-1; 139–Wilson, CC, dec. Fleck, T, 11-9 OT; 145–Fleck, PO, pinned Lindrose, R, 4:00

152–Kurten, MV, won by injury default Bennett, BEA; 160–Fetterolf, PV, dec. Eckenrode, CH, 4-2 OT; 172–Campbell, G, dec. Stephens, U, 5-2; 189–Mummah, J, dec. Rimmey, PV, 8-6 OT; 215–Stuchal, RV, dec. Audi, R, 6-5; 285–Erdman, H, pinned Peiper, J, 3:49.

SEVENTH PLACE

107–Britt, BM, won by injury default over Moss, FH, 3:23; 114–Niebauer, CC, pinned A. Gable, PO, 2:16; 121–Foster, PO, won by injury default over Beatty, MU, :02; 127–Horn, C, dec. Chilcote, MU, 9-8; 133–Hess, MU, dec. Soler, CK, 4-2; 139–Rummel, PV, dec. Monty, U, 6-3; 145–Ray, WH, dec. Gorzelsky, FH, 3-0

152–J. Long, B, pinned Peruso, H, 2:11; 160–McHail, B, pinned Gallaher, U, 3:53; 172–Reifer, MV, dec. Dubbs, BEA, 2-1; 189–Rummel, RV, dec. Hockenberry, B, 5-2; 215–Miller, H, maj. dec. Rawlings, T, 10-2; 285–Inch, MU, dec. Wano, RV, 3-1.