Several forfeits due to injury and illness, along with upsets from Andrew McMonagle at 160 and Landon Erdman at 215 allowed the 14-2 Huntingdon Bearcats to spoil Tyrone’s senior night 45-18 on Tuesday, January 17 at the Tyrone High School gymnasium.

“After guys were sick, injured and that type of thing, I knew it wasn’t going to be pretty if things didn’t go our way,” Tyrone coach Quentin Wright told the Altoona Mirror after the match. “We had two or three matches that didn’t quite go our way, but we were wrestling well.”

Before the wrestling action started, the Tyrone team honored a group of seven seniors, who each walked out with their parents and received congratulatory words and a gift from the wrestling boosters. The senior group for the 22-23 wrestling season is Reese Wood, Brody Klein, Curtis Wise, Caleb McKinney, Joel Howard, Jermaine Meyers, and Korry Walls.

The action then started at the 121-pound bout, with Tyrone junior Remington Fleck taking Huntingdon’s Ryan Yocum down and managing to turn him to his back, taking a 5-0 lead into the second period. Fleck finished the match with an 8-4 decision, beating Yocum, who came into the match with a 16-5 record. This gave the Eagles an early 3-0 lead.

Tyrone’s Cohen Wallace took the mat next at the 139-pound weight class after Huntingdon’s Landon Dunsmore received a forfeit at 133.

With the Eagles now down 6-3, they knew this match would be crucial in regaining momentum. Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, Wallace gave up the pin in 2:37 to Eric Mykut, pushing the Huntingdon score to 12-3.

The 145-pound bout also proved to be a crucial match for the Eagles and was also one of the closer matches of the night. Tyrone’s Lukas Walk and Huntingdon’s Grady Clark went into the third period 1-0, with Clark the only one on the board. The scoring shortly changed as Walk was able to get an escape and takedown to give him a 3-1 lead. Walk was able to ride Clark for the rest of the period and end with a 3-1 win.

The match now had a 12-6 team score with Huntingdon still on top after four matches. Huntingdon then received their second forfeit of the night at 152, giving them an 18-6 lead.

At the 160-pound weight class, there was a matchup of two Andrews, with Tyrone sending out Andrew Weaver and Huntingdon sending out Andrew McMonagle. Unfortunately, McMonagle was able to get the better of Weaver, pinning him in the first period.

Tyrone was able to gain momentum back however, winning the next two matches, with Freshman Kyle Scott winning 5-0 over Devin Brenneman at 172, and Junior Richard Rawlings pinning Treyson Poorman at 189.

The Eagles were then forced to make a move, bumping Senior Jermaine Myers up to 215, two weight classes up from his regular slot at 172.

This move was necessary, as Senior Caleb McKinney was unable to wrestle at 215. Myers lept out to an early lead, taking down Huntingdon’s Erdman multiple times before Myers was turned to his back and pinned with just two seconds left in the second period.

The Eagles now trailed 30-15 coming into the heavyweight match, which was a highly anticipated matchup between the number three ranked Gunner Singleton of Huntingdon and number 12 ranked Braden ‘Jefe’ Ewing of Tyrone.

The two wrestlers battled it out for six minutes, but neither was able to take the other down, causing the match to reach overtime, knotted up 1-1. Ewing then attempted a throw on the 6 foot 6 285 pound goliath of Singleton but was not able to finish the throw, giving Singleton the 3-1 decision.

“He went for it,” Wright said of Ewing’s bout. “I was proud of the way he wrestled. He was super smart.”

The last three bouts of the match took place at the top of the lineup.

Huntingdon gained another forfeit at 107, which was then followed by a pin at the 114-pound bout for the Bearcats.

Tyrone was able to get one last taste of victory, however, with Logan Rumberger winning in a decision at the 121-pound weight class, making the final score 45-18 in favor of the Bearcats.

BOX SCORE

127–R. Fleck, T, dec. Yocum, 8-4; 133–Dunsmore, H, won by forfeit; 139–Mykut, H, pinned Wallace, 2:37; 145–Walk, T, dec. Clark, 3-1; 152–Grubb, H, won by forfeit; 160–McMonagle, H, pinned Weaver, 1:48; 172–Scott, T, dec. Brenneman, 5-0

189–Rawlings, T, pinned Poorman, 3:03; 215–Erdman, H, pinned Myers, 3:58; 285–Singleton, H, dec. Ewing, 3-1 OT; 107–Sholly, H, won by forfeit; 114–Gladfelter, H, pinned Weber, 1:11; 121–Rumberger, T, dec. Simpson, 6-2.

Records: Huntingdon (14-2), Tyrone (4-6)

Exhibition winner: McDivitt, H

Referee: Tyler Morder