CHS Wins 4 of 5 at Everett Duals

Saturday, Jan. 4, was a busy, challenging and successful day for the Central High School wrestlers as they returned from the Everett Bloody Run Duals with four victories in five matches.

The Dragons defeated Cambria Heights, 54-30, as they benefitted from six Heights forfeits. Of the eight matches that took place, Central won three, all by fall. Ian Crouch (126) ended his match in 2:14 and Ethan Eicher (195) in 2:18 while Mason Daniels flattened his man in just 55 seconds.

Central had a lopsided 60-24 defeat over Juniata Valley. The Dragons recorded six falls, received three forfeits and won by medical disqualification. Alex Bowman (31 seconds), Michael Fowkes (20 seconds) and Ethan Eicher (30 seconds) each had pins in less than one minute. Tanner Hall took 3:22 and Wyatt Holsinger 2:53 to end their matches.

In their tightest contest of the day, the Dragons defeated Tussey mountain 42-39. TM forfeited four weight classes and the Dragons one. Three other Dragons again were victorious by fall as each team totaled seven victories. Jaxson Matthews finished his man in 5:20 while Michael Fowkes had a 1:45 pin. Alex Bowman edged out Fowkes by one second with a 1:44 victory.

In their only loss, the Dragons fell to Meyersdale 48-36. Five Dragons won by fall while another received a forfeit win. Ian Crouch (1:13), Alex Bowman (1:47), Tanner Hall (1:35) and Ethan Eicher (1:25) all won in less than two minutes while Tyler Hess took 5:36 to end his match.

In its fourth win of the day, Central defeated Central Cambria 54-25. CC forfeited four of the weight classes, handing the Dragons 24 points. The teams split the other 10 matches with Central recording falls in all five of their wins. Wyatt Holsinger had the fastest pin of the day with a 12-second victory while Fowkes took just 32 seconds. Other winners by fall were Ian Crouch (1:33), Alex Bowman (1:43) and Lane Kocher (1:28).

“It was a great day for us to get a lot of wrestlers out on the mats against a variety of competition,” Central coach Dave Marko said. “Four wins in a day is great. We’ve been emphasizing to the guys to go for back points and pins and the results today were exceptional.”

A depleted Central Dragon wrestling squad visited powerful Mountain League foe Huntingdon on Jan. 7 and fell 68-3.

The match actually began favorably for the Dragons as Ian Crouch (120) defeated his opponent 3-2 in an ultimate tiebreaker. The win improved Crouch’s record to an impressive 13-3 on the season.

Sadly for the Dragons, the Bearcats would capture the following 13 matches. Huntingdon combined six falls, three decisions, three forfeit wins and a technical fall to gather their points.

“We were shorthanded with four guys missing due to injuries on sickness,” CHS coach Dave Mark said. “We’ve been able to fill almost all the weight classes for all our matches but not tonight. We’ll get everyone healthy and get back on track soon.”