BLAIRSVILLE — The Penns Valley wrestling team opened the 2025-26 wrestling season in convincing fashion.
The Rams beat Mifflin County, 47-16, on Dec. 4 at home before capturing the Babbit Duals on Dec. 6 at River Valley High School with a 5-0 record.
The Rams cruised to wins over Southmoreland, 60-15, Forest Hills, 64-12, Highlands, 58-13, Bellwood-Antis, 72-3, and River Valley, 64-10.
Eight of Penns Valley’s wrestlers went 5-0 at the Babbit Duals.
Max Dinges, Sawyer Fetterolf (152), Conner Myers (127), Cael Smith (189), Tripp Watson (145), Erik Carlile (139), Brayden Lisowski (172) and Robert Martin (215-285) all went 5-0.
Fetterolf, Myers and Watson recorded five falls each. Carlile rolled to four falls in 45 seconds or less and a technical fall. Martin powered his way to a four falls and a major decision. Smith tallied four falls and a forfeit win. Dinges and Lisowski both had three pins, a technical fall and a forfeit win.
Against Mifflin County, the Rams had an 11-point lead before winning the last four bouts, including pins by Shane Rimmey (215) and Martin (285), a technical fall from Lisowski (172) and a 5-0 Smith decision over Reese Christine at 189.
Watson (145) won by fall, while Evan Lisowski (121), Dinges (133) and Carlile (139) picked up technical falls.
The early-season wrestling was a good warm-up for the Dec. 9 clash with Bald Eagle Area on Dec. 9 at home.
BELLEFONTE
Bellefonte went 6-0 at the Gary Woodruff Memorial Duals on Dec. 6 at Wyalusing High School after opening the season with a 29-25 loss on Dec. 4 at Huntingdon.
The Red Raiders won five matches in pool competition, rolling to wins over Scranton Prep, 66-6, Wyoming Area, 66-11, Pittston, 54-18, Elk Lake, 69-0, and Valley View, 58-6. In a rematch of last year’s championship match, the Red Raiders edged Wallenpaupack, 33-30.
In the championship match, the score was tied, 27-27, going into the final two bouts. Bellefonte senior Wyatt Long (145) won by fall in 38 seconds to give his team a 33-27 lead. Long also reached the 100-win plateau for his career in his third bout of the tournament, and he now has 103.
Teammate Andrew Gall only lost by decision, 13-8, to Sawyer Jones at 152 to set the final score.
Jackson Long (215) and Luke Hockenberry (285) won by fall, while Colin Harter (114) rang up an 18-0 technical fall in 3:27. Early on, the Red Raiders got key decisions from Ezra Swisher over Tristan Braxton, 5-2, at 160 and Carson Crawford over Jake Rafferty, 6-4, at 189.
The Huntingdon match was tied, 19-19, going into the last four bouts, but the Bearcats got a major decision from Grady Clark at 172 and a pin from Landon Erdman at 215. Jackson Long beat Dominic Peruso, 10-4, at 189 and Hockenberry edged Noah Metz, 1-0, at 285.
Blake Glace (121) and Rylan Lucas (127) had back-to-back falls to give Bellefonte a 12-10 lead. Wyatt Long (145) beat Christian Taylor, 9-4, and Gall followed with a major decision.
STATE COLLEGE
State College opened the season with a 46-18 loss on Dec. 4 at Central Dauphin. The Little Lions’ Dec. 2 match at Shikellamy was postponed due to weather.
State College’s returning state sixth-placer James Whitbred (160) and teammate Noah Williams (189) rolled up respective technical falls against Central Dauphin. Luke Young (127) and Teag Sanderson (172) had major decisions.
Central Dauphin had a couple one-point decisions. State College’s Noah Young dropped a 7-6 decision to Francis Perri at 114, and Jon Whitbred lost to Trey Salvaggio, 6-5.
SCHEDULE FOR WEEK OF DEC. 8
BOYS
DEC. 11
Philipsburg-Osceola at Clearfield
Cedar Cliff at State College
DEC. 12-13
Bald Eagle Area in Dandy Duals at Towanda
State College at Penn Manor Tournament
DEC. 16
Philipsburg Osceola at Bald Eagle
Huntingdon at Penns Valley
GIRLS
DEC. 11
Philipsburg-Osceola at Clearfield
DEC. 13
Bald Eagle and Central Mountain at Lady Phoenix Christmas Classic, Sugar Valley Charter School
DEC. 16
Philipsburg-Osceola at Bald Eagle
