By Lynn Saternow

Herald Sports Editor



EDINBORO — Fort LeBoeuf is the only team ever to stop Reynolds high from winning the District 10 AA Dual-Meet wrestling championship. But the Raiders weren’t about to let it happen again Thursday night at Edinboro University’s McComb Field House.

Coach Brian Hills’ Raiders defeated LeBoeuf 35-18 to win their 6th straight title and 9th overall in the 11th year of the tournament. LeBoeuf held the title the other 2 years.

“When they won the flip I was a little bit concerned,” said Hills about the pre-match coin toss that determines who puts their wrestler on the mat first at various weights. It made the difference in a LeBoeuf win several years ago.

“But I can’t say enough about our kids. Every one of them went out and did their jobs. Even the kids that lost, they were hard-fought losses. That’s very critical against good teams.”

Reynolds (19-0) moved into the finals with a romp over Saegertown, 56-10, while LeBoeuf (11-4) ousted Greenville, 40-21.

Reynolds defeated LeBoeuf 39-23 earlier this season, and the finals got under way with a rematch at 160. LeBoeuf’s Casey Pace handled Raider junior Tyler Rhoades in the regular meet (11-4), but Rhoades turned the tables here for an 11-6 win to stake the Blue & Gray to an early lead. The match was tied at 6 to start the 3rd period, but Rhoades tacked on an escape, takedown and back points.

At 171, Raider senior Greg Baptiste faced sophomore Craig Cihon, and it was no contest. Baptiste (23-8) was in control the whole way for a 7-2 win. At 189, the Bisons cut into Reynolds’ lead when Lee Zeigler edged Jeremy Fowler, 5-1.

In a game of cat-and-mouse, both teams held out their regular 215-pounders and Reynolds’ Jamar Henry took on LeBoeuf’s Evan Dailey in a clash of freshmen. Dailey won, 1-0, on the strength of a 3rd-period escape to tie the team score at 6-6.

At 285, it was a meeting of the usual 215-pounders — Blake Heim of Reynolds and Brandon Bradney. Heim jumped out to a 5-1 lead after a takedown and back points and made it stand up for a key 8-6 decision.

Turning to the lightweights, Reynolds’ Neal Engstrom took on Brandon Puckley at 103. Puckley, who beat Engstrom 6-0 in the earlier dual, again dominated, this time for a 10-0 major decision that put the Bison on top in the team total, 10-9.

At 112, it was another rematch, with Raider Rodney Harnett facing Travis Abbott. Again it was a fall for Harnett, this time in 1:15. That started Reynolds on a roll.

Unbeaten 119-pound Raider star Mason Beckman (33-0) manhandled Taylor Fox for a technical fall, 20-5, in 5:51, then Dylan D’Urso (27-5) followed up with a 17-0 tech fall over Mitch Kaltenbaugh at 125.

At 130, Raider junior Adam Matthews scored a 1st-period takedown against Kody Pace for the deciding points in a 3-1 triumph that vaulted Reynolds to a 28-10 lead.

Reynolds’ freshman star Austin Matthews followed up at 135 against LeBoeuf’s outstanding sophomore Riley Smith with a dominating 10-0 major decision that clinched the team victory.

LeBoeuf broke the Raider string of wins at 140 when Bison senior Shawn Stancliff defeated freshman Cam Cianci, 12-4.

At 145, Reynolds senior Luke Taylor faced a rematch with David Church, who defeated Taylor 8-3 earlier. This time, Taylor used a series of tilts to pick up back points in a 10-5.

The Bisons won the final match of the night as senior star Jeremy King (18-0) beat Matt Tofani, 13-4.

“Tyler Rhoades really got us going with that beautiful win,” said Hills. “And Heim did a great job in beating Bradney. It was a great overall team victory.

“I really get into this competition thing. We try to put the best kids in the best places to win,” Hills continued. “Now we’ll kick back and take it easy for a few days and then get ready for state.”

The Raiders, who have won 3 of the last 4 state team titles, earned a bye all the way to the PIAA quarterfinals at noon next Friday at Hershey Giant Center. LeBoeuf wrestles Tuesday against the WPIAL (District 7) runner-up at North Hills High School. The winner of that advances to Hershey for a Friday morning match.

SEMIFINALS

ä Reynolds 56, Saegertown 10 — The Region 1-A champs had no trouble in their opening match. Raider senior Taylor got the rout going at 152 with a 6-0 decision, and it was all over the the shouting of the Reynolds fans.

Notching falls for the Raiders were Rhoades, Heim, Engstrom and Adam and Austin Matthews.

Beckman was impressive in dominating Saegertown’s best wrestler Sean Byham (24-4), 17-5. Also scoring major decisions for Reynolds were Baptiste, Harnett, D’Urso and Cianci.

ä Fort LeBoeuf 40, Greenville 21 — The Trojans fell short in their bid to get to the D-10 finals, as LeBoeuf got on a roll and Greenville couldn't stem the tide.

“It was a little disappointing,” said Trojans’ coach John Reynolds. “It wasn’t our best performance. But give Fort LeBoeuf credit; they have a really good team.”

The Trojans (17-4) and Bisons battled back-and-forth in several tight matches early on, with Tyler Landfried (160) and R.J. Malson (189) winning decisions, before heavyweight Dillon Sarcinella gave Greenville its 1st lead of the night (12-9) with a fall.

After that the Bisons regained the lead with a pin at 103. Then at 112, the Trojans’ hopes suffered a blow when David Wilkerson was leading 7-1, but got caught in a defensive pin by Travis Abbott that vaulted LeBoeuf ahead 21-12. The Trojans never got back into the match.

They didn’t notch another win until 140-pound star Cody Copeland gave the Trojans’ fans something to cheer about when he decked David Church in 1:07. Church came in with a 16-1 record. Copeland moved to 28-1 on the season.

Randy Perkins closed out the match for Greenville at 145 with a 7-5 win over Shawn Stancliff.

With the outcome pretty well decided by 135, Reynolds held out the banged-up senior Luke Marshall to get him healthier for sections. 

“I thought we started out real well with Landfried and Malson getting wins, but Ryan Kuhn (who lost) beat that kid (Cihon) handily at Tool City. But we needed to get bonus points in some of those matches, but we didn’t and that changes some things. But now we’ll get ready for the postseason tournaments.”



FINALS

REYNOLDS 35, FORT LeBOEUF 18

160 — Tyler Rhoades (R) dec. Casey Pace, 11-6; 171 — Greg Baptiste (R) dec. Craig Cihon, 7-2; 189 — Lee Zeigler (FL) dec. Jeremy Fowler, 5-1; 215 — Evan Dailey (FL) dec. Jamar Henry, 1-0; 285 — Blake Heim (R) dec. Brandon Bradney, 8-6; 103 — Brandon Puckley (FL) major dec. Neal Engstrom, 10-0; 112 — Rodney Harnett (R) pinned Travis Abbott, 1:15; 119 — Mason Beckman (R) tech fall over Taylor Fox, 20-5, 5:51; 125 — Dylan D’Urso (R) tech. fall over Mitch Kaltenbaugh, 17-0, 4:44; 130 — Adam Matthews (R ) dec. Kody Pace, 3-1; 135 — Austin Matthews (R) major dec. Riley Smith, 10-0; 140 — Shawn Stancliff (FL) major dec. Cam Cianci, 12-4; 145 — Luke Taylor (R) dec. David Church, 10-5; 152 — Jeremy King (FL) major dec. Matt Tofani, 13-4.         



SEMIFINALS

REYNOLDS 56, SAEGERTOWN 10

152 — Taylor (R) dec. Brock Logek, 6-0; 160 — Rhoades (R) pinned Brock Henderson, 0:56; 171 — Fowler (R) dec. Dave Andrews, 1-0; 189 — Baptiste (R ) major dec. Josh Tomicek, 10-0; 215 — Heim (R) pinned Casey Champman, 3:29; 285 — Brandon Stafford (S) pinned Drew Loutzenhiser, 3:50; 103 — Engstrom (R) pinned Anthony Riply, 3:58; 112 — Harnett (R) major dec. Brendan Byham, 13-2; 119 — Beckman (R) major dec. Sean Byham, 17-5; 125 — D’Urso (R) major dec. Justin Mitchell, 19-8; 130 — Adam Matthews (R) pinned Dakota Shultz, 5:25; 135 — Austin Matthews (R) pinned Andrew Boylan, 1:22; 140 — Tim Clark (S) major dec. Dillon Babcock, 12-0; 145 — Cianci (R) major dec. Aaron Jackson, 12-0.   

———

FORT LeBOEUF 40, GREENVILLE 21

152 — King (FL) dec. David Holiga, 6-4; 160 — Tyler Landfried (G) dec. Pace, 10-8; 171 — Cihon (FL) dec. Ryan Kuhn, 3-1; 189 — R.J. Malson (G) dec. Zeigler, 5-0; 215 — Bradney (GL) dec. Nick Weaver, 5-5; 285 — Dillon Sarcinella (G) pinned Mike Pfister, 2:59; 103 — Puckly (FL) pinned Matt Wilkerson, 0:48; 112 — Abbott (FL) pinned David Wilkerson, 5:08; 119 — Fox (FL) dec. Jacob Brown, 7-2; 125 — Kaltenbaugh (FL) pinned Jacob Riffe, 5:14; 130 — Pace (FL) major dec. Blake Horne, 8-0; 135 — Smith (FL) forfeit; 140 — Cody Copeland (G) pinned Church, 1:07; 145 — Randy Perkins (G) dec. Shawn Stancliff, 7-5.