Central-Northern Bedford recap

   This is late as I have some sickness going through my family and had a trip to the ER last night that lasted into the early morning.
    I was at Central on Thursday for the match with Northern Bedford, and expected it to be a close battle between a pair of upstart teams in my opinion. However, Central was very impressive in picking up a 43-30 win where that score really doesn't indicate the dominance that the Red Dragons showed. It was 37-3 at one point. Here is the box score:

Central 43, Northern Bedford 30
120 - Swab, C, pinned Childers, 3:42
126 - Bro. Biddle, C, pinned Raab, 5:53
132 - Helsley, NB, dec. Kennedy, 5-3 OT
138 - Bry. Biddle, C, pinned Replogle, 5:04
145 - Hoenstine, C, dec. Hershberger, 10-4
152 - Quarello, C, maj. dec. Gochnour, 10-2
160 - Co. Ulery, C, pinned Brunner, 3:47
170 - Smith, C, pinned Morris, 2:29
182 - Kolinchak, NB, dec. Mock, 2-1
195 - M. Guyer, NB, pinned Gahagan, 1:38
220 - Ott, NB, won by forfeit
285 - Conrath, C, pinned Foor, 1:43
106 - T. Guyer, NB, pinned Ca. Ulery, 1:43
113 - Clark, NB, won by forfeit

   And a few notes:
   — I was frankly shocked at the result at 120 to start the match. Not only did Braeden Swab pin Trey Childers, he dominated the bout until that point. Childers had an early takedown, but Swab fought back almost immediately and had an 8-2 lead at the time of the fall. Swab was not a kid I had heard of, but in talking to Central coach Dave Marko, he's a kid that has quite a bit of potential and certainly a pin over a multiple time regional qualifier like Childers is only going to help his cause.

   — I shot video of the 132-pound bout between Northern Bedford's Jared Helsley and Central's Ethan Kennedy. The entire bout, a 5-3 win in overtime for Helsley, can be seen at this link - Helsley (NB) vs. Kennedy (C) - 132 pounds. I do apologize for the first 10 seconds or so of the video as I had to adjust the focus.
   I had a hunch this could be one of the night's top bouts and it was, with Helsley pulling out the win on a nice takedown in the sudden victory period. As things turned out, the wins by Helsley, Lucas Kolinchak at 182, Mason Guyer at 195, and Tristin Guyer at 106 were the highlights for the Black Panthers.

   — I'll say it now that I think Central will be a major player in the race for the District 6 team championship. When asked, Marko wouldn't put his team in the conversation, as he views Huntingdon as probably still the favorite and Blairsville, West Branch and Westmont-Hilltop as a trio of likely contenders. But I'll be curious to see how this all plays out.
   In Marko's case, he has the ability to run out Brock Biddle, Ethan Kennedy, Bryce Biddle, Nick Hoenstine, and Jordan Quarello from 126-152. And with Mike Mock at 170, that's six pretty solid wrestlers right there. Currently, Kale Burket is not in the lineup, as he was reportedly beaten out by Brock Biddle for the 126 spot. Marko told me the door is still wide open for Burket to find his way back into the lineup, perhaps at 120. But with Swab's emergence, at least for one night, who knows what will happen. Marko also said he could get Cameron Norris, a PJW placewinner at 167 last season, into the fold soon.
   Central and Huntingdon do not wrestle until the end of the regular season, on February 2.