Monday, November 19, 2018

Schedule Highlights for 2018-19

   Below are some of the important and intriguing matches and tournaments for the upcoming high school wrestling season around the local area:

December 7
   North Star at Everett - Opening Night for Winter Sports, and this could be a good match to kick off the new season between two of the upper echelon teams in District 5.

December 11
   Forest Hills at Bedford - A bunch of new faces, and familiar ones in new spots. Joel Easter makes his head coaching debut at Bedford, who will also have Kaden Cassidy in its lineup as the former junior high standout in Bison colors returns home. Meanwhile, it will be an early chance to see a few of the highly anticipated freshmen expected to be in the lineup for the Rangers.

December 14-15
   Panther Holiday Classic, King of the Mountain Tournament - The first big tournament weekend hits with events at Mount Aloysius and Central Mountain. Chestnut Ridge will attempt to win a second straight KOM team title.

December 18
   Forest Hills at Chestnut Ridge - Expect a full house in Fishertown on this night, which could ultimately determine the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference championship. While Chestnut Ridge does have to replace most of its middleweight portion of its lineup, it's a chance to see how good Forest Hills is against one of the top programs in the state over the last half-dozen years.

Holiday Week Tournaments
   Southmoreland Classic, Powerade Tournament - In the past, Northern Bedford was the only team from the county to go to Southmoreland, which is not Powerade level but still a solid event between a lot of Class AA and AAA schools from the Southwest Regionals. Bedford and Tussey Mountain join the fold this year. Meanwhile at Canon-Mac, Chestnut Ridge's Jared McGill will be the local highlight as he goes for two straight Powerade titles against a top-notch field.

January 5
   Everett Duals - Everett hosts its dual-meet event again, with other teams including Cambria Heights, Central, and Forest Hills among others on hand.

January 19
   Ultimate Duals - Chestnut Ridge returns again to Brookville's Ultimate Duals, where the Lions have fared rather well over the years against a field that includes defending state duals champion Reynolds, host Brookville, Burrell, and others. This year, Conneaut Area and Freedom are also slated to be there.
 
January 25-26
   Thomas Tournament - It wouldn't be a wrestling season around here without the annual Thomas Tournament, which features a number of programs from Districts 5 and 6 along with some from Districts 3, 7, 10, 11 and Maryland.

February 2
   District 5 Duals - Chestnut Ridge has owned the district team duals title for six straight years - can anyone knock the Lions off? This is the day for that to be determined.

February 7-9
   Class AA, Class AAA state duals - Hershey's Giant Center plays host to its first of two annual wrestling championships as the team duals take center stage first. Reynolds (Class AA) and Bethlehem Catholic (Class AAA) are defending champs.

February 15-16
   District 5, District 6-AA Tournaments - Regional qualifiers in Class AA from District 5 and District 6 will be determined in separate events at UPJ's Sports Center and the Altoona Fieldhouse.

February 22-23
   Class AA Southwest Regional - IUP will be the place to be to see how many locals earn their place in the state tournament for the season.

March 7-9
   Class AA, Class AAA State Tournament - After a week off for area AA wrestlers, the state tournament in Hershey closes out what should be another strong season of local competition.


Saturday, November 17, 2018

State Champs!

   A golden goal.
   For one unforgettable golden moment.
   What a season this Bedford girls soccer team put together.
   An undefeated record. So many goals. So few goals given up. And in the end early this afternoon, the biggest thing these Lady Bisons will cherish forever - a state championship.
   Through 80 minutes of regulation in the Class AA final against Lewisburg, nobody could break through as the title would be settled in overtime or a penalty kick shootout.
   But less than a minute of game time later, it was over with Amber Thomas connecting on a PK after teammate Abby Donaldson was fouled in the box.
   Thomas tallied her 58th goal of the year on a low shot to the left side of the net, and the celebration was on for Bedford, who finishes 22-0 this fall.
   The Lady Bisons had everything this year, from scoring to defense to the little things that can’t be taught or coached. That’s what it takes to win state titles.
   Bedford coach Jeff Thomas is an outstanding 81-6 in four years coaching the girls team. He deserves a lot of credit, though I know he doesn’t care about that. Each time I covered Bedford this season, he would always discuss how hard the team has worked since losing in the state semifinals a year ago.
   Jeff’s not a rah-rah type of coach on the sideline, but he obviously gets the job done. And he’s got good assistants, and first and foremost a very talented group of players. Watching the video of today’s winning goal, I got a little chuckle out of seeing Jeff’s reaction, the usual unassuming handshake from other coaches like it was any other win.
   Of course, it was not any other win, or any other day.
   Congratulations to the entire Bedford girls program for producing this moment in history.
———
   Bedford Gazette Sports Editor Codi Weyant was on scene today and will have a story and plenty of photos in Monday’s edition. Be sure to grab a print copy or visit www.bedfordgazette.com.
 

Monday, November 5, 2018

Wrestling Notes - Early November

   Wrestling is here for the 2018-19 season.
   Official high school practices begin in less than two weeks, while the college season began for many teams in the past few days. And many high schoolers from the region, state, and beyond took part in the first-annual The Surge yesterday at UPJ's Sports Center. I wasn't there, but it appeared to be a wide-ranging success, so a hat tip to my friends at PA Power Wrestling.
   Here's some short tidbits from my files as we get closer to the season around here:

Cassidy makes commitment
   Bedford junior Kaden Cassidy announced on Sunday night (he broke the news to me first) that he had made a verbal commitment to George Mason University. I have a story on this for tomorrow's Bedford Gazette. While I won't give away everything in my story, getting Cassidy is another piece of George Mason's strong recruiting push into Pennsylvania. Make sure you get a copy of the paper on Tuesday.

McCoy wins Hokie Open
   The winningest wrestler in Bedford County history began his collegiate career over the weekend with a title in the Freshman/Sophomore Division at the Hokie Open. Competing at 157 pounds, University of Virginia true freshman Justin McCoy went 5-0 in the event, which included a pair of technical falls. In the finals, the former state champ defeated George Mason freshman Kolby Ho by a 9-7 decision. Ho was a Class AAA state finalist for DuBois last March, while McCoy won a Class AA title in 2017 and was a finalist last year at Chestnut Ridge.
   McCoy told me last week that he is likely to redshirt this season. In a dual on Saturday, Virginia beat Indiana, which included a technical fall by former Ligonier Valley standout Robby Patrick (174).

Gabriel up to 141 for Navy
   Former Bedford state champion Jonathan Gabriel will likely be at 141 pounds at the Naval Academy this year. He told me about a month ago that he would be there and would have to beat two-time NCAA qualifier Nick Gil for the starting spot. The Midshipmen wrestled Ohio State in their opener on Saturday night. Gil lost, 3-2, to second-ranked and NCAA All-American Joey McKenna.

Harbaugh in at Millersville
   Millersville defeated Delaware Valley, 21-14, in its season opener on Saturday. At 141 pounds, we saw the debut of Chestnut Ridge grad Seth Harbaugh. Harbaugh, who won 86 bouts in high school, lost to Del Val's Kordell Rush by technical fall.