Trending
LANCASTER -- Mifflin County crowned three champions and placed 11, rolling to the team title at the Conestoga Valley Holiday Classic on Thursday.
Nic Allison (113), Kyler Everly (160), and Jaxon Pupo (285) won titles, while Trey Shoemaker (189) and Anson Wagner (215) finished second.
Hunter Johnson (120) and Parker Kearns (132) came in third. Kamden Everly (126) placed fifth.
Blake Aumiller (132) and Avery Aurand (172) took sixth, and Colby Seiler (126) finished seventh.
The Huskies led the tournament in falls with 27 and total match points (372), living up to Coach Kirby Martin and his mantra for more takedowns and aggressiveness.
"Like I said yesterday, my main challenge to the team was we needed to score more takedowns, and some of them started to build that confidence yesterday, and it carried into today," Martin said. "Getting after it, scoring takedowns, and pouring it on. It's so important to learn how to do that. I'm very thankful for the matches our kids got. We had a lot of matches over these two days."
Mifflin County solidified its grip on the team title by going 7-4 in the medal round. Not an easy feat to accomplish.
"It's always good when you come out of the medal matches with a winning record. We wrestled well. I'm proud of the kids and how they battled through to the end," Martin said.
The Huskies' dominance over the two days was evident in the final team standings. Mifflin County outscored Mid-Penn rival Central Dauphin by 30 points (241-211).
"It feels great. This performance builds the kids' confidence up for sure. Yes, beating Central Dauphin was very satisfying. The next challenge is to beat them in a dual meet," Martin said. "That's the next step. We have our work cut out for us, but we are up for the challenge."
Allison dominated Travis Clawson of Penn Manor in all three phases coming away with an 18-2 technical fall in 4:34 of their finals match. The Husky senior had three takedowns and 11 nearfall points for the victory.
"He did a great job coming out and scoring early, and he continued to pour it on. He didn't sit back," Martin said. "He kept looking for ways to score, whether it was top, bottom, or neutral. Nic wrestled a well-rounded tournament."
In a battle of state-ranked wrestlers, Kyler Everly racked up a big 6-4 win over top seed Ryan Garvick of Central Dauphin.
Everly, ranked No. 10, notched a takedown with 25-seconds left in the first to take a 2-0 advantage into the middle period. Kyler chose bottom and hit a reversal for the 4-0 lead. A penalty point awarded to Garvick, ranked seventh in the state, made it 4-1 heading into the third.
Garvick reversed to cut the deficit to 4-3, but Everly reversed with 44 seconds left to make it 6-3. A late stall call gave the Central Dauphin wrestler a point.
"Kyler is gaining confidence, and quality wins like this are necessary for a kid to believe how good he is. Again, I'm super proud of him and how he wrestled," Martin said. "He will probably see him again in the dual meet. It's super important to get that repetition in. You have to beat good kids again and again. That's how you get on the podium at Hershey."
Pupo made things exciting in his match with Central York's Ethan Miller. Down 1-0 late in the third, the Husky senior escaped with 11 seconds left in regulation before getting the winning takedown with one tick left on the clock for the 3-1 victory.
"We thought it was going to be more of a wrestling match than a heavyweight match because both kids weigh about 215. Instead, it turned into a heavyweight match for almost the whole match until the end," Martin said. "Talk about being opportunistic. Score, escape, and get a takedown with less than ten seconds left. That's as good as it gets."
Shoemaker dropped a 19-5 major decision to Max Agresti of Delaware in the 189-pound finals, and Wagner suffered a tough 5-3 loss to Tyler August of Delaware in the 215-finals.
Johnson defeated Central Dauphin's Dallas Schoor 9-3, and Kearns beat Nick Partsanakis of Penncrest 5-1 for third place.
Kamden Everly defeated Tyler Walton of Octorara 5-3 with a third-period takedown and two-point nearfall for fifth. Aumiller lost 10-3 to Central Dauphin's Mike Beers, while Avery Aurand lost by medical forfeit to Teagan Rogers of Penn Manor to place sixth. Seiler had three takedowns in an 11-4 win over Jerry Datoli of New Oxford for seventh place.
Martin believes this week's performance will help propel his squad to even more success in the new year.
"I hope what we did here keeps the fire going, and the work ethic in practice continues at a high level. We hope the kids gain more confidence in matches in all positions," Martin said. "We'll see how this feeds into the new year in dual meets and the Mid-Penn schedule. There's still a lot of wrestling that needs to be done."