Cedar Cliff no match for the Huskies

MC blows out Colts on its Senior Night

LEWISTOWN -- After hard-fought Mid-Penn Commonwealth victories on the road against rivals State College and Central Dauphin, the Mifflin County High School wrestling team was finally able to hit the mats for a conference match in front of the home crowd and the Huskies didn't waste any time in putting on a show.

Mifflin County celebrated its Senior Night as the Huskies senior starters Nic Allison (113), Kyler Everly (160), Trey Shoemaker (189), Anson Wagner (215) and Jaxson Pupo (285) all won by fall and the Huskies stomped the Cedar Cliff Colts, 57-12, in a Mid-Penn Commonwealth match.

"I told our seniors that I wanted them to have a night that they would remember, and the team would remember," Mifflin County coach Kirby Martin said. "I think that they took that to heart, and they put on a good show."

With the victory, the Huskies remain undefeated in dual-meet competition this season and Mifflin County is the lone team in the Mid-Penn Commonwealth without a loss at this point in the year.

The Huskies also received pins from Hunter Johnson (120), Blake Aumiller (132), Deakon Schaeffer (145) and Avery Aurand (172) as the Huskies continued rolling over the Colts (9-4, 0-1 Commonwealth).

"A win in the Mid-Penn is really big and we had some matches tonight where we got into some different situations and I was glad to see our guys just fight through some of the adversity," Martin said. "That will repeat itself on Thursday. It's just a solid win tonight."

Perhaps the gutsiest effort of the night came from Parker Kearns at 152 pounds, as the Husky sophomore had the appearance of a chiseled veteran. After a scoreless first period, Kearns was on the bottom to start the second and midway through the period found himself in trouble. Instead of panicking, Kearns smartly bought his time and fought off Max Haas' attempt to lock up a cradle.

Haas wore down in the final 30 seconds of the period, allowing Kearns an opportunity to slip out and reverse Haas to take a 2-0 lead. Kearns then kept Haas down in the third to gut out a 2-0 decision.

"Those are some of the bits of adversity that kids need to be able to fight through and possibly being rolled through on your back, or for Parker, he was in a cradle, and he didn't get turned, and that was huge because that kid got tired and then we scored," Martin said. "Those situations are important, and I like seeing them laid out in matches that are just good. They help build our gutsiness."

At 172 pounds, Avery Aurand picked up an impressive fall over Cedar Cliff's Mike Jones, as the Husky sophomore found himself in a precarious position in the second. After carrying a 5-1 lead into the period, Aurand and Jones were caught in a mad scramble, where Aurand rolled off his back and was able to finish off Jones in dominant fashion, completing the fall in 3:09 to give Mifflin County a 51-12 lead late in the match.

Jacob Cunningham put together a late rally at 138 pounds, but was unable to edge Cedar Cliff's Aidan Bachman, dropping a 7-5 decision. Cunningham carried three escapes into the final period to trail 6-3, before scoring a takedown in the final 40 seconds of the third, cutting the lead to one. Cunningham cut Bachman in an attempt to tie the bout, but ran out of time trying to circle and get control of his legs for the tying takedown.

The match began at 215 pounds, as Wagner and Pupo got things started with back-to-back falls. After a Cedar Cliff victory at 106, Allison and Johnson each scored pins for the Huskies, as Mifflin County won by fall in four of the first five bouts to take a commanding 24-6 advantage.

After Colby Seiler (126) dropped a tight 8-5 decision to the Colts Gunner Heffelfinger, Mifflin County won six of the final seven bouts to close things out. Five of those six victories came by fall.

With their victories, Mifflin County's Everly and Shoemaker each hit the 20-win mark while Allison has 19 on the year. Kearns and Johnson each earned their 18th victories, Wagner got his 17th win, and Pupo and Schaeffer sit at 16 wins apiece.

The Huskies had their first huge home crowd of the season inside the Dog Pound on Tuesday night and Martin thanked the community for its support.

"We have great fans, and the numbers are always very good," Martin said. "I'm hoping that the next couple of home meets it's the same thing and we just continue to have a lot of fans and loud fans. I really appreciate how much support the community gives us."

With the win, the Huskies welcome Chambersburg on Thursday in another home Mid-Penn Commonwealth dual meet.

Martin knows that his team will be ready and is hoping to see the momentum at this point of the year carry over into Thursday.

"It's very good to have those wins and we want to keep building towards the end of the season," Martin said. "There are still a lot of goals to be met. There's still a lot of work to be done."

Mifflin County (MCH) 57.0, Cedar Cliff (CCH) 12.0

215: Anson Wagner (MCH) over Alexander Sanders (CCH) (Fall 3:35) 285: Jaxson Pupo (MCH) over Jacob Sheaffer (CCH) (Fall 1:33) 106: Gabe Lewis (CCH) over Styers Oden (MCH) (Fall 3:02) 113: Nic Allison (MCH) over Keegan Zeigler (CCH) (Fall 1:17) 120: Hunter Johnson (MCH) over Zach Cutshall (CCH) (Fall 1:31) 126: Gunner Heffelfinger (CCH) over Colby Seiler (MCH) (Dec 8-5) 132: Blake Aumiller (MCH) over Liam Gannon (CCH) (Fall 0:55) 138: Aidan Bachman (CCH) over Jacob Cunningham (MCH) (Dec 7-5) 145: Deakon Schaeffer (MCH) over Evan Zeigler (CCH) (Fall 2:40) 152: Parker Kearns (MCH) over Max Haas (CCH) (Dec 2-0) 160: Kyler Everly (MCH) over Erik Schriver (CCH) (Fall 1:13) 172: Avery Aurand (MCH) over Mike Jones (CCH) (Fall 3:09) 189: Trey Shoemaker (MCH) over Ben Myers (CCH) (Fall 0:26)