TIM WEIGHT/For the Express The Bald Eagle Area wrestling piles up in the middle of the mat ahead of its home match against Marion Center on Tuesday.

SPRING MILLS – On Saturday morning, the Bald Eagle Area wrestling team traveled to Penns Valley to compete in the closing rounds of the District 6 Class AA Duals tournament. Having defeated No. 10 seeded Marion Center, 57-10, in Tuesday’s quarterfinals, the No. 2 seeded team had prospects of returning to states for the second straight season, needing a win or two to do so.

However, things wouldn’t go the Eagles way.

In the semifinal round, Bishop McCort – the No. 2 ranked team in the country – would handle business accordingly, routing Bald Eagle by a score of 65-10. Then, with their tournament life on the line, the Eagles would endure a heartbreaking loss to Huntingdon, falling to the Bearcats, 36-35, to finish the tournament in fourth place.

It was a tough day for the team, who saw its season end to a league opponent it had previously beaten on the road less than two weeks ago. Though injuries hampered it in certain spots, with it being forced to give up a forfeit at 172, head coach Ron Guenot feels the team got outwrestled and struggled to make up for it as a result.

“The Bishop McCort match is what it is as far as wrestling one of the best teams in the country. We just took it one match at a time, did what we thought was best for our team to qualify for state duals. Against Huntingdon, they outwrestled us,” said Guenot.

“They won some of the matches that we won in the first dual meet and swung the momentum there in couple places. That happens in a dual meet. It can turn your result around quickly with some of those six and 12-point swings. No excuse, hats off to Huntingdon.”

The toughest losses of that match came towards its end.

With the Bearcats taking a 30-29 late following the forfeit at 172, junior Kyle Watson fought hard amidst a chaotic match against Huntingdon’s Dominic Peruso, avoiding a pin in the first period and going into the second with the score tied at 8-8. But a late reversal from Peruso granted him the 10-9 win, giving the Bearcats a crucial three points.

From there, No. 2 Caleb Close would make up the damage with a sub-minute pin. But in the match’s finale against No. 8 Landon Erdman, No. 19 Gage Gardner would fall just short, giving up an early takedown and just missing on one to suffer a 4-1 loss by decision, as Huntingdon managed to scrape by.

“They went at each other, and he went after it and just came up a couple points short,” said Guenot on Gardner. “I thought he wrestled a good match against a top ten opponent.”

Close and No. 3 Tanner Guenot finished the day 2-0, with Guenot posting a pin against No. 14 Jack Stifles to get Bald Eagle on the board against Bishop McCort. Guenot, Liam Purcell, No. 3 Caden Judice and No. 25 Dawson Lomison logged consecutive bonus-point victories – a tech fall, two pins and another tech fall respectively – to give the team its largest lead of the day at 23-12 against Huntingdon.

With the loss, the Eagles closed out a successful dual season with a 10-5 record. Though the outcome is disappointing, there’s still plenty to aspire towards as they prepare for the individual postseason.

“That’s one nice thing, having some time here to get as healthy as we can and fine tune some things in the room,” said Guenot. “Not satisfied but sometimes in life, you don’t get what you want and just have to get back up and get after it. That was the message after the match, just get better and get ready for postseason for the boys and girls.”

For the boys, they’ll return to action on Friday, Feb. 14, for the District 6 tournament at 1st Summit Area in Johnstown. For the girls, they’ll have an extra week to prepare, beginning their postseason with the District 5/6/9 tournament the following Friday at the same venue.

DISTRICT 6 CLASS AA DUALS TOURNAMENT

THIRD-PLACE MATCH

Huntingdon 36, No. 13 Bald Eagle Area 35

107: Gage Shally (H) pinned Michael Wesley (BEA), :52. Landin Snare (H) pinned Logan Burns (BEA), 1:10. 121: Liam Purcell (BEA) pinned Gavin Bilich (H), 3:12. 127: No. 3 Tanner Guenot (BEA) tech fall Rylin Morningstar (H), 18-0 (3:03). 133: No. 3 Caden Judice (BEA) pinned Jonathan Scheider (H), 1:08. 139: No. 25 Dawson Lomison (BEA) tech fall Chris Gibson (H), 19-1 (4:42). 145: Christian Taylor (H) pinned Easton Grimes (BEA), :12. 152: Alex Surovec (BEA) pinned Zachary Hershberger (H), :54. 160: Reese Hughes (H) won by injury default over Chayse Hellander (BEA). 172: Grady Clark (H) won by forfeit. 189: Dominic Peruso (H) dec. Kyle Watson (BEA), 10-9. 215: No. 2 Caleb Close (BEA) pinned Quinten Poorman (H), :42. 285: No. 8 Landon Erdman (H) dec. No. 19 Gage Gardner (BEA), 4-1.

SEMIFINALS

No. 2 Bishop McCort 65, No. 13 Bald Eagle Area 10

285: No. 13 Caleb Rodriguez (BM) won by forfeit. 107: No. 2 Keegan Bassett (BM) pinned Michael Wesley (BEA), :50. 114: No. 4 Eli Herring (BM) pinned Logan Burns (BEA), 1:48. 121: No. 3 Tanner Guenot (BEA) pinned No. 14 Jack Silfies (BM), 2:43. 127: No. 16 Austin Carfly (BM) won by forfeit. 133: No. 1 Jax Forrest (BM) won by forfeit. 139: No. 2 Sam Herring (BM) won by forfeit. 145: No. 1 Bo Bassett (BM) pinned Easton Grimes (BEA), :33. 152: No. 1 Devon Magro (BM) pinned Wyatt Knepp (BM), :41. 160: No. 1 Melvin Miller (BM) pinned Chayse Kellander (BEA), 1:35. 172: No. 9 CJ Pensiero (BM) pinned Brody Gardner (BEA), 1:00. 189: No. 2 Caleb Close (BEA) maj. dec. Jayden O’Farrill (BM), 9-1. 215: No. 22 Matteo Noronha (BM) tech fall Kyle Watson (BEA), 15-0 (5:00).