Warriors triumph at Lewistown Duals

by Jeff Fishbein

Posted on January 20, 2009

LEWISTOWN - Indian Valley finished a perfect performance in the morning's pool wrestling session with one more win for the title, putting away DuBois, 56-14 to win the Lewistown Duals.

And what a day it was for the Warriors. The team with the short cross-town drive displayed a dominating performance en route to a perfect 5-0 record on the day.

"Great performance," Warriors coach Joe Daubert said after all bouts had been completed. "All of our upperweights had a rough first half of the season, but they are really coming back out of that here in the middle of the season with a lot of good wins. You can just tell by the looks on their face that they gained some confidence today."

Lewistown, meanwhile, continued to highlight individual successes as the team struggled through the morning, finishing with a 2-2 pool record and drawing Wellsboro for the fifth-place match. The Hornets, who traveled from the Northern Tier of District 4 for the event, opened a gap in the upper weight classes to ungraciously leave the hosts with a down record at the end.

"I think it ended up being a really good tournament," Panthers coach Ken Whitsel said. "Indian Valley really shined today and congratulations to them. As far as us, we finished sixth out of 10 teams - I'm pleased with that and it's a good start to a big week coming up."

Things started off with a bang for Indian Valley in its first match of the day against Cameron County. The Warriors won all but two matches on their way to a 71-6 victory. Tyler Bedelyon (135 pounds), Tye Boyer (140), Corry Battista (145), Nick Grimm (152), Zach Knepp (189) Ian Lindsey (215) and Jared Kreider (285) all picked up falls to lead the Indian Valley path to victory, while Gage Smith (125) recorded a technical fall.

It was a scenario that repeated itself throughout the morning, as the Warriors wasted little time disposing of Punxsutawney, taking a 53-16 victory over the Chucks. Wellsboro was the next victim, a similar finish at 57-12 in favor of Indian Valley.

In both of those duals, Daubert noted, the difference was the emergence of the upper weights on his team, which has been dominated by lightweight strength thus far in the campaign.

"For us to compete with the better teams, we can't rely all the time on our lightweights to pull us through," he said. "We need to wrestle a little bit harder up top."

Although it was a lopsided finish - Indian Valley left just four points behind in an 80-0 dual that was the shortest of the day due to so many quick pins - one of the more notable face-offs of the morning was the Warriors' tangle with Moorefield, W.Va., a team started and coached by former Warrior grappler Ryan Bailey. In that one, Indian Valley received maximum points in all but two bouts on its way to securing the first wrestling shutout in school history.

"For a first year coming in here, my hat's off to coach Bailey," Daubert said, adding that, overall, he thought the out of staters worked hard on the mats.

DuBois came out of the other pool with a matching 4-0 record, but just as in the four prior contests, Indian Valley had very little trouble, posting a 56-14 win to take the championship. The Warriors recorded seven more falls as five Warrior grapplers - Loht, Boyer, Bedelyon, Miller and Kreider - completed the duals with an unblemished record. Kreider won the award for most falls in the least amount of time, pinning five opponents in 8:29.

"It was a total team effort here today," Daubert said. "To see Jared Kreider win the most falls award in the shortest amount of time was great. We had that big break over Christmas and our schedule will work for us if we use those breaks - if we train in the room and out of the room."

The host school also was strong out of the gate, taking a commanding 53-5 victory over Harrisburg. Cody Hower (112), Colton Spade (152), Zach Peachey (160) and Tyson Searer (215) picked up falls in their first bouts of the morning.

Greensburg-Salem squeezed by the Panthers with a 40-30 final in the second match of the day for the locals, before Lewistown's big win over Williamsport.

After falling behind the Millionaires 9-0, Panther junior Brad Bell (119) swung the momentum with an crucial second-period pin. Jake Schultz followed suit just two bouts later to tie the score. Spade picked up his third victory of the day with a 19-4 technical to extend the Lewistown lead and Searer clinched the victory with another pin at 215.

Eventual runner up DuBois got the best of the Panthers in the morning session, putting Lewistown in the 5-6 match to end the day.

Like many of the matches throughout the day, this one was also decided in the upper weights as Wellsboro pulled through by a 42-27 margin. Searer recorded his fourth pin of the day and the only Panther pin in the match and Bell chipped in with a technical fall. Schultz, Spade and Searer went a perfect 5-0 on the day to draw praises from their coach.

"They did a great job," Whitesel said. "I'm very proud of their day."

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