Archive for January, 2013
Mifflin County-Carlisle Match Postponed
The Mifflin County match with Carlisle has been postponed due to the inclement weather. The match will be made up on Wednesday, February 6 provided the Huskies don’t win the District 6 duals.
If Mifflin County makes it to the PIAA duals, the match will be scheduled at a later date.
Mifflin County vs. Carlisle Preview
The Mifflin County wrestling team hopes to end the regular season dual meet schedule on a high note against Carlisle tonight.
A victory would give the Huskies a winning record in their first year in the Mid-Penn Conference Commonwealth division. Mifflin County owns a 3-3 mark in Mid-Penn action this season.
The Thundering Herd come into the meet with a 10-5 overall mark and an identical 3-3 conference record.
Carlisle owns victories over Midd-West (37-22), Halifax (42-30), Newport (39-30), State College (52-24), West Perry (45-21), CD East (31-30), Central York (42-18), Pine Grove (36-27), Kennard-Dale (39-33) and Harrisburg (49-24). The losses are at the hands of Chambersburg (49-13), Gettysburg (43-33), Biglerville (55-15), Central Dauphin (55-13) and Cumberland Valley (47-21).
Ian Shannon (145/152) and Hasan Alic (195/220) lead the way for the Thundering Herd. Shannon, a regional qualifier a year ago, is ranked No. 11 in the state at 145 and sports a 19-2 record. Alic is ranked No. 18 at 195 and has a 23-3 mark.
Mifflin County comes in with an overall record of 14-5 with wins over Daniel Boone (57-9), Columbia (63-11), Ephrata (53-17), Garden Spot (52-17), Altoona (49-23), CD East (51-15), Shikellamy (48-15), Harrisburg (60-9), State College (54-9), Wellsboro (66-6), Souderton (70-3), Pen Argyl (49-22), Conestoga Valley (33-22) and Penn Manor (51-12). The losses came to Downingtown East (43-20), Cumberland Valley (42-18), Central Mountain (33-29), Chambersburg (31-23) and Central Dauphin (50-16).
Hayden Hidlay (No. 10 at 113) and Lucas Besch (No. 25 at 132) are state-ranked and lead a squad that features ten wrestlers with double-digits in the win column.
The Huskies are coming off a tough loss to Central Dauphin with four starters (Noah Stewart, Brandon Wilson, McKenon Todaro and Tre Carter) out of the lineup.
Here are the potential match-ups for tonight’s dual:
(Mifflin County wrestlers are listed first)
106: Daulton Wilson, 10th (16-10) vs. Andrew Lopez, 10th (4-8)
113: No. 10 Hayden Hidlay, 9th (19-2) vs. Cody Gorsuch, 10th (2-5)
120: Isaac Underhill, 10th (25-6) vs. Tynan Donnelly, 11th (12-9)
126: Noah Stewart, 9th (22-5) vs. Brady Meals, 10th (15-5)
132: No. 25 Lucas Besch, 12th (18-8) vs. Tyler Vangi, 9th (3-12) or John Heffernan, 11th (1-1)
138: Kevin Bair, 12th (9-9) vs. Grant Shughart, 9th (7-15)
145: Brandon Wilson, 9th (18-5) vs. No. 11 Ian Shannon, 11th (19-2) or John Jancse, 9th (2-4)
152: Joe Knarr, 12th (19-10) vs. Shannon or Dakota Kuhn, 11th (16-9)
160: McKenon Todaro (8-7) vs. Kuhn or Dan King, 12th (4-8)
170: Keith Corson, 11th (4-12) vs. Chris McCullough, 10th (11-9)
182: Jake Lilley, 11th (7-11) vs. Adiz Zagorica, 11th (1-4)
195: Tre Carter, 11th (13-12) vs. No. 18 Hasan Alic, 11th (23-3) or Jed Thorson, 12th (10-6)
220: Kyle Kahley, 11th (19-7) vs. Allic or Thorson
285: Caleb Rhodes, 12th (11-8) vs. Quin Paynter, 11th (13-8)
Mifflin County to Meet Bellefonte in D6 AAA Duals Semifinals
Mifflin County will face Bellefonte in one semifinal of the District 6 AAA Duals on Saturday at Tyrone High School.
The Red Raiders, seeded third in the tournament, defeated Altoona 42-36 to reach the semis. The other semifinal bracket will feature top seeded Central Mountain going against fourth seed Bald Eagle Area, a 40-36 winner over Philipsburg-Osceola last night.
The Huskies are the second seed and face Carlisle in Mid-Penn action on Wednesday before meeting Bellefonte, now 12-3 on the season, on Saturday.
(Editors note: I will have a preview of the Carlisle match tomorrow and a preview of the District 6 AAA Duals on Friday or Saturday morning. Also, I have a feature story upcoming on the awesome season the junior high wrestling team is having. I was going to run that on Friday but I’m waiting until next week. I don’t want the district duals to distract from the junior high story and vice versa. Look for the junior high story early next week).
Mifflin County All-Time Career Winning Percentage
WRESTLERS WITH BEST WON – LOST PERCENTAGE IN A CAREER | |||
(.810 or better percentage with 40 or more bouts) | |||
CAREER | |||
PCT. | RANK | NAME / SCHOOL / YEARS | RECORD |
.9537 | 1. | Ken Whitsel, Lewistown 76 – 79 | 103 – 5 – 0 |
.9204 | 2. | Rob Ruby, Kishacoquillas 88 / Indian Valley 89 – 91 | 103 – 8 – 2 |
.9143 | 3. | Mike DePellegrini, Lewistown 04 – 05 | 64 – 6 |
.9143 | Matt Snyder, Lewistown 05 – 08 | 128 – 12 | |
.9013 | 5. | Jim Reeder, Chief Logan 70 / Penn Highlands 71 – 73 | 67 – 6 – 3 |
.8978 | 6. | Nic Bedelyon, Indian Valley 04 – 07 | 123 – 14 |
.8923 | 7. | Tim Noerr, Chief Logan 76 – 78 | 57 – 6 – 2 |
.8821 | 8. | Joe Daubert, Chief Logan 86 – 88 / Indian Valley 89 | 93 – 12 – 1 |
.8765 | 9. | Mike “Chub” Robinson, Lewistown 04 – 07 | 149 – 21 |
.8734 | 10. | Joe Heller, Chief Logan 77 – 79 | 69 – 10 – 0 |
.8690 | 11. | Gary Gill, Lewistown 59 – 61 | 36 – 5 – 1 |
.8678 | 12. | Justin Hower, Lewistown 98 – 01 | 105 – 16 |
.8636 | 13. | Troy Hartsock, Chief Logan 83 – 85 | 47 – 7 – 1 |
.8617 | 14. | Ron Maunder, Lewistown 57 – 59 | 40 – 6 – 1 |
.8608 | 15. | Charles Faust, Chief Logan 64 – 67 | 67 – 10 – 2 |
.8509 | 16. | Kaleb Loht, Indian Valley 09 – 11 | 97 – 17 |
.8500 | 17. | Tyson Searer, Lewistown 09 – 11 / Mifflin County 12 | 136 – 24 |
.8485 | 18. | Mark Cavanaugh, Lewistown 94 – 97 | 56 – 10 |
.8426 | 19. | Bill “Woody” Johnston, Chief Logan 63 – 65 | 44 – 7 – 3 |
.8368 | 20. | Matt Bonson, Lewistown 04 – 07 | 159 – 31 |
.8333 | 21. | Rod Tate, Chief Logan 68 – 70 / Penn Highlands 71 | 59 – 11 – 2 |
.8311 | 22. | Denny Osborne, Lewistown 90 – 92 | 61 – 12 – 1 |
.8293 | 23. | Lew Copenhaver, Chief Logan 78 – 80 | 67 – 13 – 2 |
.8293 | Jeremy Fisher, Indian Valley 92 – 95 | 68 – 14 – 0 | |
.8222 | 25. | Nam Shartzer, Indian Valley 2006 | 37 – 8 |
.8148 | 26. | Andrew Winters, Indian Valley 02 – 04 | 88 – 20 |
.8143 | 27. | Colton Spade, Lewistown 07 – 10 | 136 – 31 |
.8103 | 28. | Nelson Aurand, Lewistown 58 – 61 | 46 – 10 – 2 |
.8100 | 29. | George Snook, Lewistown 80 – 83 | 81 – 19 – 0 |
Carson’s Corner: The Future Looks Bright for MC Wrestling
To paraphrase the old Timbuk 3 song, Mifflin County wrestling has a future so bright it has to wear shades.
It’s been a slow, often grinding process, as most successful endeavors are. However, the seeds planted years ago are starting to sprout and the fruits of this vast labor are giving their yield.
Mifflin County wrestling has a varsity team capable of winning the District 6 Duals on a consistent basis now. They have closed the gap with Central Mountain and it is only a matter of time before they can compete with the giants of the Mid-Penn. The county also has a junior high team that can go toe-to-toe with any squad in the state. That is not hyperbole…it is a fact.
How did all this develop?
Two reasons stand out. Quality coaching and dedicated, committed athletes.
Let’s start with the coaching aspect.
The roots of this wrestling renaissance begins with two former state champions – Kenny Whitsel and Joe Daubert.
Whitsel and Daubert took over the Lewistown and Indian Valley programs respectively and immediately instilled a mantra of hard work and discipline to programs that lacked direction at the time.
They forged an attitude of mental toughness in the kids and slowly but surely the effort translated into victories, individual and team, on the mat.
The nice thing about hard work is that it’s universal. It doesn’t matter what industry or sport you’re in — hard work can be used to achieve positive long-term results regardless of the specifics.
The Whitsel and Daubert eras brought forth names like Nic Bedelyon, Mike “Chub” Robinson, Matt Snyder, Matt Bonson, Colton Spade, Adam Will, Tyler Bedelyon and Chad Frankhouser, just to name a few. They all flirted with PIAA gold.
Whitsel and Daubert were the products of two other men who instilled the same attributes into them many years ago. I’m talking about Charlie Roselle and Dick Tressler, two legends in the wrestling game.
Ripped from the same cloth is Kirby Martin, who cut his teeth in the sport at Messiah College with the great Neil Turner and Whitsel as his mentors.
Martin took over for Whitsel at Lewistown and became head coach of the Huskies with the merger in 2011. It was the perfect choice.
Kirby and his staff of Dale Searer, Joe Eckenroth and Adam “I will not talk to the media” Stout are all teachers first and foremost. You won’t hear much rah-rah out of them. They preach consistency and effort.
They were at their best at the Husky Duals. Teaching through every match, even in the 66-6 and 70-3 blowouts over Wellsboro and Souderton were lessons to learn.
Add to this a junior high staff of Bill and Justin Shafranich, Mark Cavanaugh and Dave Wray and you have coaches who are passionate about the sport, want to teach and get the most out of every kid that comes out. So far, the formula is working pretty well.
The Husky junior high team is 18-1 on the season with their only loss coming at the hands of Nazareth (51-41) back on December 15.
However, coaching is not enough that’s why you need the second component to a successful program – dedicated and committed athletes.
The 14-5 Huskies show no signs of slowing down. With only four seniors in the starting lineup, (Lucas Besch at 132, Kevin Bair at 138, Joe Knarr at 152 and Caleb Rhodes at 285) Mifflin County is young and only going to get better.
Hayden Hidlay, Noah Stewart and Brandon Wilson are three freshman starters who could eventually have the same impact as Snyder, Robinson and Bonson did for Lewistown. Tall order I know, but they have the talent to do it.
Sophomore Isaac Underhill is the most improved wrestler on the team. He spent the summer in the weight room and it shows. Daulton Wilson is a sophomore who needs to add some bulk in the offseason and he could go far as well. Kyle Kahley is much improved and kids like McKenon Todaro and Keith Corson just need some seasoning.
Coming attractions for next year include Quentin Miliken and Andrew Wert, both PAJW champions, and Trey Hartsock. Trent Hidlay, Hayden’s brother, is a few years away from the varsity.
There is also raw talent like Mike Bielski, who despite being a first-year wrestler is strong and shows a ton of natural ability. The cupboard is not bare it is stacked and only getting better,
The kids are all-in, the coaches are top-notch and the fans are buzzing about the current and future state of the Husky program.
A wrestling renaissance has returned to Mifflin County. Now is a great time to jump on the bandwagon and enjoy the ride.