CAMBRIDGE SPRINGS — It’s been a busy start to the season for the Greenville wrestling team, but it’s been a fruitful one. The Trojans lost just one of the 11 dual matches they’ve participated in since Dec. 8 including a 5-0 sweep at the Region 2 Duals, hosted by Cambridge Springs High School on Saturday.

“Our kids are a little bit tired. We’ve had 11 dual matches in a week,” said Greenville head coach John Reynolds. His team also hosted the Sheetz Kickoff Classic on Dec. 8, in which the Trojans went 4-1, losing their only match of the year so far to Brookville.

“Coming in, we need a little bit of a break,” he said. “But, overall, a pretty good performance.”

The Trojans opened the day with their tightest victory of the event, slipping by Jamestown 36-33. They then followed it up with wins over Cambridge Springs (66-18), Girard (45-12), Maplewood (53-15) and Commodore Perry (72-6).

The Trojans had six wrestlers go undefeated. Blake Horne, the team’s 152-pounder, was the only one who had opponents in all five matches. He had three pins, one major decision and a narrow 3-2 win over Commodore Perry’s Tyler Osborne.

Jase Paxton (106), Gage Gladysz (160), Zach Miller (170/182) and Justin Reynolds (195) each went 5-0 with the help of at least one forfeit. And heavyweight Braden Gladysz had four matches on the day and earned pins in each one. That includes the decisive bout in the Jamestown dual, which featured Gladysz pinning the Muskies’ Mark Brenizer in 1:03.



Muskies nearly win it

The Jamestown wrestling team had the second-best day, finishing 4-1 with its lone loss to Greenville.

“Lost by three,” Muskies head coach Steve Pfaff said about the Greenville match. “It was a close one, a barn-burner. I thought we might pull it out. But I’m just happy we contended with them.”

The Muskies went on to defeat Commodore Perry (70-12), Maplewood (44-29), Girard (47-16) and Cochranton (43-33).

Jonas Reaugh, the Muskies’ 126-pounder, had three pins, a major decision and a forfeit on his way to a 5-0 day. Nick Floch, at 132, was undefeated with two pins, two forfeits, and a 7-3 decision over Greenville’s Derek Watt. And 220-pounder Keamus Schuhlen went 4-0 with three pins and a forfeit.

Yet, Pfaff was really impressed with his freshman at 138, Seth Thurber.

“Seth Thurber, to me, really stood out (Saturday),” said Pfaff. Thurber went 4-1 with two pins, a technical fall and a decision, with his lone loss coming by fall to Girard’s Gage Dalton.

“He got caught once,” Pfaff said. “And actually it was back and forth with (Dalton), and I thought he could have beat him if it went the distance, but he got caught. But still he did very well (Saturday).”



Tigers win trio

The Maplewood and Cochranton clubs both went 3-2 on the day.

Maplewood notched its wins over Girard (51-12), Cochranton (42-39) and Cambridge Springs (51-26).

“Can’t complain,” said Tigers head coach Matt Wilcox. “We were 5-17 last year. We’re 4-2 right now. Our No. 1 goal is to improve every day. ... That’s all we can ask for. They wrestled hard. They wrestled very well.”

Junior 182-pounder Isaiah Stearns was the lone Tiger to go 5-0. He earned one medical forfeit victory, scored three pins, and then survived a 9-7 battle with Cambridge Springs’ Colton Noble to stay unbeaten.

Zak Dennis (138), Bodey McClintock (152), Jake Parsons (160) and Tim Galford (285) each went 4-1.

Each of the four victories for both Parsons and Galford were by fall. Parsons came just seconds away from going 5-0, but surrendered a late reversal to Greenville’s Gage Gladysz in a 2-1 loss. And Galford’s only loss was a second-period fall to Braden Gladysz.

Dennis had three pins and a decision but lost a technical to Jamestown’s Thurber. McClintock had two pins, one decision and one major. But he was pinned by Greenville’s undefeated Horne.

“A couple matches we lost could have gone either way, individually,” said Wilcox. “Other than that, I thought we did pretty well.”



Cards drop close ones

Cochranton, meanwhile, authored victories over Commodore Perry (61-9), Cambridge Springs (60-24) and Girard (65-10).

What bugged head coach John Svirbly, however, were the losses, which included a three-point defeat to Maplewood (42-39) and a 10-point loss to Jamestown (43-33).

“We have matches where we look like we’re unbeatable, and we have matches where we fall apart.” said Svirbly. “They wrestled hard. I always got to focus on that. They are wrestling hard. They are giving their all. It’s just disappointing when you lose matches that you shouldn’t lose. ... It seemed like all our losses come down to one or two matches. We’re not winning the close matches. We haven’t lost by more than 11 points all season.”

The Cardinals did boast four wrestlers with perfect 5-0 marks on the day. Cam Cyphert, at 220, dominated through four wins by fall. He also had one forfeit. Nate Kline, wrestling at 113, had three pins and two forfeit wins. Ryan Northcott scored three falls, one forfeit win and a competitive 6-2 decision over Girard’s Christian Bock. And junior 145-pounder R.J. Boozer looked sharp, picking up one forfeit win, three pins and an eyebrow-raising 16-0 technical fall over Girard’s Trevor McCray.

“Trevor McCray, last year, qualified for regionals,” said Svirbly. “He wrestled Matthew Bryer’s weight last year. And Matthew beat him, but he struggled with him a little bit. And R.J., he’s really impressed me. He’s undefeated and he’s got all pins and one tech and one decision so far.”



Spa gets on the board

The Cambridge Springs wrestling team recorded its first dual match wins of the season, besting Commodore Perry (42-36) and Girard (42-30) yesterday.

Although, first-year head coach Shane Ream wasn’t celebrating too loudly.

“Yeah, we did (get some wins), but they were through forfeits,” said Ream. “So, you know, strength in numbers. But I honestly think that a lot of our guys are showing a lot of improvement. Our guys are supposed to get better every time we compete. And they’re starting to show that.”

Forfeits certainly helped Blue Devils 195-pounder Zach Stafford to a 5-0 record on the day. He had three automatic arm-raisers, but still looked strong in his two contested bouts, pinning Greenville’s Alex Ho in the third period and Girard’s Jonnie Rist in 23 seconds.

Ryan East, wrestling at 220, added a 4-1 effort for the Blue Devils. He notched two pins, a forfeit win, and a 9-1 major decision over Maplewood’s Lance Smith. His only loss was a fall to Cochranton’s state hopeful Cyphert.

“With the influx of new wrestlers that we have, mixed with the six or seven freshmen we have starting on our varsity team, it’s a learning curve.” said Ream. “It’s a very young team. But we’re getting there. Small steps, I tell them. And they’re fighting. And they’re still learning.”