Scott looks to move up on the stand

By Todd Irwin

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Tyrone junior Kyle Scott has gradually moved up the medals stand at the District 6 Class 2A Tournament, going from his third-place spot as a freshman to the runner-up position as a sophomore last season.

Scott will be looking to stand atop the medals stand at 189 this weekend as the postseason begins, but it won’t be easy.

Scott, ranked fourth by PA Power Wrestling at 189, enters the postseason with a 33-2 record. Both of the losses came to Bald Eagle Area’s second-ranked Caleb Close, 6-1 and 8-1, in the finals of the Laurel Highlands Conference Tournament and the Ultimate Warrior.

Close, who is vying for his third District 6 title and fourth title bout appearance, is 33-1 this season and 160-23 in his career. He was named the District 6 Class 2A Tournament Outstanding Wrestler last season after avenging an LHAC loss to Williamsburg/Huntingdon’s eventual state champion Andrew McMonagle, 5-2.

With Close as the top seed and Scott as the second seed in the District 6 Tournament at 189, it’s expected the two powers will wrestle again in the finals.

“I expect it to be him and Caleb Close in another battle,” Tyrone coach Quentin Wright said, “and going at it head to head. (Caleb) is extremely tough. Close is a great opponent.

“It’s one of those things where sometimes you have those people that you have to battle against and you’re going to have to find a way to overcome in order to get what you want. So, it’s a good challenge for Scott.

“He thinks about it every day. His goal is to win the state championship, and there are a lot of people he’s got to get through to do it.”

The District 6 Class 2A Tournament begins at 10 a.m. on Friday. The first day of the Class 2A tournament ends with the quarterfinals and third round of consolations.

The Class 2A and 3A wrestlers will share the Fieldhouse again this year on Saturday. Wrestling begins at 9 a.m. Saturday with 2A consolations and 3A quarterfinals. The semifinals of both classifications are set for 10:30 a.m.

The fifth-place bouts for both classifications and seventh-place bouts for Class 2A will be wrestled Saturday afternoon.

The championship finals and third-place bouts for both classes will all be wrestled in the final session, which starts after the 5:45 p.m. District 6 Hall of Fame ceremony and parade of champions.

The top six wrestlers in Class 2A advance to the Southwest Regional, set for March 1-2 at the Fieldhouse.

“We can’t wait,” Wright said. “For the guys we have competing, this is what you work for all season. I want everybody to wrestle to the best of their abilities and find a way to win. Sometimes you can and sometimes you can’t.

“The district tournament is like the state championship tournament in other states. We just have really strong wrestling in our district. I tell our kids just go out there and compete. The kids that win our districts are good enough to win state titles in a lot of other states.”

“I’m always looking forward to the postseason starting,” Central coach Dave Marko said. “The dual meet stuff is fun for the team. I always tell the team that’s the part of the season you’ll remember the journey with your teammates. Everything leads to the individual part of the season.”

There are no top seeds from the Mirror coverage area, and the only other second seed is Penn Cambria’s Andrew Mardula (32-7) at 152. Mardula finished third at 160 last season despite a painful shoulder injury. He’s seeded behind Bishop McCort’s Devon Magro (38-3).

There are third seeds in Central Cambria’s Jake Wilson (32-5) at 145 and Cambria Heights’ Marshall Eckenrode (285) at 160. Both were Southwest Regional qualifiers last season.

The fourth seeds are Claysburg-Kimmel’s Nathan Cox (22-10) at 107, Central Cambria’s Burke Niebauer (32-7) at 127, Penn Cambria’s Isaac Filak (28-9) at 145, Juniata Valley’s Zack Dick (23-8) at 160 and Tyrone’s Kyler Suhoney (18-15) at 172. Niebauer finished seventh in last year’s tournament.

Marko said his team is ready for the postseason after wrestling a tough dual meet season.

“We’ve put them into a tough schedule both in the dual meets and in the tournament schedule,” he said. “The LHAC is a rugged tournament. The Thomas Tournament is always tough. The Panther Classic at Mount Aloysius with the number of teams there is tough.

“We lost five matches this year, and two of those losses were to triple A teams. Two other teams we lost to (Chestnut Ridge and Bishop McCort) were in the final eight at states. We lost to Huntingdon in the finals of the Claysburg tournament, and they won a lot of matches this year. Hopefully that’s prepared them for this weekend.”

Maybe one of the local third or lower seeds will break through and make the finals like Scott is expected to.

Scott has higher expectations than just making the finals.

“The goal is always the same,” Wright said. “Wrestle the best you can and win the championship.”