TIMES NEWS mat rankings
(through Feb. 9)
(bout minimum: 5)106 - 1. Kevan Gentile, Jim Thorpe, So. (26-3); 2. Colton Rex, Northern Lehigh, So. (18-9); 3. Ezra Neff, Lehighton, Fr. (16-8).Honorable Mention - Baily Wehr, Northwestern, Fr. (13-10).Notes - Gentile went 3-1 at Salisbury's Falcon Invitational this past weekend to take second place at 106 pounds. Two of Gentile's wins were by fall in less than a minute. Rex picked up a 2-1 decision victory over Neff in Northern Lehigh's win over Lehighton last week. Neff earned a first period pin against Pocono Mountain West's Najzim Reed in his other match a week ago. Wehr did not wrestle last week.113 - 1. Lenny Ogozalek, Panther Valley, Sr. (30-4); 2. Tanner McHugh, Tamaqua, Fr. (26-9); 3. Zachary Kemmerer, Lehighton, So. (24-7).Honorable Mention - Jason Jacobi, Pleasant Valley, So. (18-11); Ryan Dengler, Northwestern, Fr. (10-4).Notes - Ogozalek picked up a 5-3 decision win over Blue Mountain's Colton Bender at 120 pounds in his only match last week. Since his loss to Upper Dauphin's Coy Campbell at the Schuylkill League Championships, Ogozalek has gone 11-0. McHugh did not wrestle last week. Kemmerer picked up two convincing victories last week, winning by major decision and technical fall in his two matches. As he has in recent weeks, Kemmerer alternated weights in his two bouts, wrestling at both 113 and 120 last week. Jacobi picked up a 6-5 overtime win against Stroudsburg's Mike Palmisano in his only contest a week ago.120 - 1. Kenny Yanovich, Pleasant Valley, Sr. (26-3); 2. Darren Goida, Panther Valley, So. (18-11); 3. Quentin Bernhard, Northwestern, So. (17-8).Honorable Mention - Antonio Lorenzo, Lehighton, Fr. (12-12); Austin Hemingway, Northern Lehigh, Fr. (12-11).Notes - Yanovich did not wrestle in Pleasant Valley's match with Stroudsburg last week. Goida bumped up to 126 pounds last week against Blue Mountain's Bryant Penberth and suffered a loss by fall in the second period. Bernhard did not wrestle last week. A potential matchup with Lorenzo and Hemingway did not materialize last week as the two freshmen wrestled in separate weight classes. Lorenzo dropped to 113 pounds and suffered a loss to Jacob Kistler, while Hemingway stayed at 120 and suffered a loss to Kemmerer.126 - 1. Colin Mashack, Tamaqua, Sr. (23-2); 2. Matt Schmall, Northern Lehigh, So. (24-6); 3. Tegan Durishin, Lehighton, So. (18-11).Honorable Mention - Jarret White, Northwestern, So. (16-11); Anthony McCue, Pleasant Valley, So. (16-12).Notes - Mashack did not wrestle last week. Schmall picked up an impressive 11-2 major decision victory in his match with Durishin a week ago. All was not lost for Durishin, though, as the sophomore pinned Pocono Mountain West's Darryl McAlpine in his other contest a week ago. White and McCue did not wrestle last week.132 - 1. Dylan Rynkiewicz, Tamaqua, Jr. (29-3); 2. Ali Capobianco, Jim Thorpe, So. (25-8); 3. Ryan Farber, Northern Lehigh, Fr. (21-10).Notes - Rynkiewicz did not wrestle last week. Capobianco went 3-2 at the Falcon invitational en route to a fourth place finish at 132 pounds. The sophomore was dominant in all three wins, picking up two victories by tech. fall and one by fall. Farber picked up a 4-0 decision victory over Lehighton's Anthony Farano last week. In his last three matches, the freshman has wrestled at 132, 138 and 145 pounds, respectively.138 - 1. Josh Evans, Palmerton, Sr. (26-1); 2. Hunter Davidyock, Panther Valley, Jr. (18-15); 3. Josh Gornick, Lehighton, Jr. (13-12).Honorable Mention - Andrew Ringler, Palmerton, Fr. (7-4).Notes - Evans went 5-0 at the Falcon Invitational over the weekend to claim the title at 138 pounds. Evans has now wrestled his last eight matches at 138 pounds and moves atop the standings after being ranked first at 145 previously. Davidyock dropped an 11-5 decision to Blue Mountain's Lucas Forbes in his only match last week, which was at 145 pounds. Gorick and Ringler did not wrestle last week.145 - 1. Garrett Gouger, Pleasant Valley, So. (18-12); 2. Antonio Madera, Jim Thorpe, Fr. (22-12); 3. CJ Young, Northern Lehigh, So. (18-10).Honorable Mention - Cole Moyer, Northwestern, So. (5-5); Anthony Farano, Lehighton, Sr. (14-13).Notes - Gouger moves to the top spot with Evans' departure. The sophomore dropped to 138 pounds in his only match last week and suffered a loss to Stroudsburg's Mike Cassano, who is 28-5 this season. Madera went 1-3 at the Falcon Invitational over the weekend, finishing fourth at 145 pounds. Young moved up to 160 pounds last week and picked up an impressive 4-1 decision victory over Lehighton's Tyler Cann. Farano suffered a 4-0 decision setback to Northern Lehigh's Ryan Farber last week. Moyer did not wrestle, and is not expected to return this season after suffering a concussion earlier this year.152 - 1. Zack Christman, Palmerton, Jr. (23-5); 2. Adam Toth, Tamaqua, Sr. (17-16).Notes - Christman suffered through a disappointing performance at Saturday's Falcon Invitational. The junior won his first three matches, but was forced to forfeit the last two due to injury. Christman finished fourth at 152 pounds. Toth did not wrestle last week.160 - 1. Zachary Graver, Palmerton, Jr. (20-1); 2. Brody Keefe, Pleasant Valley, So. (21-10); 3. Nate Farber, Northern Lehigh, Jr. (22-7).Honorable Mention - Tyler Cann, Lehighton, So. (22-8); Robbie Geisinger, Jim Thorpe, So. (17-17); Timothy Gergor, Palmerton, Jr. (3-2).Notes - Graver went 4-1 at the Falcon Invitational, suffering his first loss of the season to Milton's Ryan Preisch in the final. Preisch has over 100 career wins and is 20-4 this season. Keefe suffered an 11-7 setback to Stroudsburg's Keith Howie in his only contest last week. Farber jumped up to 170 pounds last week and picked up a 6-0 decision win over Lehighton's Dominik Mystkowski. Cann suffered a tough 4-1 decision loss to Northern Lehigh's CJ Young along with a tech. fall loss to Pocono Mountain's Amir Blair in his two matches last week. Geisinger went 2-2 at the Falcon Invitational, finishing fourth at 160 pounds. Gergor did not wrestle last week.170 - 1. Austin Arnold, Northern Lehigh, Jr. (17-11); 2. Jared Mooney, Palmerton, Fr. (13-8); 3. Matt Buss, Panther Valley, Jr. (15-15).Honorable Mention - Kyle Oliphant, Tamaqua, So. (16-12).Notes - Arnold did not wrestle last week. Mooney moves from 182 pounds to 170 this week. The freshman finished second at 170 at the Falcon Invitational, going 4-1 in the tournament. Mooney lost to Donegal's Barry Sauder, who is 23-4 this season, in the final. Buss lost a 6-1 decision to Blue Mountain's Ian Cagle in his only bout last week. Oliphant did not wrestle last week.182 - 1. Connor Frey, Lehighton, So. (25-5); 2. Trent Thomas, Pleasant Valley, So. (17-15); 3. Collin Moyer, Tamaqua, So. (18-17).Honorable Mention - Matt Wolfe, Palmerton, Jr. (14-10); Dylan Moyer, Panther Valley, So. (14-11).Notes - Frey won both of his matches by fall last week, needing just a little more than a total of four minutes to dispatch Pocono Mountain West's Dishon Springer and Northern Lehigh's Keith Schmidt. Thomas lost a 10-0 major decision to Stroudsburg's James Palmisano in his only match last week. Wolfe went 3-2 at the Falcon Invitational, finishing fifth at 182 pounds. Both Collin and Dylan Moyer did not wrestle last week.195 - 1. Richard Nase, Panther Valley, Sr. (21-4); 2. Stephen Scheib, Northern Lehigh, Jr. (9-9).Notes - For the second time in less than a month, Nase suffered a loss to Blue Mountain's Zack Yackenchick. After coming up on the losing end of a 13-4 major decision in the finals of the Schuylkill League Wrestling Championships, Nase surrendered a pin just before the end of the match. Scheib, who has contested his last three matches at 195 pounds, moves down from 220 in this week's rankings. The junior did not compete last week in Northern Lehigh's contest with Lehighton.220 - 1. Rian Shubeck, Panther Valley, Jr. (24-5); 2. Jason Schaffer, Northern Lehigh, Fr. (11-11).Notes - Shubeck picked up a 3-1 overtime victory over Blue Mountain's Eric Nocker in his only match last week. Nocker is 21-9 this season. Schaffer earned a 2-0 decision victory against Lehighton's Perry Didyoung in his only match last week to push his record to .500. The freshman is 3-1 in his last four matches.285 - 1. Ahmad Curtis, Pleasant Valley, Jr. (14-6); 2. Cameron Kates, Northern Lehigh, So. (20-12); 3. Lukas Mika, So. (15-12).Honorable Mention - Alex Raub, Palmerton, Sr. (9-6).Notes - Curtis was pinned by Stroudsburg's Cody Cooper in the first period last week. Cooper is 27-7 this season. Kates pinned Lehighton's Alexander Smith in the second period of his only match last week to break a streak of three straight losses. Mika returned to action last week, but was pinned just before the end of the third period by Blue Mountain's Tristan Coello, who is 23-7 this season. Raub did not wrestle last week.(Compiled by Patrick Matsinko)