Photos by Tim Weight
By Dom Reed

ALTOONA – Moving up from Class AA to AAA this calendar year, the Bellefonte Red Raiders battled some familiar foes in districts this weekend at Altoona Area High School looking to build off another stellar season under long time coach MIke Maney.

The Red Raiders had good performances all around having athletes advance deep into this weekend’s tournament.

Bellefonte was unable to get anybody capturing the gold but the Red Raiders had a handful of second place finishes like the familiar names to the local wrestling scene in Jackson Long, Noah Weaver,Ezra Swisher, and freshman Andrew Gall. Cameron Garcia showed toughness all day as he would place third. Jacob Horn would place sixth his respective bracket. Wyatt Long had a good day making it deep into the day as he would finish third in a bracket as he had to fight for everything. In addition others that are moving on are Jack McHail as he placed 2nd, Logan Rarrick placed 4th, and Luke Hockenberry placed 5th.

“I just have to keep the pressure on these kids,” said Wyatt Long. “I can beat anybody as long as my mindset is right, it just feels good.”

Long had a good night and there’s a lot he can take from Saturday where things didn’t come easy but he stuck with it and had some big matches.

“It’s a district tournament so you know that to move on there are guys going to be battling you through the winners back and in the consolations  and you know we got to find ways to win those close matches.“

Bellefonte will look to continue to build off an already great season heading into Regionals in two weeks.