Photo by Jeff Shomo

By Kenny Varner

ALTOONA – Bald Eagle Area led the way on the wrestling mats for the local Centre County Class AA teams this weekend at the SW Class AA regionals.

The Eagles got a total of four wrestlers heading onto the PIAA Championships Thursday at Hershey.   

Starting off at 121 pounds Tanner Guenot took home the. Town of regional champion as he defeated Dominic Deputy of Chestnut Ridge in a thrilling 3-2 victory.

He reached the finals after beating Austin Kosanovic of Avonworth by a takedown, 3-0.

Also taking the top spot and earning a regional championship was 189-pounder Caleb Close. Close, who earlier in the tournament picked up a record setting 97 career fall, defeated Kyle Scott of Tyrone by a 14-9 decision to earn the title.

To reach the finals, Close defeated Zeshawn Williams of by pin fall at 1:22.

Teammate Caden Judice finished in 2nd place at 133. Judice had a strong run to the finals defeating Derry’s Anthony Mucci in a close 7-5 win.

The win sent him into the title match against Jax Forrest. Forrest would get the win in this one winning by a tech fall of 23-4 at the 2:21 mark of the match, giving Judice a regional runner up nod.

Rounding out the Eagles march to Hershey is Dawson Lomison at 139.

In his third place bout against Julian Bertucci of Burrell the Eagles matman scored a 12-4 victory.

On the weekend, the Eagles finished fourth in team score with a tally of 98.5.

The Penns Valley Rams finished with two making the cut to head to the PIAAs as Max Dinges at 114 pounds and teammate Erik Carlisle at 127 captured Regional Championships.

Max Dinges clinched his way to the “Sweetest Place on Earth” with a finals win over Bishop McCourt’s Eli Herring, 8-3.

To get into the final, Dinges had to turn his intensity up another notch as he was able to outmuscle E Mull from Chestnut Ridge 10-8.

The road was a strong one for Carlile as he rolled through the 127-pound weight class and into the finals.

In the finals, Carlile was just as impressive as he went on to an 11-4 victory over Central Valley’s Antonio Boni.

In the semi finals, Carlile captured his finals nod with a pin fall over Wyatt Close at the 2:28 mark.

The weekend didn’t fair favorable for Philipsburg -Osceola despite having some good showings was not able to advance anyone.