Towanda wins Dandy Duals

TOWANDA - The Towanda Black Knights' strength in the lower and upper weights, plus a full lineup, proved enough to offset Tioga Central's middleweight supremacy in the final round of the 7th annual Dandy Duals wrestling tournament Saturday at Towanda High School.

The Knights defeated Tioga 39-28 in the championship match as Travis Chesla was named Most Outstanding Wrestler after scoring the maximum 30 team points during the day-long tournament via pins and forfeits at 189 pounds.

Western Wayne edged Williamsport 40-32 for third place. Catasauqua defeated Williamson in the fifth-place match and Hanover secured seventh from Wilkes-Barre Meyers.

Towanda moved on top 18-0 with forfeits to Aaron Schultz at 285 and Cody Wheeler at 112 wrapped around Ben Lamphere's pin of Kaleb Stone at 103 in 2:15.

After giving up a major decision to Tioga's Corey Spires over Dale Maynard 12-2 at 112, and a regular decision to Ryan Spires over Caleb Willey 5-3, the Knights stretched their margin with Jevin Vanderpool's win at 130 and Jimmy Sheets' pin at 135 to make the score 27-7. Vanderpool beat Kenny Manuel of Tioga 9-3, before Sheets pinned Alex Milledge in 1:43.

Then Tioga's strength kicked in. New York state champion Derak Heyman and Section 4 runner-up Josh Manuel both won by pin and Tyler Spires by decision to close the gap to 27-22.

Heyman got challenged by Zack Ripic early, before getting the fall in 2:42 and Manuel pinned Justin Hunsinger in 1:18. Spires won a 6-0 decision over Kyle Leljedal

Key decisions by Cody Curry at 160 and R.J. Forbes at 171 provided Towanda's victory margin as Chesla's forfeit win at 189 was offset by Kodi Floyd's pin for the Tigers at 215.

Curry won a 9-4 match over Ian Anderson, before Forbes withstood a tough challenge from Nick Talcott to win 5-4.

Floyd got the pin for the Tigers in 23 seconds over Aaron Lantz.

On the mat Tioga actually outscored the Black Knights, but the 18 points forfeited were too much for the Tigers to overcome.

"I thought the kids wrestled really well all day long," observed Towanda coach Bill Sexton. "Our goal was to defend this tournament and meeting Tioga in the finals was something we were looking forward to. Any time you get two good programs from New York and Pennsylvania together it really heightens the interest.

"I'm particularly pleased with Jevin Vanderpool at 130, that was a big win, and I'm very pleased with the way my kids at 160 and 171 responded when the match got close. We got a big win out of our 103-pounder Ben Lamphere," Sexton continued, adding "I think by the time you're done with this day you know what kind of shape you're in and what kind of shape you need to be in. We're getting there."

Towanda steamrolled into the championship round, taking out Williamson 63-9, Meyers 60-9, and Williamsport 55-16 before defeating Western Wayne 46-25 in their semifinal contest. By contrast, Tioga lived on the edge, as the Tigers' route through their bracket included a 39-38 win over Western Wayne and a 37-35 edging of Catasauqua. Tioga earned its berth in the final by defeating Williamsport 45-33.

"I was pleased with the way my kids wrestled, especially through the middle of the lineup," said Tioga coach Josh Roe. "We really wrestled physical. We had to make up a lot of ground. The middle of my lineup came back and fought through and secured four victories, but Towanda is just a better lineup top to bottom."

Among the other District 4 teams, Williamsport rolled past Meyers and Williamson before losing to Towanda, Tioga, and Western Wayne. Williamson topped Meyers and Hanover but fell to Catasauqua in the fifth place matchup.

Chesla was named the meet's outstanding wrestler.

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