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Andrus part of CM road victory

SUNBURY — When Central Mountain’s Seth Andrus saw Shikellamy’s Cade Balestrini weigh in at 132 pounds Thursday night, he didn’t think much of it. He assumed the Braves’ sophomore state qualifier was going to make the bump to 138 for a better matchup.

But as Andrus prowled behind the Wildcats’ bench preparing for his match, he saw Balestrini doing the same thing. He knew the night was about to get fun.

Andrus defeated Bale­strini in overtime last night to help Central Moun­tain pull off a convincing 43-16 win over Shikellamy at the Phil Lockcuff Gymnasium.

“He needed a win like that,” Central Mountain head coach Biff Walizer said. “He’s been in some tough, tight matches against some tough kids. So to see it come down to basically wanting to get the heck out of there and for him to come through in that situation, I’m happy for him. He’s put the time and effort and work in. So it’s good to see.”

Andrus has had success against the best wrestlers on his resume this season. His win over Balestrini last night, 3-1 in tie-break, was his fourth this year against a wrestlers who competed in the PIAA tournament a year ago. In fact, he’s 4-1 against returning state qualifiers, with his only loss coming to state sixth-place finisher Andrew Wert of Central Dauphin in the finals of the Conestoga Valley Tournament.

And it’s all because of a new attitude in those tight bouts. Last night, there was no frustration from Andrus when he couldn’t get his offense going against the long and lanky Balestrini. He didn’t force anything that wasn’t there, especially after the bout was tied 1-1 in the third period.

Instead, Andrus was relaxed for the duration of his 132-pound bout. He was patient, knowing if he could get the match to the two 30-second tie-break periods that he had an advantage as a better mat wrestler.

“I was all right with going to overtime,” Andrus said. “I wasn’t able to get my shots going a whole lot and get to my scoring like I like to wrestle. But every match you have to wrestle a different way. So I wanted to see how I did in rideout.”

All he did was wrestle a stellar 60 seconds. Balestrini chose the bottom in the first 30-second period and Andrus got a huge breakdown six seconds into the period to get Balestrini flat on his belly. From there the 16th-ranked Andrus was able to focus on positioning and forward pressure to keep Balestrini (ranked 10th at 126) on his belly.

“(Andrus) threw the boots in early in regulation when he was on top, so we knew we wanted to stay out of legs in overtime,” Walizer said. “But he had nice leg drive, stayed under the arms and chopped. Just basic stuff to keep the pressure on.”

“I knew once I got a breakdown I could bleed some time off the clock and tie up his wrist and kill off the whole 30 seconds,” Andrus said. “I was pretty confident I could get out then. I just knew I needed to keep working.”

In the midst of a scramble midway through the second 30-second tie-break period, Andrus was able to momentarily circle behind Balestrini and hook a leg for a quickly-awarded reversal. Andrus stayed in good position for the remaining 8 seconds to get the 3-1 win.

It was a victory which gave Central Mountain a 24-13 lead. And it was a win which helped the Wildcats dominate through the heart of Shikellamy’s lineup in the lightweights.

Johnny Shreffler picked up a fall at 113 pounds. Dalton Bechdel picked up an impressive win at 120 over freshman Drew Balestrini, and Cody Coleman added more bonus points with a major decision at 138 pounds.

By the time Noah Supsic won at 152 pounds, Central Mountain was already leading 31-13 having won eight of the previous nine bouts. And the Wildcats still had state-ranked Asher Corl and Tanner Weaver to close out the dual. And both picked up falls.

“We had a good weekend at the Dallastown Duals and I was hoping we’d continue to keep moving in that right direction and not have a let-up,” Walizer said. “I was happy with the effort all around.”

The Wildcats continue to roll since losing a dual to Bald Eagle Area, 39-33, on Dec. 22. Since then, the Wildcats are 6-0, including a tournament championship at the Dallastown Duals. And in those six wins, Central Mountain has outscored its opponents by an average of 24.1 points.

That’s why against a solid Heartland-I and Big 7 opponent in Shikellamy, Walizer wanted to see the Wildcats keep rolling. And after losing the first two bouts by major decision, Central Mountain did just that. They won 10 of the final 12 bouts, five with bonus points.

“We realized other teams out there are gunning for us, so we need to keep working hard and work on ourselves,” Andrus said. “I think we’re wrestling our best. Down at the Dallastown Duals we had a good performance. I think our intensity in the room has been pretty good and we’ve been getting after it.”

106: Jason Rinker, CM, dec. Damian Wolfe, 6-0. 113: Johnny Shreffler, CM, pinned Jared Zartman, 3:30. 120: Dalton Bechdel, CM, dec. Drew Balestrini, 2-0*. 126: Frank Quinones, S, pinned Kaden Powers, 1:55. 132: Seth Andrus, CM, dec. Cade Balestrini, 3-1, tb. 138: Cody Coleman, CM, maj. dec. James Hallman, 10-0. 145: Logan Long, CM, dec. Bryce Burgess, 6-0. 152: Noah Supsic, S, dec. Alonzo Henry, 8-2. 160: Asher Corl, CM, pinned Phalean Wolfe, 3:15. 170: Tanner Weaver, CM, pinned Joel Derr, 3:27. 182: Evan Bingaman, S, maj. dec. Austin Confer, 12-3. 195: Josh Krieger, S, maj. dec. Tanner Riggle, 12-4. 220: Mahlik Houtz, CM, dec. Adam Young, 5-2. 285: Jake Edwards, CM, pinned Derek Reitz, :43.

*Shikellamy penalized one team point

Takedowns: Central Mountain 19, Shikellamy 12.

Official: Mark Dawson.

Records: Central Mountain (8-1); Shikellamy (7-3).

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