ALTOONA — Central Mountain picked up right where it left off last Saturday with its second consecutive district title. Some familiar faces stood tall on the podium Saturday evening but there were just as many new faces. The Wildcats won its second Northwest Regional Class AAA title in as many years and sent six to the Individual State Championships in Hershey.

Freshmen Gavin Heverly and Aiden Kunes and seniors Luke Simcox and Rocco Serafini captured regional titles as the Wildcats won 4 of 6 championship bouts. Simcox, who won his bout over top-ranked Pierson Manville of State College at 145 pounds, won his fourth consecutive regional title. Serafini, Kunes and Heverly each took atop the regional podium for the first time.

“The semifinal round kind of sealed the deal for us as far as the team score. Going 6-1 in the semifinals, you can’t really ask for more than that,” Central Mountain coach Biff Walizer said. “Those guys locked up their ticket to Hershey with those semifinal wins and then 4-2 in the finals, we’ll take it. We’re happy with where we’re at right now.”

Along with the freshmen, Simcox arguably had the highlight match of the evening. Against the No. 1 ranked 145-pounder in the country, the North Carolina commit saved his best regional for last. Simcox not only flexed his muscles by winning his fourth consecutive regional title, he did it against an Arizona State commit, a wrestler who had been waiting for him since last Saturday’s district final.

Simcox was still dealing with a shoulder injury at that time, dealt with runner-up reins, but it all worked out to plan. In a bout that went into tiebreaker, Simcox just needed to get up from the bottom position to win, something he had already been building up to. He was able to pull out a 3-2 victory, yelling out a scream and gesturing a four-count to show forth his region titles.

“For sure,” Simcox said when asked if it was extra special defeating Manville. “Pierson is the best of the best, to come out here and give him a match and come out on top is a very good feeling and I’m going to sleep well tonight.

“Right now I’m battling a little injury. So coming off that and practicing with the best kids in the country, in the state especially, and the coaches and trainers to help me prepare for these matches and these situations, so I’m very happy,” Simcox added.

The veteran seniors in Serafini and Simcox taking titles brought excitement to the Wildcat faithful, but Heverly and Kunes grabbing titles helped set the precedent for the veterans to bring home their own honors. Heverly, the 107-pounder, picked up his 35th victory of his young career with a pin in four minutes, 40 seconds, his seventh pin of the season. Heverly earned consecutive pins in his last two finals, districts last Saturday and now regionals.

Kunes, who came in with a similar resume as Heverly, picked up his 35th win of the season in a 6-1 decision victory over Brody Bishop of Hickory. Kunes began the match with six consecutive points in the opening four minutes of the period with escape and near-fall points before finishing on top.

“It feels amazing but the goal isn’t just to make it, it’s to go out there and place,” Kunes said.

“I go out there and try to push the pace and get to my attacks mainly, to score points.”

Between Heverly and Kunes, the two didn’t back down from the big moment. Under the bright lights of districts the two performed and with one mat shining down to book a match in Hershey, both showed up like dynamic duos.

“I expected it, I’m not going to lie. I came out of the match not wrestling the greatest but I ended how I wanted to and that’s all that matters,” Heverly said.

“We had hopes for those guys coming up because they were pretty well accomplished at the junior high level but to see the maturity and how they’ve been able to handle the critiquing from the coaches and everything, they’ve taken it in strides, they’ve added things to their repertoire, they’ve improved steadily throughout the season,” coach Walizer said. “It’s why they’re at where they’re at. They look like season vets out there as freshmen.”

Serafini was back on his stellar wrestling grind, again breezing through the heavyweights of the bracket at 215 pounds. Although Serafini picked up a fall and a major decision in the quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, respectively, the final wasn’t going to be a quick match by any means, and the senior was prepared for that.

Following a scoreless first period, Serafini got up from the down position and got the first point of the match. Serafini finished out the final three-and-a-half minutes riding out an athletic Brody Rebuck from Shikellamy, wearing him down by the minute to earn his first regional title in four years.

“I lost in the semifinals of the regional tournament three years in a row. I was pretty excited this year being top seed, knowing I had to do what I had to do,” Serafini said. “Brody (Rebuck) is pretty tough but I pay the price on top every time, that’s what we teach at Central Mountain.”

Serafini showed the various wins that he can win, whether it’s with extensive riding time or with multiple takedowns that lead to a pinfall or a wide margin of victory. Rebuck had multiple times throughout the match where he could’ve gained an escape point or gotten out of an arm or wrist lock from Serafini but the exhaustion Rebuck endured throughout the match left him no room to execute any more offense.

“Brody is a tough kid, he’s a big and strong kid, he’s tough to hold down but I know what I like to do on top and I get to it every time,” Serafini said. “Just trying to keep constant pressure every time. I mat-returned him maybe four or five times and I was ready to go six…I’ll do that every time.”

TOUGH LOSSES

Senior Griffin Walizer, junior Dalton Perry and junior Jake Weaver suffered tough losses in the evening. Walizer, who came in facing a plethora of state-ranked wrestlers at the 152-pound weight class, truly battled hard. The Lock Haven commit was close to losing to Parker Kearns of Mifflin County in the semifinal round.

Walizer was down 3-1 with just under 10 seconds to go when he earned an escape point with the referee stopping play with him down just one point. On the restart, Walizer needed a takedown with five seconds to go. As time expired, Walizer was granted the takedown and what was a 50-50 call, giving him a slim, 4-3 decision to advance to the final.

Walizer earned a rematch of the district final when he met Luke Sipes of Altoona but dropped his second straight match in a 3-0 decision. Although the loss doesn’t get him the highest on the podium, Walizer will make his third consecutive trip to the state tournament.

“He had a heck of a bracket with five guys who are ranked in the top 20 in the state and only three of them are moving on and we knew that coming in so it was kind of a higher pressure situation knowing that it was a tough bracket and any slip ups could end the season so that semifinal win was obviously huge.”

“He’s been really close and not gotten those calls at the end of matches so I was happy he was able to dig deep, find a way and get those two points.

Dalton Perry suffered just his third loss of the season and is now 31-3. Perry dropped a close, 9-8 decision to future teammate and Penn State commit Brock Weiss from Jersey Shore at 139 pounds. The senior Weiss, winning his first regional title of his career, did just enough to edge Perry and then hold him off late to not score any more points.

“A lot of tough losses there. It was one move for Dalton (Perry) other than that I thought he looked good,” Walizer mentioned.

Jake Weaver lost a 7-4 decision to Mitchell Baronner of Hollidaysburg, a match he had lost by a five-point margin before. Weaver’s loss gave him a fourth-place finish and a win would have qualified him for states. Despite an emotional Weaver missing an opportunity at his first-ever individual state tourney appearance, the junior made a slight improvement from last year’s fifth place finish.

“Jake Weaver faced a kid who beat him pretty badly last week. He was right there, one-point match late, so he’ll be back and will be stronger and better, ready to get to Hershey,” coach Walizer said.

Heverly, Kunes, Walizer, Perry, Simcox and Serafini will compete at the Individual Wrestling Championships in Hershey March 7-9.