Montoursville coach Matt Yonkin wanted his wrestlers to be hunting bonus points during Tuesday’s PIAA Class AA team tournament first-round matchup at Montoursville Area against Honesdale.

That’s exactly what they did. 

The Warriors tallied six falls en route to a dominant 52-16 win over visiting Honesdale to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal round against nationally-ranked Bishop McCort at Altoona. 

“The biggest thing I take away from (Tuesday) is that we were going for falls. Every time I turned around, the kids were diving for those pitting combinations, and it paid off for them, the aggressiveness that they wrestled with, the intensity and physicality paid off tonight, getting the bonus points,” Yonkin said.

Montoursville, who is coming off of their first-ever District 4 Class AA Duals title, came in as the favorite against a solid Honesdale team, champions of District 2. And the Warriors wasted no time getting out to a quick lead. 

The dual started at 160 pounds and Hayden Harvey got Montoursville off to a fantastic start. He scored three takedowns in the bout’s first 30 seconds and then worked for the fall. He isolated the right arm of Marcus Carnegie and got the fall just 52 seconds into the match to give the Warriors a quick 6-0 lead.

And when Gage Wentzel earned a comprehensive 16-1 technical fall win over Mason Avery at 172, a large Montoursville crowd was rocking as they got out to an 11-0 lead. 

Honesdale got six points back at 189 when Duke Martin earned a first-period fall over Walker Wood, but Montoursville got back to earning bonus points immediately. After a scoreless first period, Owen Kleinman turned a reversal into a pin late in the second period and Landon Morehart followed that up with a pin of his own over Logan Deitrick as Montoursville led 23-6 when the lineup flipped back to the lightweights.

In a matchup of two wrestlers who could meet in the Northeast Regional Tournament in three weeks, Warrior Branden Eisenhour got the early takedown against Nathan Schuman at 107. But, after Schuman escaped, he locked up Eisenhour in a cradle in a scramble, and earned a pin with 23 seconds remaining in the first period. 
Coltyn Wagner, who returned from injury to post a dominant weekend at the District 4 Class AA Duals, wouldn’t let Honesdale get any more momentum. He used a late takedown on a throw-by after Brody Walsh had cut the lead to three points to win 13-7. Teli Bobotas ran up an 11-0 lead in the first period over Dennis Reese before finishing the match off with a fall in the second period at 121. David Kennedy had a second-period pin of his own at 127 against Connor Sclanan and Blaze Vogel needed just 17 seconds to lock up a cradle for a third-straight Warrior pin against Cole Lamberton.

At 139, Karter Stone was dominant both on his feet and from top to win a 16-0 technical fall decision over Sam Eisele, and Montoursville’ lightweights ran off four straight bonus point victores. 

Landon Estus defeated Montoursville Hunter Gee by major decision, 11-0, at 145. Ryan Meredith finished the dual by getting a crucial takedown late in a 5-4 match to polish off one final win for Montoursville, as he beat Morgan Wilcox, 8-4.

Montoursville advances to the double elimination stage of the state tournament. Its quarterfinal match will be against Bishop McCort, the No. 2 ranked team in America according to MatScouts. McCort features a stacked lineup headlined by two outstanding wrestlers in junior Bo Bassett, who committed to Iowa over Oklahoma State, Penn State and Virginia Tech on Tuesday, and junior Jax Forrest, who is being pursued by numerous programs. Sophomore Melvin Miller is the top-ranked recruit in America in his class, with Bassett and Forrest being the top-two ranked recruits in their class. 
It will be a tall task, but Yonkin knows that the tough schedule the team has wrestled has prepared them. 

“We don’t have a lot of head-to-head matches with them, but we’ve been in places where they’ve been. We’ve seen them at Powerade and maybe we didn’t wrestle them, but our schedule has some of that caliber in it, so I feel like we’re as prepared as we can be. Our guys are comfortable with that level, so we’ll be alright,” Yonkin said. 

Montoursville 52, Honesdale 16

160: Hayden Harvey (M) pinned Marcus Carnegie, 0:52. 172: Gage Wentzel (M) tech fall Mason Avery, 16-1, 5:11. 189: Duke Martin (H) pinned Walker Wood, 1:02. 215: Owen Kleinman (M) pinned Levi Landry, 3:40. 285: Landon Morehart (M) pinned Logan Dietrick, 2:21. 107: Nathan Schuman (H) pinned Branden Eisenhour, 1:37. 114: Coltyn Wagner (M) dec. Brody Walsh, 13-7. 121: Teli Bobotas (M) pinned Dennis Reese, 2:46. 127: David Kennedy (M) pinned Connor Scanlon, 2:39. 133: Blaze Vogel (M) pinned Cole Lamberton, 0:17. 139: Karter Stone (M) tech fall Sam Eisele, 16-0. 145: Landen Estus (H) maj. dec. Hunter Gee, 11-0. 152: Ryan Meredith (M) dec. Morgan Wilcox, 8-4.