RALPH WILSON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Loyalsock's Miles Ransom- Rennicks wrestles Muncy’s Chris Cummings at 114 pounds during dual at Loyalsock on Tuesday. Ransom-Rennicks has been gaining confidence during his freshman season.

When Loyalsock’s Miles Ransom-Rennicks went out in his first match of varsity competition, it didn’t go the way the Lancer freshman had wanted at all. CMVT’s Ryan Milheim dominated him in two periods en route to a 15-0 tech fall in 3:20 on Dec. 4.

His next match was a first-period pin loss to Halifax’s Izaya Schickley in 1:38 a day later.

The day after that, Ransom-Rennicks competed against Angelo Tarantella and was pinned with just 16 seconds left in the first period.

Three losses to open the year were far from ideal and could get in one’s head and plant seeds of doubt. But Loyalsock coach Chris Engler knew Ransom-Rennicks had potential and talent, and it started showing from there.

“For him to come out his first match of the year, he went out and underperformed. Ever since a lightbulb’s gone off and we’ve found the Miles we’ve been looking for,” Engler said. “We’re like ‘he can go out there and get us a win, get us a pin.’ He’s that type of caliber. He puts in the work, that’s the main thing. We live through Miles to set the tone sometimes at that light weight.”

Against Muncy during Tuesday’s dual meet, Ransom-Rennicks secured a pin in the second period against Muncy’s Chris Cummins in 3:01.

“For him to go out and get the pin, I couldn’t be happier th way he pulled it out. It was great for a freshman,” Engler said.

After going 0-3, Ransom-Rennicks has posted a 10-2 mark and continues getting better. He had a string of seven consecutive wins from Dec. 9-29 as he pinned Luca Zelewicz of Sullivan County in 3:41, Shamokin’s Casey Alleman in 2:46, Central Columbia’s Jace Jamison in 1:58 and picked up a 14-4 major decision win against Mifflinburg’s Landen Shemory.

After back-to-back forfeit victories, he then had a dominating 19-0, 4:00 tech fall vs. Lake Lehman’s Logan Strohl.

Those wins are building plenty of confidence, too.

“He’s starting to feel confident the way he’s finding his own. From junior high to high school, it’s a totally different level of competition, speed and strength and everything. He’s starting to understand where he can put his body and how he can move,” Engler said. “He’s quick and I’m like use some of those skills you have, your quickness, your flexibility, use it to your advantage. He had a rough tournament Saturday but got us back strong today. I couldn’t be more pleased with how he turned around. We’re moving forward. They’re putting bad matches behind them and moving forward.”

The Lancers are 3-6 this year, but have competitive in numerous duals. Loyalsock lost by just three points to CMVT (32-29), two to Sullivan County (35-33), four to Central Columbia (37-33) and eight to Muncy (38-30). All four of those matches were decided by just one bout.

“That’s what the goal is. Every match this year, our record doesn’t justify how good the kids have wrestled. We may be 3-6 as a team, but we’ve been in every match except for maybe one to be honest, and Mifflinburg’s ranked in the top 10 in the state. I feel like we’re starting to put things together and as a team, the future is bright,” Engler said. “Our junior high is wrestling on another level, we have a lot of good kids in the program, our elementary program is stacked. We had nine sixth graders here, that’s sixth graders coming up next year, so that’s great to see. We’re growing at all levels and all kind of working together.”

FIGHTING AND KEEPING

IT CLOSE

Like Loyalsock, Muncy’s boys program is also staying in matches and fighting. The Indians are 3-3 after going 1-1 at the Mid-Penn Duals on Wednesday and have been close in each loss.

Against Jersey Shore, the Indians fell just 41-36 (five points), lost by five to Sullivan County (39-34) and fell by nine to South Williamsport (41-32).

A win here and there, and Muncy’s 3-3 record easily could be 5-1.

“Our two losses (prior to Wednesday) were both by one match, so I mean it’s something that we’re looking to build upon and if we can build upon that, I think the season’s going to look much better for us as we continue to move forward,” Muncy coach Patrick Sparks said.

Muncy has talent throughout its roster and Sparks’ wrestlers battle when they’re on the mat regardless of who is on the other side. Plain and simple, Sparks preaches to his wrestlers to give everything they have all six minutes.

“We’ve been working on that all year and obviously we started out the season getting six early in the lineup, then giving up six. It’s just been a key focus for us to continue fighting all six minutes,” Sparks said. “Everything you can give for all six minutes and you’ll be OK. They’re finally starting to learn that and understand that and buy into it. Day by day and week by week, we’re continuing to get better at it.”

MILESTONES

Montgomery’s boys wrestling team secured a 41-30 win against Warrior Run this past week and in the process, gave coach Denny Harer his 350th career victory as a coach.

The win put him in exclusive company as one of just four coaches to ever reach the 350-win milestone in District 4.

He joins Towanda’s Bill Sexton (798 wins), former Danville coach Ron Kanaskie (668) and former Warrior Run coach Wayne Smythe (560) with 350 or more victories in their careers.

Harer has been coaching at Montgomery since the 2018 season, the school where he wrestled when he was in high school. He won more than 100 matches as a wrestler (118-17-2).

Harer coached for 13 years at Muncy prior to his current run at Montgomery.

Jon Gerardi is the sports editor at the Sun-Gazette. He can be reached at jgerardi@sungazette.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JonGerardi.