MONTGOMERY — Recently, Montgomery freshman Brooke Knoebel has been working in the weight room on a move called a turk. It’s Knoebel’s way to control her opponent in the top position and it’s something that coach Jodi Furman has noticed too.

Knoebel not only is doing well at it, she’s using it to her advantage on the mat.

Tuesday was the latest exhibit of that. Knoebel was able to use a turk to her advantage throughout her match at 100 pounds against Danville’s Juliet Steckley, and she was able to help propel Montgomery en route to a convincing 42-18 win against Danville in a home dual.

“She really narrowed it down in the last couple of weeks and they (Steckley and Knoebel) had a rematch tonight. They met at the MATNESS as well, so we’re looking to see if anything different approach-wise came to her and she went right back to it and it’s super effective,” Furman said.

Knoebel held a 7-0 lead in the first period thanks to turning Steckley late in the period with nearly 40 seconds left to get her onto her back for points. In the second period, Steckley tried starting by going low and grabbing Knoebel’s leg and put the Red Raider onto her stomach to make it a 7-3 deficit.

Knoebel kept battling though and worked from the bottom position, eventually being able to spin out into a pin with 1:12 left as she was ahead 9-3.

“With her body style, she’s learned that she’s able to get the elbow through and develop any kind of nearfall points in that position,” Furman said of Knoebel using a turk. “So she could potentially get a fall or a lot of points at any given point of time where she’s in control.”

Knoebel is ranked No. 5 in the state at 100 as a freshman and is one of four ranked wrestlers in the Red Raiders lineup.

“Another improvement from her is that she showed she can last a little bit longer in matches and not go out and pin them in the first few seconds,” Furman said of Knoebel. “Even if she gives up a takedown, she comes right back and sticks with it and make the match long. It fell her way.”

After back-to-back double forfeits, Montgomery’s Jenna Houseknecht — also ranked No. 5 — competed against Brenna Pascual at 118. Houseknecht got off aggressively to start the match and got on top and rode Pascual and quickly went ahead 3-0 before fighting throughout the period and, with just four seconds remaining, sealed the win with a fall as she turned Pascual onto her back.

Originally, Houseknecht was at 112 but Furman bumped her up to be able to compete instead of a forfeit win.

“They didn’t have anybody for us at 112, so we thought it’d be a good matchup for her in front of our home crowd,” Furman said. “Even giving up a little bit of weight, she was able to get the fall.”

While the sport of girls wrestling is growing throughout Pennsylvania, the numbers unfortunately aren’t always there for filling weights for duals. That was evident on Tuesday as Montgomery and Danville wrestled just three contested bouts.

The final matchup was 155 as Danville’s Brightness Che competed wtih Addison Gregor of Montgomery. Che didn’t wate time and got on top quickly against Gregor. The Red Raider tried to grab Che’s leg to reverse, but Che stayed in contorl and led 3-0. Che then wrapped up Gregor’s leg, but Gregor was able to get a great reversal to make it a 3-2 deficit and that reversal led to momentum and a pin with 29 seconds left in the bout.

“She really had some bright, shining moments here the last couple of weeks,” Furman said of Gregor. “She realizes she’s able to stay in matches, even giving up some points she’s able to stick with it. She understands the match isn’t over in the first few seconds. As she develops, she recovered there and turned the match pretty quickly.”

And having a wrestler like Gregor who doesn’t get flustered or give up early in a bout and keeps fighting is something Furman loves seeing from her wrestlers.

“We continue to talk about it time and time again. We didn’t even have any matches that went six minutes tonight, but we try to tell them six minutes is a long time whether you’re down 10-1 or up 10-1,” Furman said. “We want to make it a long match and you’re always in it until the final six minutes goes off the clock. We’re trying to instill that in them. It could last that long and we’ve prepared them for that.’

The dual was tied 12-12 at 130 when Kashi Seabrook of Danville had a forfeit win. Montgomery took the lead back a bout later when Briella Walk received a forfeit win at 130 (18-12) and Zoe Furman, ranked No. 1 at 142, received a forfeit win at 142 to make it a 24-12 Montgomery lead. A forfeit by Jadelyn Saruiss of Danville cut that lead to 24-18, but that was the closest the Ironmen would come the rest of the night.

The Red Raiders’ Malayna Beattie (190) and Adelyn Rine (235), who is also ranked in the state, both had forfeit wins to close the dual out.

Montgomery 42, Danville 18

100: Brooke Knoebel (M) pinned Juliet Steckley, 2:48. 106: Double forfeit. 112: Double forfeit. 118: Jenna Houseknecht (M) pinned Brenna Pascual, 1:56. 124: Keira Johns (D) by forfeit. 130: Kashi Seabrook (D) by forfeit. 136: Briella Walk (M) by forfeit. 142: Zoe Furman (M) by forfeit. 148: Jadelyn Saruiss (D) by forfeit. 155: Addison Gregor (M) pinned Brightness Che, 1:31. 170: Double forfeit. 190: Malayna Beattie (M) by forfeit. 235: Adelyn Rine (M) by forfeit.