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Of note: The Trojans went on a 4-bout win streak late to overcome an early CV lead ... Chambersburg trailed 23-16, then got decisions from Jimmy Hughes (130), Alex Duke (135) and Chase Wenger (140), and Charles Hicks (145) notched a pin to give his team its first lead.
Records: The Trojans (3-0, 1-0 MPC) host Waynesboro tonight, 7 ... The Eagles are 1-1, 1-1 MPC).
Typically, Chambersburg holds its All-Night Party after graduation in June.
But the school switched things up Wednesday night, holding a Nearly All-Night Wrestling Party that was not over until 10:40 p.m.
The Trojans invited Cumberland Valley to the event and pulled off their biggest wrestling upset in years, rallying to edge the Eagles 28-26 in a thrilling Mid Penn Colonial Division meet at the Trojan Field House.
CV led by 14 points early and by as many as 11 halfway through the meet. But a late four-bout win streak by Chambersburg gave it the lead for the first time.
With his team down 23-22 and two bouts to go, Trojan 145-pounder Charles Hicks caught Boecq Barrick in a quick headlock and kept him there for the whole first period, nearly pinning him twice in the last 20 seconds and taking a 5-0 lead.
"I was kind of nervous," Hicks said. "I was thinking about a headlock but it wasn't there at first. Once I got it, I thought I could hold it, but he almost rolled through."
Still leading 5-2 and on top to start the third period, Hicks
Hicks said, "I call that move a 'Charles.' It's my signature move. I wasn't really looking for it ... it was just there."
With one bout left, the Eagles trailed 28-23 and needed a pin. But Chambersburg's Steven Wilmot wrestled a conservative match, falling 2-0 to David Miller, to preserve the lead.
Trojan coach Doug Rine said, "Steven wrestled a beautiful match. He made sure he did not go to his back. He only got in one tough situation and he bailed out of it."
Cumberland Valley coach Dave Heckard said, "We were missing a couple of starters, but the simple fact is, Chambersburg came in fired up and wrestled a good match. They beat some of our starters, too. My hat is off to them."
Chambersburg earned two key victories early. The meet started at 160 pounds, right into the teeth of CV's strength, but the Trojans were able to win two of the first five bouts.
Dalton Daywalt bumped up a weight to 189 and handed Robert O'Grady a 7-2 defeat on the strength of a takedown in each period. In a preseason tournament, O'Grady had pinned Daywalt.
Rine said, "He was up 4-1 when he got pinned in a cradle, so we knew if we could keep the match on our feet, we'd be OK. And Dalton controlled the match from there."
At 285, Dawson Peck was moved up to face the Eagles' Kyle Friend.
Friend scored a takedown in the first period and chose neutral for the second. But Peck messed up that strategy when he countered a throw attempt by Friend for a tying takedown. On the move, both wrestlers appeared to have control at one point before Peck came out on top.
"That just kind happened," Peck said. "In a match like that when somebody makes a mistake, you have to capitalize."
In the third, Peck went ahead with an escape, but Friend took him down with 1:37 left. Peck's reversal with 1:08 left gave him the lead again and he hung on for a 5-4 victory.
With CV ahead 17-6, the teams split the next four bouts, with Chambersburg's Tanner Shoap (103) and Ben Heckman (119) taking wins, including Heckman's 9-0 major.
That left it 23-13 in CV's favor. But Jimmy Hughes (130), Alex Duke (135) and Chase Wenger (140) each picked up solid decisions to make it 23-22 before Hicks' heroics.
"We thought we had a good shot because we matched up pretty well with them," Hughes said. "I know they were missing a couple of guys, but you can only wrestle the guys who come on the mat and we took it to them. It was a good day."
Rine said, "The guys were psyched for this. They really thought they had a chance."
Notes: The last Trojan victory over Cumberland Valley came in 1998-99 (34-24) ... Heckard said on paper he had the Eagles pulling out a 28-27 win ... "If they hadn't gotten the pin at 145, we'd have won 26-25," he said.
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Ed Gotwals may be reached at 262-4755 and egotwals@publicopinionnews.com.
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Chambersburg 28, Cumb. Valley 26
160 -- Jesse Derick (CV) TF Aaron Harshman, 18-3, 5:12
171 -- Tristan Warner (CV) p Irving Lambert, 1:54
189 -- Dalton Daywalt (Ch) d Robert O'Grady, 7-2
215 -- Travis Friend (CV) p Ean Starr, 1:14
285 -- Dawson Peck (Ch) d Kyle Friend, 5-4
103 -- Tanner Shoap (Ch) d Kavin Novick, 6-1
112 -- Jon Brigham (CV) d Colten Arnold, 6-1
119 -- Ben Heckman (Ch) md Ben Silcox, 9-0
125 -- Chris Brigham (CV) d Ian Hammond, 6-3, 3 OT
130 -- Jimmy Hughes (Ch) d Garrett Long, 4-0
135 -- Alex Duke (Ch) d Travis Hench, 9-2
140 -- Chase Wenger (Ch) d Dan Pagana, 8-4
145 -- Charles Hicks (Ch) p Boe Barrick, 4:12
152 -- David Miller (CV) d Steven Wilmot, 2-0
JV: Cumb. Valley 24, Chambersburg 9. Sam Patterson had a pin for the Trojans.
Jr. High: Cumb. Valley 49, Faust 25. For the Tigers (2-1), Taylor Tolbert (165) and Oliver Smith (250) had pins.
